HomeKit Weekly

Meross continues to expand its HomeKit compatible product portfolio with its new Light Strips that include over 30 feet of lights for a fantastic price. Meross continues to provide an ever-expanding product portfolio with native HomeKit support. As I review the Meross Light Strips, I want to explain an underappreciated use case for this product type.

In May, I said that a redesigned Home app was on my iOS 16 wishlist, and WWDC did not disappoint. HomeKit is set to get a major upgrade with iOS 16, including an all-new Home app, lock screen widgets, new Home key vendors, deeper Matter support, and more. Let’s look at what’s new coming with iOS 16’s HomeKit upgrades.

I am officially moved out of my house into temporary living quarters while our new house is finished up. My Home app is in chaos as almost everything is offline. I am slowly getting a few essential HomeKit items back up and running in our temporary spot. However, one of the items I sold with the house was my beloved eufyCam Pro. As I wrote a few weeks ago, I am switching to the Nest Cam with Floodlight for the new house due to a continuous recording option. As I said goodbye to it, I want to give my parting thoughts for one of the best outdoor HomeKit camera options.

If you’re starting from scratch with HomeKit, it can look expensive to get started. There are so many devices with different features that you might be concerned about what to buy. However, if you’re new to HomeKit, I’ve got the perfect device to start with: a switched outlet. I recently tested a new low-cost HomeKit compatible outlet adaptor that is less than $20 for a two-pack, and it’s the perfect way to get started with HomeKit.

As I’ve mentioned a few times, my family is in the process of building a home, so I’ve documented some of my HomeKit plans in previous articles. For the moment, I am debt-free since we’ve sold our current home, but our new house won’t be finished until October.

We’re in the final days of this home, so we’re moving into a temporary living situation for the summer. So many HomeKit products and projects assume you’re the homeowner and can easily mount items, drill home, etc. Today, I want to consider some beneficial HomeKit setups for renters.

I’ve written about the home-building process a few times in the past. There’s something refreshing about “starting from scratch” with your home and deciding everything fresh. There’s also a benefit to rethinking the role of smart home technology in your life. How much is too much? Would it be easier to use a light switch here vs. a smart bulb? Do I really need that many cameras? For the next iteration of my smart home diary section of HomeKit Weekly, I want to explain why I picked a brand of cameras I never thought I’d go with a few months back. Let’s look at how I ended up choosing the Nest Cam with Floodlight for my outdoor cameras.

Smart home lighting is one of the key use cases for any smart home platform. There’s nothing that makes you feel like you’re living in the age of The Jetsons than having lights automatically come on and off based on motion control and voice assistants. The Philips Hue Go light is a worthy addition to your HomeKit environment if you want a portable light for an outdoor area.

It’s officially the time of year when I turn my focus to what will be announced at WWDC in June. The rumors are always rampant this time of year, and outside of some significant improvements to iMessage, I hope Apple spends a lot of time during the keynote showing off much-needed improvements to HomeKit. So let’s dive into what’s on my iOS 16 HomeKit wishlist.

It’s getting close to summer and summer traveling here in the U.S., and I was recently reminded how beneficial remote access to your smart home accessories could be. So this week, I want to explain how to get access to your devices when away from home and the potential use cases.

HomeKit Weekly is a series focused on smart home accessories, automation tips and tricks, and everything to do with Apple’s smart home framework.

Ring promised HomeKit support many years ago but hasn’t come through with that promise. At this point, it looks less and less likely that it’ll ever happen. If you’re firmly in the Ring ecosystem, but want to enjoy some of the benefits of HomeKit. All you’ll need to add is a computer running Homebridge, and you can integrate Ring into HomeKit for free. My favorite way to use Homebridge is HOOBS. Let’s dive into how to add Ring devices to HomeKit.

Aqara products have been an integral part of my HomeKit setup for nearly two years. With a competitive entry price and a range of accessories that are compatible with HomeKit, it’s the ideal way to start your smart home journey without breaking the beak. A new Aqara motion sensor is now available, and I’ve had the opportunity to spend a few weeks testing it in my home.

Making it easier to work to control my HomeKit accessories is something I am always thinking about. As easy as using the Home app on my iPhone is or turning items off and on with Siri, sometimes you want to make it even easier – especially for guests and non-smart home fans. You could certainly use the Brilliant panel, but what if you want something a bit easier to install? For example, have you considered an old iPad mounted on the wall? Read on to see how easier it is to configure so it can only work in the Home app.

If you told me that you were going to buy one type of HomeKit product, I would recommend one that detects water leaks. Water damage in a home can cause tens of thousands of dollars in damage. One of my favorite products is the Eve Water Guard, and the new version that adds Thread support is now an even better value. So let’s dive in on how to set it up to protect one of your most significant investments best.

Tying together accessories across manufacturers is a key reason I love building around a smart home platform vs. picking manufacturers. One of the most underrated accessory types for HomeKit is motion sensors, and this week for HomeKit Weekly, I want to dive into it to look at the best options and how to make the best use of them.

Last year, I wrote an edition of HomeKit Weekly that talked about building a new house and the smart home decisions that would go into that process. We’ve now broken ground, so I felt like it was time to update readers on what products I am leaning towards as I build out a new home and smart home from the ground up.

I get to test many HomeKit devices, and my family is used to new devices coming in and out of the Home app. Still, the reviewer’s kit for the Eve Motion Blinds gives me insights into a high-end HomeKit future with custom integrators.

When it comes to oil diffusers, some people think they’ll solve the world’s problems and others believe they are humidifiers that smell nice. I fall in the latter category, but we still have multiple products around our house. We’ve tried several HomeKit options in the past, and while they technically worked well the overall appearance of them left a bit to be desired. The new Meross Smart Wi-Fi essential oil diffuser brings a much better-looking option to this category of products. Let’s dive into how it works.

Today, Aqara has announced the US release of its new G2H Pro camera designed as an Aqara hub and supporting HomeKit Secure Video. Aqara’s product lineups allow end users to build out a HomeKit setup at the lowest cost possible. Read on to learn more about the G2H Pro and its comparison to the original.

One of the challenges of going ‘all in’ with HomeKit and other smart home platforms is it creates challenges when guests come to your home, as they need to turn on lights, etc. However, the Wemo Stage Smart Scene Controller is so simple yet powerful when simplifying daily usage of HomeKit. With its mountable frame to match a light switch, it might be one of my most recommended HomeKit products in the future.

Recently, I updated my review of the iSmartGate Homekit garage door opener to reflect how much more I am using it now that I have the Intellidash CarPlay unit in my car. I’ve stopped using the standard RF garage door opener with easy access to open and close my garage door from CarPlay. The usage spurred on some thinking about further integration with HomeKit and CarPlay.

Nearly two years ago, I installed the iSmartGate garage door opener. During that time, we used it a decent amount, but never daily. Since we still have RF-based remotes, they were often faster to use vs. opening the Home app, waiting on it to connect, and then opening the garage door. Since I finally added CarPlay to my car through the IntelliDash CarPlay Unit, having access to my garage doors in HomeKit has become a daily use.