HomeKit Weekly

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.

In our temporary living situation, I am without my normal HomeKit setup, so I’ve had to rethink what HomeKit products I want to reconfigure. I took this time as an opportunity to completely delete my HomeKit Home setup so I can start fresh in my new house. As someone that grew up in the Windows XP era where you reinstalled the OS once a year, old habits are hard to break. As I was culling the large box of all my HomeKit products, I came across my trusty Eve Cam, and I realized it had a flexible use case I hadn’t considered until now.

Air Purifiers are one of the lesser-known and used HomeKit categories. There are only a handful of devices on the market, but I find them really beneficial and an ideal picture of how HomeKit can work with other devices in your home. If you’re looking for the best-looking air purifier on the market with HomeKit support, you’ll want to look at the smartmi Air Purifier. Read on to read my entire review.

A few months ago, I reviewed Switchbot’s curtain automation product, and I came away pretty impressed. The only downside for HomeKit access is it did require using HOOBS or keeping a Homebridge server up and running. While this is a simple process, it’s better to have a native HomeKit product when possible. Today, Aqara is bringing that to the market with the Aqara Curtain Driver E1.

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.