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Bosch is making the smart home even more user-friendly

New Home Connect Plus app for brand-agnostic connectivity

  • One app for many smart applications: Home Connect Plus app connects appliances from 35 leading brands and manufacturers.
  • Bosch Chief Digital Officer Dr. Michael Bolle: “When it comes to connecting appliances, the new app puts us in pole position.”
  • Bosch as a driver of the internet of things: 10 million of its products were connected in 2020, and this figure is set to double by the end of 2021.
Dörthe Warnk

Dörthe Warnk

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Dörthe Warnk

Dörthe Warnk
Spokesperson internet of things (residential), Energy and Building Technology, smart living

Stuttgart, Germany – More and more people in Germany are opting for connected appliances that interact intelligently: a study by Statista predicts that by 2025, nearly half of all households in Germany will be smart homes. Sales of smart-home appliances are also rising steadily in Germany, growing more than 30 percent last year. By 2025, sales are expected to be worth nearly 10 billion euros. Bosch is now expanding and adding to its existing activities in the smart-home market. The new Home Connect Plus app provided by the Bosch subsidiary Residential IoT Services GmbH will make it much easier to control all the appliances in a smart home. Now it takes just one app – Home Connect Plus – to control the connected devices of 35 manufacturers. In this way, Bosch is clearing away the obstacles to the acceptance of smart-home appliances. According to a McKinsey study, 67 percent of smart-home users want to be able to control all their connected products without any hassle, and regardless of brand, using just one app. “With our Home Connect Plus smartphone app, we are setting new standards when it comes to smart homes’ user-friendliness and interoperability. Adding the new app to our portfolio makes sense, and puts us in pole position when it comes to connected appliances,” says Dr. Michael Bolle, the Chief Digital Officer at Robert Bosch GmbH.

Since mid-May 2021, the app has been be available free of charge in all the usual app stores in Germany and Austria. Other European countries are to be added in the years ahead.

With our Home Connect Plus smartphone app, we are setting new standards when it comes to smart homes’ user-friendliness and interoperability. Adding the new app to our portfolio makes sense, and puts us in pole position when it comes to connected appliances.

Dr. Michael Bolle, Chief Digital Officer at Robert Bosch GmbH

Home Connect Plus: one app for the entire smart home

The Home Connect Plus app follows a platform-agnostic approach. This allows the smart-home appliances and entire systems offered by 35 leading brands, including Bosch, Philips Hue, Sonos, tado, Bose, Busch-Jaeger, and Homematic IP, to be connected with each other and adapted flexibly to individual requirements. “Thanks to our strong partner network, our vision of simple, manufacturer-agnostic usability of smart-home appliances is becoming reality. In the shape of Home Connect Plus, we are giving smart-home users an app that lets the connection and use of smart appliances and systems become part of their everyday lives,” says Lauri Pesonen, the CEO of Residential IoT Services GmbH.

The Bosch subsidiary Residential IoT Services GmbH plans to continuously expand its partner network and enhance it with further services and features. Instead of having to switch between different proprietary apps, users will be able to control their smart home from just one. In addition, Home Connect Plus will make it easier to set up personal smart-home automation scenarios, such as when leaving home and day/night settings. When developing the app, special attention was devoted to making it intuitive to use and easy to personalize. The idea was that all target groups – whether smart home beginners or technology freaks – should be able to easily find their way around. For users needing to do a more complicated setup, there is a direct link to the respective product app. In this way, users have a permanent overview of all their settings and remain in complete control of their smart home.

10 million devices connected: Bosch as a driver of smart homes

Bosch is a driver of the internet of things in the smart home. In 2020, 10 million products – power tools, home appliances, and heating systems – were already connected. At the end of 2021, that number will be almost twice as high. In recent years, Robert Bosch Smart Home GmbH and its smart products have established a strong position in the market for connected security and climate-control solutions. And with Home Connect, BSH Hausgeräte has been offering an “experience world” featuring connected home appliances since 2014. Home Connect Plus is now complementing this existing portfolio with an app for all features of the home.

Home Connect Plus is the brainchild of Residential IoT Services GmbH, a subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH. This company-internal startup has set itself the goal of making smart homes simple and uncomplicated to control, for all users. Its main focus is on collaboration within a strong partner network that makes the extensive interoperability of smart appliances possible. Residential IoT Services GmbH focuses on Europe and operates as an independent subsidiary. Further information about Home Connect Plus is available at www.home-connect-plus.com.

Tags: connectivity, Smart Home, Internet of Things, IoT

About Bosch

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 429,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2023). The company generated sales of 91.6 billion euros in 2023. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. With its business activities, the company aims to use technology to help shape universal trends such as automation, electrification, digitalization, connectivity, and an orientation to sustainability. In this context, Bosch’s broad diversification across regions and industries strengthens its innovativeness and robustness. Bosch uses its proven expertise in sensor technology, software, and services to offer customers cross-domain solutions from a single source. It also applies its expertise in connectivity and artificial intelligence in order to develop and manufacture user-friendly, sustainable products. With technology that is “Invented for life,” Bosch wants to help improve quality of life and conserve natural resources. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 470 subsidiary and regional companies in over 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. Bosch’s innovative strength is key to the company’s further development. At 136 locations across the globe, Bosch employs some 90,000 associates in research and development, of which nearly 48,000 are software engineers.

The company was set up in Stuttgart in 1886 by Robert Bosch (1861–1942) as “Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering.” The special ownership structure of Robert Bosch GmbH guarantees the entrepreneurial freedom of the Bosch Group, making it possible for the company to plan over the long term and to undertake significant upfront investments in the safeguarding of its future. Ninety-four percent of the share capital of Robert Bosch GmbH is held by Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH, a charitable foundation. The remaining shares are held by Robert Bosch GmbH and by a corporation owned by the Bosch family. The majority of voting rights are held by Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG. It is entrusted with the task of safeguarding the company’s long-term existence and in particular its financial independence – in line with the mission handed down in the will of the company’s founder, Robert Bosch.

Additional information is available online at www.bosch.com, www.iot.bosch.com, www.bosch-press.com.

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