HomeKit

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.

As first announced at WWDC 2021, iOS 15 evolves Apple Wallet to store keys for hotels, homes, and even cars. The Schlage Encode Plus is the first such consumer lock solution to take advantage of the NFC-powered Apple home key support. Schlage’s smart lock is finally widely available at Home Depot in its modern Century style in matte black and satin nickel.

As you’ll see in my hands-on video, home key is a great way to access your home with your iPhone or Apple Watch via just a tap. Let’s take a closer look at what the Schlage Encode Plus and Apple’s home key technology have to offer!

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.

The launch of the universal smart home standard Matter has been delayed yet again. This is the third delay since the standard – backed by Apple, Google, Samsung, Amazon, and others – was originally set to debut back in 2020.

The standards organization behind Matter claims that this latest delay is caused by the unexpected popularity of the protocol …

There could soon be another option on the market for HomeKit blinds, this time courtesy of IKEA. While companies like Eve and Lutron have released high-end HomeKit-compatible smart shades, IKEA is expanding its lineup in an effort to better compete…

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.

Smart home products provider Aqara on Monday announced its new Smart Door Lock A100 Zigbee, which features advanced authentication technologies and support for leading home automation protocols. For Apple users, it works with HomeKit and Home Keys in the Wallet app.

Lutron is out today with a new release for its veteran smart shade lineup. The Serena Smart Architectural Honeycomb Shades with HomeKit support bring over 40 fabrics and an updated modern aesthetic to create the perfect custom design for your space.

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.

Home Widget for HomeKit is probably one of the coolest apps for improving your experience with HomeKit-enabled accessories on iOS. It offers quick access to Home automation directly from your home screen. The app was updated on Wednesday with great new features, including sensor support, different panel sizes, and more.

In my never-ending quest to craft the perfect HomeKit smart home, I’ve realized that one key is a combination of smart controls and physical controls. One of the most recent additions to my setup for this is the Wemo Stage Scene Controller, which was announced last April, but recently much more reliable thanks to its adoption of Thread.

The Starling Home Hub is a core part of my HomeKit experience, as it bridges my Nest Thermostat and Google Home Mini to HomeKit and AirPlay, respectively. One notable feature that’s been a wishlist item for many Starling customers is Nest support for Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video. Now, with the latest 11.0 firmware update, a handful of Google Nest cameras are now compatible with HKSV.

There are many ways to interact with HomeKit. You can use the Home app on iOS or macOS, you can use Siri on a HomePod or Apple Watch, but another way is with NFC tags, and it’s surprisingly easy and can be done for less than $1 per NFC automation you want to build. Since learning how to use it, it’s been an ideal way to use HomeKit in a way that’s faster than using the Home app but more reliable than Siri. Let’s dive in on how it works and how to configure it.

Sometimes, it’s good to take a step back and build on foundations with a new year. I think about HomeKit every day, so many of the terms I throw around, like Automations, Home Hub, Homebridge, etc., might be known to experts. Still, I wanted to compile a go-to list of HomeKit terms and definitions for newcomers over the next few weeks. So this week, I want to look in-depth at HomeKit Automations.