Apple is rumored to launch five new Home products in the year ahead, and ahead of that renewed smart home push, iOS 26.2 has just added a key enhancement to make adding new accessories easier.
Multipack accessories can be set up faster than ever in iOS 26.2
The evolution of smart home technology has come with all sorts of steps forward and steps back over the past decade. In the latter category, there’s news like we got today of important smart device manufacturers filing for bankruptcy.
On the positive side though, platforms like Matter have made smart home accessories more interoperable than ever. And Apple has progressively made the device setup process easier too.
iOS 26.2 takes another step in that direction. It improves the setup process—specifically when you have a pack of accessories sold together.
From Apple’s official release notes:
Multipack accessory pairing in the Home app lets you use the same setup code to easily enroll multiple accessories when sold together
I’ve learned over the years that buying too many different smart home accessories from different companies makes for a headache in the long run.
These days, I much prefer a uniform approach. For example, I have a handful of different smart plugs from years past, but now prefer to stick with the same product for everywhere in the house.
If you’re looking to upgrade your smart home this holiday season, or heading into the new year, I’d recommend taking a similar approach. Several accessories can be bought in multipacks these days, such as this 4-pack of HomeKit smart plugs.
And thanks to iOS 26.2, setting up all of those accessories will be much faster and more seamless than it would have been before.
What are your go-to HomeKit accessory brands? Let us know in the comments.
Best iPhone accessories
- AirTag 4-pack (now only $69, down from $99)
- AirPods Pro 3 (now only $209, down from $249)
- MagSafe Car Mount for iPhone
- 10-year AirTag battery case 2-pack
- 100W USB-C fast charging power adapter
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