HomeKit

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.

Following the launch of its No-Neutral HomeKit Switch and Dimmer lineup launched in May, Leviton is out with its latest HomeKit accessory, the Decora Smart Wi-Fi 2nd Gen Scene Controller Switch. The new 4 button switch gives simple one-touch control of HomeKit scenes and multiple smart lights and other devices.

Signify has announced a wide array of new Philips Hue lighting products to its ever-growing range, as well as a new switch designed to make it easy to dim lights and select scenes.

Additionally, the Hue app has been updated to offer a new Sunrise option to smart home owners, allowing existing color lights to mimick the colors of a sunrise to gently wake you in the morning …

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.

Apple has put a renewed emphasis on HomeKit this year with iOS 16, bringing a completely redesigned Home app ahead of the looming Matter standard launch. One key aspect of HomeKit is having a home hub, which allows for features like out-of-home control, automations, and more.

Apple has traditionally allowed HomePod, Apple TV, and iPad devices to serve as home hubs. With the release of iOS and iPadOS 16 this year, however, iPads will no longer be supported as home hubs.

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.

As regular readers know, I’m a huge fan of smart home tech. But there’s a trend we’re increasingly seeing with this and other technology where we never fully own the product.

That’s true in a couple of ways, and there’s both an upside and downside to that – each illustrated by a different story I spotted this morning …

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.

IKEA has launched a number of smart home products over the last eight years including blinds, lights, and more powered by its HomeKit-compatible TRÅDFRI gateway. Now the company has announced it has an all-new smart home hub with Matter support plus a redesigned “Home” app on the way.

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.

Eve’s HomeKit products have been some of my favorites for many years. Between products like the Eve Water Guard and the popular Thread enabled Eve Energy, its commitment to HomeKit has made it a fan favorite for people building a smart home around HomeKit. Today, Eve brings the Eve Outdoor Cam to the market with the first-ever floodlight with HomeKit Secure Video support.

Popular smart home accessory maker Ecobee has officially taken the wraps off of two new smart thermostats joining its lineup today. The new Smart Thermostat Premium and Smart Thermostat Enhanced offer larger 4-inch displays, a completely redesigned interface, HomeKit integration, and more.

Head below for the full details on Ecobee’s new smart thermostat lineup, with some hands-on experience and notes as well..

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.

Leviton is out today with five new smart home products under its Decora line. Headlining the release is a neat way to bring HomeKit-enabled smart lighting to older homes with the Decora Smart No-Neutral Switch, Dimmer, and required WiFi Bridge.

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.

HomeKit’s ecosystem is fantastic, but the directly compatible devices can get expensive – especially if you already have incompatible devices at home that you need to replace. $25 for a smart plug, $40 for a door sensor – it really adds up quickly. There are plenty of other smart home devices available on Amazon, from $6 smart plugs to $25 cameras, outside the HomeKit ecosystem. Thankfully, many of these otherwise unsupported devices can be brought into HomeKit with the use of Homebridge software.

Last fall Nanoleaf launched its latest HomeKit smart lights, the modular Lines. They feature an all-new form factor that makes it easy to create a custom aesthetic for your home, office, or any other space. Now the company has released slick matte black skin covers (matte pink too) to easily transform the white exterior of the lights.

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.