Resideo Technologies has announced a free software update that will bring Apple’s newest smart home climate features to its existing Honeywell Home smart thermostats. The company said on October 22, 2026 that the update, expected in the first quarter of 2027, will enable the ElitePRO, X7S, and X8S thermostats to support Adaptive Temperature Control and Clean Energy Guidance, the two headline capabilities introduced with Apple’s new HomeView offerings.
The key selling point: existing owners won’t need to buy new hardware or book a professional installer. The update will roll out to thermostats already installed in homes, extending their feature set through software alone.
What the update delivers
According to Resideo’s announcement, the planned software update targets three models in the latest Honeywell Home lineup: the ElitePRO, the X7S, and the X8S. Once installed, these thermostats will be able to tap into two Apple Home features:
- Adaptive Temperature Control – Apple’s new approach to managing home climate through the HomeView ecosystem, designed to make heating and cooling more responsive to how a household actually lives.
- Clean Energy Guidance – an energy-management capability aimed at helping homeowners use heating and cooling more efficiently, in line with the growing push toward grid-friendly smart home devices.
Apple has not yet published full technical details of either feature, but their arrival via a third-party firmware update confirms that Apple intends them to be ecosystem-wide capabilities, not exclusive to its own forthcoming hardware.
The thermostats getting the upgrade
The three models covered by the update represent Resideo’s latest generation of Honeywell Home smart thermostats, a line that has collected several industry nods this year, including recognition in the Popular Mechanics 2026 Home Innovation Awards and as an ACHR News 2026 All-Star Residential Product of the Year.
Feature-wise, they are built around a large, customizable touchscreen display of up to five inches, with the ability to stream live video from compatible Ring and First Alert doorbells right on the thermostat screen. Under the hood, Resideo highlights radar-based occupancy detection, support for multiple room sensors, the ability to add multiple indoor air quality devices, and its Redlink wireless technology for communicating with key HVAC components.
On the installation side, they are designed with professional contractors in mind: one-tap configuration, support for C-wire adapters and remote equipment interfaces, the Honeywell Home UWP wall-mounting plate, and flexibility across a wide range of HVAC applications. Owners can already manage them through the Resideo Connect app without any smart home hub, and the thermostats are Matter certified, with existing support for Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Home Assistant, and Samsung SmartThings.
Why Resideo is moving now
The timing is no accident. Apple announced its biggest smart home push in years on October 13, 2026: the HomeView hub at $299 shipping November 13, the HomePod mini 2 at $149 arriving October 30, and a nine-product Home Collection developed with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric spanning cameras, a video doorbell, climate devices, and sensors. Third-party makers are now racing to make their gear compatible with Apple’s refreshed platform, and thermostat makers in particular stand to gain – or lose – ground depending on how quickly they integrate.
Resideo is betting on an open-ecosystem pitch. “Homeowners should have the freedom to choose the products and platforms that best meet their needs,” said Tom Surran, president and CEO of Resideo. “Our approach is to combine differentiated hardware, advanced sensing and control and open connectivity to deliver solutions that become more capable over time. By bringing new Apple Home capabilities to thermostats already installed in homes, we are demonstrating how continued software innovation can enhance the value of our products while preserving the homeowner’s original investment.”
That last line is aimed squarely at the upgrade treadmill that has defined the smart home market. Rather than asking customers to replace a perfectly good thermostat to get new Apple features, Resideo is treating the device as a platform that gets better over time – a message that resonates as thermostats increasingly double as home energy hubs.
What this means for homeowners
For existing owners of the ElitePRO, X7S, or X8S, the announcement is straightforward good news: early next year, your thermostat should pick up Apple’s newest climate and energy features automatically, at no cost and without a service visit. It is a notable contrast to the industry’s usual pattern, where headline features arrive only on new hardware.
More broadly, the move underscores two trends reshaping the smart thermostat market. First, energy intelligence is becoming a core battleground – earlier this month, Lennox said it would add grid-aware energy savings to its own smart thermostats, and Apple’s Clean Energy Guidance suggests the platform giants now see energy optimization as a first-class feature rather than an afterthought.
Second, the Apple Home ecosystem is rapidly becoming a place where third-party innovation happens, not just a walled garden. With Matter certification already in place and Apple now opening new software capabilities to established HVAC brands, homeowners get more choice – and older devices get longer, more useful lives. If Resideo delivers the update on schedule in Q1 2027, it will have set a useful precedent: in the smart home, software can be the upgrade path.