HomeKit Weekly

Google, Apple, and Amazon are three of the biggest technology companies in the world, and both have a strong presence in the smart home market. However, their approaches to this market differ in some key ways. After spending years fully in the camp of HomeKit, I’ve spent the last few weeks with some first-party Google products, and I think it’s worth asking the question: Why doesn’t Apple make its own smart home products?

One of the key themes we’re seeing with smart homes is compatibility. Matter technology aims to bridge the gap between the various smart home platforms. Outside of Matter, HOOBS is one of my favorite products to extend the usefulness of HomeKit. It’s built on top of Homebridge as a commercial product that’s well supported. In early 2023, HOOBS Pro looks like a heavy hitter for building the best smart home system.

I mentioned a few months ago that I planned to use the Google Nest Cam with Floodlight at my new house because it offered 24/7 recording. For my outdoor cameras, it’s something I really wanted going forward. We’ve been in the house a few weeks, so I wanted to report what I’ve learned about the devices, how it compares to HomeKit cameras, and how it works with Starling Home Hub for bridging it to HomeKit. 

YEELIGHT’s lamp with wireless charging is the perfect option for a kid’s bedroom. In a simple design that includes a touch sensor and HomeKit support, it strikes the perfect balance between form and function; it won’t break the bank, either! If you stop reading here, you need to know two things about it:

1. It supports HomeKit
2. It includes a built-in wireless charger
3. It’s right around $50 depending on if its on sale or not

If that looks like something you want, you’ll love this lamp.

The Christmas shopping season has officially begun, and since it’s time for HomeKit Weekly, I thought I’d take the time to provide an update on my top HomeKit devices that would be the perfect gift under the Christmas tree for a smart home enthusiast. I’ve been doing these articles for a few years now, and in that time I’ve seen so many great HomeKit products from a variety of manufacturers. With the rollout of Matter and Thread, it’s never been a better time to start building your perfect smart home on the foundation of HomeKit!

Aqara is back with another great release ahead of the Christmas season, and while it’s not fully compatible HomeKit, because it’s tightly integrated with the entire Aqara ecosystem, it’s something I want to look at from a HomeKit perspective. Let’s take a look at the brand new Aqara Smart Pet Feeder.

It’s officially Christmas decoration season, and if you’re looking for a smart plug so your Christmas lights can be controlled from your iPhone, iPad Apple Watch, or from Siri (even remotely), the Meross Smart Dimmer Plug is a great option. It’s easy to set up and works with HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant as well. The plug itself is designed with a sleek, compact design and has an LED indicator light that will let you know when it’s powered on. You can also use customize the schedule in the Home app so it automatically turns on at different times of the day. Let’s look at the Meross Outdoor Plug with HomeKit.

The Meross Water Leak Sensor MS400H is a HomeKit-compatible leak sensor that can connect to your Wi-Fi network. The unit has three parts: the sensor itself, a new Meross hub, and the power adapter for the sensor. The sensor itself is about two inches long by one inch wide and just under an inch deep, so it should fit into most places where you want to place it. It has three prongs on the underside, which is how it detects water leaks. The prongs are also part of the pairing process with onboarding into Homekit, and I’ll cover the weirdness of that later.

The LIFX Mini White is one of the lowest costs HomeKit bulbs on the market today, with a price tag under just $20. It’s compatible with Apple’s HomeKit and doesn’t require a hub to connect to your Wi-Fi network. At that price point, it’s hard not to be tempted by this smart light if you’re looking for an inexpensive way to try out some Internet-connected lighting in your home. But as with any budget product, there are sacrifices made in order to meet such a low price point, especially when it comes to color options.

I’ve been a fan of Meross since they first came out with their early HomeKit products. They’re low cost, spread across a variety of product types, and generally work well. Meross recently released a new look Wi-Fi oil diffuser with HomeKit support, and it’s a great way to start getting your home ready for fall weather and soon – the Christmas holiday season. 

As I’ve been building a new home, one of the things I’ve had in the back of my mind is avoiding the permanent installation of as many things as possible that’ll be outdated as Wi-Fi networks and Bluetooth networks evolve. Just in the past few years, we’re seeing Matter and Thread become a key part of the smart home of the future as well. When I was meeting with my builder and electrician, we talked about what kind of outlets we wanted. They asked if I wanted to use some that had various smart home technologies built in like HomeKit or Alexa, and I said, no, give me “dumb outlets.” I really like using add-on adapters so I can easily upgrade them in the future. In preparation for our new outdoor patio, I picked up the Minoston Outdoor Smart Plug to handle automating the outdoor outlets.

When Apple announced HomeKit Secure Video, one of the first products to be desired by customers was a doorbell. Ring doorbells had become very popular, but customers wanted an option that integrated nicely with HomeKit and Apple products and provided an end-to-end encryption option for recording. The idea that a smart doorbell would be able to show you who was at your front door before even opening it up seemed like something out of a science-fiction novel a few decades ago, but now, there are multiple products and platforms that offer this service. Today, I want to look at the current state of HomeKit doorbells, and what Apple should do to build out the category.

The world of smart home lighting is getting more and more crowded. HomeKit-enabled products are popping up left and right, but that’s not always a bad thing. There are plenty of great options out there now, and Nanoleaf is one of them. Today, we’ll be looking at the newest addition to their lineup: the Nanoleaf Essentials A19 Smart Bulb! If you only read one thing about this review, know this: It’s one of the only HomeKit bulbs with Thread support.

Smart plugs are easy to use and a great way to make your home smarter. But what if you’re looking for something that is not as expensive? There are many brands of smart plugs out there, including TP-Link Kasa Smart Plug Mini. This is one of the best values on the market when it comes to HomeKit compatible smart plugs. Not only does this plug have a low price, but it’s also compact enough that it will not block other outlets when placed next to each other. Let’s take a look at the HomeKit edition of the TP-Link Smart Plug Mini.

Thread continues to be the theme of HomeKit in 2022, with it becoming a key future-proofing checkbox I am looking for with all new HomeKit products. Currently, there’s only one HomeKit-enabled air purifier with Thread, and that is the Airversa Air Purifier. I’ve had it in place for a few weeks, and it’s quickly become my favorite HomeKit-enabled air purifier.

A few weeks ago, Eve announced the brand-new Eve Aqua with Thread. While Thread alone is a welcome upgrade for a device that is going to be farther away from Wi-Fi than most other HomeKit devices, it also received a nice overall build upgrade that is worth an upgrade if you’re an owner of the previous model.

I am a HomeKit veteran at this point; I’ve used just about every product that has HomeKit support that I can try without major installation (rewiring electrical outlets, changing out light switches, etc). I think it’s time for Apple to buy HOOBS and officially welcome Homebridge into the fold of HomeKit.

Improving your video meeting quality might include upgrading your webcam, but it most definitely should include upgrading your desk lighting. If you want a budget upgrade that works with HomeKit, you’ll want to check out the Meross desk lamp. With a flexible arm for adjusting the lighting on your face, it makes for a simple way to improve the overall quality while keeping it simple on your desk setup.

As a company, Eve has built their business on HomeKit. There’s no Eve Cloud. There’s no support for Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. It’s all HomeKit. The Eve app for iPhone is a nice Home app replacement. With its new motion sensor, the Eve Motion, Eve continues to be a great option for privacy-focused smart home enthusiasts who want to future-proof their homes. The new Eve Motion supports Thread, can be installed indoors or outdoors, and works without the need for a secondary hub.

A whole subset of HomeKit device categories often goes under notice. When you think about smart home devices, you will generally think about cameras, lights, speakers, or a switch. The real genius of a smart home is when things can happen without you even thinking about them. There’s a device that I recently picked up that I think might end up being one of my favorite HomeKit devices. This week, I am looking at the Fibaro Multi-Sensor Motion Sensor for HomeKit

For those new to smart home automation, there’s no easier way to get started than with a smart outlet adaptor. When I got my first smart home product back in 2013, a Belkin Wemo for my Christmas tree was the first product I used. Today, smart outlets have remained the best use case for novice uses, but they’ve gotten more reliable and much smaller. I recently tried out the brand-new SwitchBot Plug Mini with HomeKit support.