Onvis is up there as one of the most reliable HomeKit vendors around. They make quality products and are typically among the first to use new technology like Thread. I recently picked up the new Onvis Smart Motion Sensor to automate some of our living room lights while tracking the temperature.
HomeKit Weekly is a series focused on smart home accessories, automation tips and tricks, and everything to do with Apple’s smart home framework.
What can you do with the Onvis Smart Motion Sensor?
The Onvis Smart Motion Sensor tracks motion, but it does more than that as well. It also tracks room temperature and humidity. You can follow these statistics via Siri and the Home app and create automation. If you’re monitoring humidity below a certain level, you can turn on a HomeKit humidifier to boost the levels. If you’re using the Onvis app, you can access this data as well, and it’s locally retained for 32 days.
Because the Onvis Smart Motion Sensor is battery-powered, it can easily be put on a bookshelf or hidden behind something as long as it has a line of sight.
Setting up with HomeKit
The Onvis Smart Motion Sensor is a native HomeKit native, meaning there is no bridging from another app in software. There’s a HomeKit QR code on the side of the device, so once you pull the battery tab, you can scan it using the Home app > + > Add Accessory.
It took a minute or so for the Home app to connect to it, but then I could name the device and select the room in my house where it would be located. You can change that in the future as well.
HomeKit automations are where the device shines. We have three different sets of lights on the main level of our house that we typically turn on first thing in the morning. Using this device, I constructed an automation that turns these lights onto a certain dimmer level when it detects motion between 5:00 AM and 7:00 AM. The idea is that when I wake up in the morning, it’ll detect me and automatically turn the lights on to the preset level. I manually turn these lights on when I wake up every morning. Now, it’s completely automated.
Wrap up on Onvis Smart Motion Sensor
Overall, it’s an excellent option for HomeKit when you need a motion sensor. It’s a significant bonus that tracks temperature and humidity as well. There is no Onvis cloud and no tracking of your data. Everything stays local on your device and in HomeKit. It also supports Thread for improved reliability.
You can pick up the Onvis Smart Motion Sensor from Amazon or directly from Onvis.
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