I don’t keep track of all official or inofficial statements about the Argon, so I don’t know where this “powered by the ESP32” statement stems from, but when it’s worded like this somewhere that’d explain the confusion.
And that’s why I wanted to point out the probable misconception.
The official product description I know from https://particle.io/mesh reads
Also, the ESP32-S0WD is a single-core variant of the ESP32.
So, ruling out the ESP32 since the Particle Mesh devices are powered by the Nordic nRF52840, it seems we might actually be in a better place.
For some reason I can’t load the page at the moment, but Nordic actually seems to provide an SDK for HomeKit:
https://www.nordicsemi.com/eng/Products/Bluetooth-low-energy/nRF5-SDK-for-HomeKit
The google search results say The nRF5 SDK for HomeKit provides developers with a unique solution for HomeKit products that meets all requirements on size, power consumption and performance.
This is very cool. I have Photons, Lutron Caseta, Smart Bridge Pro 2, HomeBridge, etc. I used a Photon and magnetic Reed Switch to turn my pantry light on when the door opens and turn it off when the door closes. Additionally, I added code so whenever the Mudroom light is on for 10 minutes turn it off. I used a Smart Plug and an AC relay to turn on and off the fireplace. Love HomeKit and Homebrew methods to interface with it.
Forgot to mention I also did this plugin with HomeBridge. https://www.npmjs.com/package/homebridge-particle-io
Works great.
It actually says “powered by the ESP32” on https://www.particle.io/mesh/
Is this incorrect then? Or does the Nordic chip just provide the BLE part of the device?
Again, the Nordic chip is the main controller for all mesh devices, the ESP32 only “powers” the WiFi connection.
The term “powered by” might give rise to that misinterpretation, but since it’s not a very technical and unambigous term I’d not overinterpret it’s meaning in that respect.
You can also see it used in other connections in the same screenshot.
It’s a bummer that we don’t have some direct access to the ESP32. I was hoping we might be able to use the second core for timing-critical interrupt-driven stuff while the first core serviced the WiFi needs. I’m sure you weighed the cost/benefits of several options before choosing it, but from the user-side it just feels like such wasted potential! I don’t mean this to sound like a gripe – it’s not like we were ever promised we’d have access to it. But the imagination ran wild. 
I still have the scar from the wound it left when I found out it was not a Photon2. Which was based on a ESP32, 240 MHZ monster with Wifi, Bluetooth & 4,8, or 16 Meg of flash, and 8 Meg of ram. Oh the pain, the pain....
FINALLY, we have a breakthrough!
See this new thread: LINK
Lukas Jezny developed an application for a Photon, in which he implements a HAP (Homekit Access Point) on the device itself. So, you don’t need a Homebridge or an OpenHAB server to control a Photon with Siri… 
It works beautifully: You compile a sketch and flash it to any Particle device and then it can be directly paired with Homekit on any iPad, iPhone… Currently, you can only control the Particle’s RGB LED ON/OFF state.
I was hoping that Lukas would also show us how we could access Particle.function s and Particle.variable s from Homekit. But, fair enough, he apologised because he can’t make the time for it. Pity…
He shared also the Apple document explaining how to expand the functionality, but it goes over my head!
If some of you, professional programmers, would be interested to try and expand his work, I believe many Particle users would be very happy! I would… 
