Nest, the smart home brand owned by Google parent company Alphabet, may soon find a place on Apple's HomeKit .

That is the word from 9to5Mac, which asked Nest whether it would be open to adopting the smart home platform in the wake of newly announced iOS 11 features that make adding support easier. The company, known for its Nest Learning Thermostat, reportedly responded by saying it would indeed be "open to supporting HomeKit."

Nest has been a longtime holdout in support for Apple's voice platform, with some suggesting that Nest affiliation with Alphabet was at the root. But another obstacle has been hardware authentication.

That barrier was swept aside earlier this month when Apple announced that devices will no longer require a piece of hardware called an MFi chip to work with its smart home platform HomeKit. Every HomeKit gadget sold thus far has required its developer to install extra hardware to support Apple's platform.

Nest representatives didn't immediate respond to a request for comment.

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