HomeKit Weekly

iOS 18.4 finally brought robot vacuum support to HomeKit, opening the door for a new wave of Matter-enabled vacuums that work with your existing smart home environment. I’ve been testing the Ecovacs Deebot X8 Pro Omni for the past few months (even before iOS 18.4) to see how well it fits into a smart home, but more importantly, whether it’s worth the money as a way to keep your floors cleaned.

When I was in college, smart home technology was still something that was super futuristic. Today, that’s changed a lot. If I were starting college today, though, I’d bring a few HomeKit items to make dorm life more comfortable and functional. Between cramped desks, bad overhead lighting, and shared everything, a little automation can go a long way. Whether it’s turning off lights from bed or checking if your fan’s still running, here’s what I’d pack today if I were heading off to campus.

Local weather is one of the most underrated variables in Homekit automation. Over the past few years, I’ve used sensors for everything from knowing when to drip faucets in freezing weather to adjusting the sprinkler schedule with the Eve Aqua on hot days. The Eve Weather has been part of my setup for a while now, and with its 2024 Matter upgrade from last summer, it’s now even more useful across more platforms.

If you’re buying a HomeKit door lock in 2025 and it doesn’t support home key, keep moving. The tap to unlock experience with iPhone or Apple Watch is the feature that makes smart locks feel like a major upgrade over a physical key or even unlocking via the Home app. It’s fast, reliable, and once you get used to it, there’s no going back. The ThorBolt X1 checks all the boxes for a great HomeKit lock and brings a few nice surprises for under $150k.

It’s that time of year again. The sun is shining, grass is growing, and flowers are blooming. Summer weather is here. Here in the South, we’ll go from weeks of rain to stretches where it’s 95 degrees with no clouds in sight. I’ve never wanted to mess with a professionally installed irrigation system. Too much maintenance. That’s why I’ve continued using the Eve Aqua to handle outdoor watering without digging a hole or hiring anyone to install it.

Last night, I had forgotten to take my upstairs Nest off Eco mode, and I was shocked to see the difference in one of my son’s rooms based on my Nest Temperature Sensor. In my dream world, I’d have a variable system that could heat and cool rooms independently, but nevertheless, I didn’t buy bitcoin when it was $1, so I cannot afford that. With that being said, I do like having the knowledge of what’s happening in individual rooms and having that data in HomeKit. The new Aqara W100 Climate Sensor is a new way to do that with a built-in screen.

Water damage is one of my biggest fears as a homeowner. With hardwood floors throughout my house, even a small leak could turn into a massive repair bill and a huge inconvenience. A slow drip from a sink can quickly become thousands of dollars in damage for your floors and cabinets. Thankfully, with a HomeKit-enabled flood sensor from FIBARO, you can catch leaks early and avoid a major headache. The FIBARO water leak sensor is one of my oldest HomeKit devices I am using, but it still works great.

Summer is in full swing, and with that comes summer travel. Whether for vacation, baseball tournament, work conference, or all of the above, HomeKit can help you keep tabs on your home. When traveling, there are a few key aspects of my HomeKit setup I fully rely on. One thing to keep in mind is that you’ll need a HomeKit hub to access your devices remotely.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned living in a house with pets and the pollen in the southern US, it’s that indoor air quality matters more than we think. Air purifiers help lessen the problem, but when you can automate them, even better. SwitchBot recently updated the SwitchBot air purifier, and it now supports Matter and works natively with HomeKit without needing an extra hub.

One of the best things that has happened to HomeKit in the past few years is the Matter standard. It is far from perfect, but it has opened the door (pun intended) for a new crop of accessories that would have never supported Apple’s smart home platform before. SwitchBot is a great example. The company started out with clever smart home products like the button pusher, but has leaned hard into Matter recently, and it is paying off. It’s new Lock Ultra and Hub 3 combo brings serious upgrades and, more importantly, native HomeKit compatibility thanks to Matter support.

A good door and window sensor doesn’t just tell you when something opens or closes. It can trigger lights, tweak thermostat settings, or alert you when you’re not home. The new Aqara P2 sensor checks all the boxes with fast, reliable alerts, local automation support, and wide compatibility thanks to native Matter over Thread. If you’ve been holding off on adding a sensor to your setup, this one makes a strong case.

Eve Energy is one of those smart home products that just works. It’s been a staple in my HomeKit setup for years thanks to its reliability, privacy-first design, and native HomeKit support. Eve Energy is picking up some notable upgrades that expand its usefulness even further.

When people ask me where to start with building out their HomeKit, I always come back to the same answer: start small. And by small, I mean a HomeKit-compatible smart plug. These devices are inexpensive, easy to install, and perfect for dipping your toes into automation and scenes within Apple’s smart home environment. They also make great gifts for friends and family who might not be ready for a full HomeKit setup but want a taste of the convenience. This week, we’re looking at the CozyLife HomeKit Mini Smart Plug. It’s a low-cost option that brings a lot of immediate value and helps lay the foundation for a future HomeKit expansion.

When it comes to building out a HomeKit environment, I always look for products that do more than one thing. The Aqara G2H Pro checks a lot of boxes. It’s a HomeKit Secure Video camera, but it also doubles as a hub for other Aqara sensors and accessories, so they can to work with HomeKit. I’ve had it set up in my house for a few weeks now, and it’s proven to be a solid addition that fits right into the Home app without any extra hoops to jump through.

I love outlet adaptors for HomeKit, but if you still use them to automate lamps, it might be time to switch things up (sorry for the pun). Smart plugs are a great way to get started, but smart bulbs give you more control over the lighting experience and work with overhead lights. With smart bulbs, you can change the color, set different brightness levels, and group them by room or scene. It is an easy upgrade that adds flexibility without complicating your setup. This week, I am looking at the Lightinginside Matter smart bulb.

Most people don’t think about air quality until it becomes a problem. It might not be random if you’ve ever felt sluggish in a home office or noticed your allergies acting up indoors. CO2 levels, humidity, and temperature all affect how comfortable and healthy your home actually is. A car fire at my neighbor’s house a few months ago reaffirmed this for me. The SwitchBot Meter Pro CO2 Monitor is built to make tracking air quality easier and integrates with HomeKit over Matter.

Smart home automation is all about convenience or security. For me, automation with motorized shades is one upgrade that makes a real difference day-to-day. Instead of manually raising and lowering them at the beginning and end of the day, automation ensures the perfect amount of light—without thinking about it. Recently, SmartWings announced a new set of Matter-enabled shades that introduce Power over Ethernet (PoE) support, eliminating the need for charging. While PoE is an option, it’s not required, making these some of the most best smart home motorized shades on the market.

Winter in the southern US is coming to a close, so it’s almost time to break out the sprinklers as warm weather arrives. Meross has been steadily expanding its lineup of HomeKit-compatible products, and its latest addition brings another option for smart outdoor watering to HomeKit.

Aqara keeps on a hot srreak in 2025 with a host of new products. After its new HomeKit Secure Video camera, the Aqara LED Bulb T2 is the company’s latest smart lighting option, bringing a nice combination of Thread and Zigbee support. Matter support, Zigbee Adaptive Lighting, and ultra-wide color tuning make it a solid addition to any HomeKit environment.

HomeKit has changed how I interact with many of the rooms in my house. While lighting and cameras tend to have the spotlight for most people as they can easily see the impact, environment monitoring is an equally important factor for me. The Aqara Temperature and Humidity Sensor is a low-cost, simple, yet useful device that can enhance your HomeKit setup significantly. Here’s why you might want to install one in every room.

eufy cameras have long been some of the best options for outdoor HomeKit cameras. I had the original model of the eufyCam 2 in my old house, and I loved them. They were a breeze to install, and the battery life was fantastic. They worked great with HomeKit Secure Video, but they also worked great as HomeKit motion sensors and recording back to the eufy base station. Overall, I had zero complaints. I recently picked up the eufy E30, and it’s a fantastic HomeKit camera if you’re looking for an indoor camera that supports HomeKit Secure Video.