HomeKit

HomeKit Secure Routers have had an interesting lifespan. The technology was first introduced at WWDC in 2019, but it was another year before any manufacturers started rolling out support. Even into 2021, there are still just a handful of Wi-Fi solutions that support HomeKit Secure Routers. One of the most recent additions is eero Pro 6 and eero 6. I recently decided I was ready to implement HomeKit Secure Router, so I purchased the Pro edition and went to work upgrading my network.

It’s summertime, so many people are sprucing up the outdoor parts of their homes with new flowers and mulch, but it’s also a great time of year to take on some new HomeKit projects to streamline aspects of your house, including adding some extra security.

Level Home has announced what it says is the smallest smart lock ever made, the Level Lock. As with the company’s two existing products, the smart lock is designed to look totally unobtrusive.

The Level Lock is HomeKit-compatible, and now also works with Alexa …

Apple yesterday unveiled its new iCloud+ service that offers Private Relay, Hide My Email, and expanded support for HomeKit Secure Video cameras. As it turns out, there is one limitation to this: if you want support for unlimited HomeKit Secure Video cameras, you’ll have to spring for the $9.99 per month iCloud+ plan with 2TB of storage.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been testing the Aqara M2 hub, and it’s a worthy addition to HomeKit. I’ve been using the original Aqara hub in my home for the better part of a year. I’ve done a complete reversal on my opinion on the use of hubs between devices and HomeKit. In my early days of using HomeKit, I preferred devices that worked on Wi-Fi or Bluetooth without using a hub. In practice, I’ve found that the devices attached to hubs are the most reliable in my HomeKit setup.

Nanoleaf debuted its Shapes HomeKit smart light panels last May starting with Hexagons before the Triangles and Mini Triangles arrived. Now the Shapes Hexagons are gaining a new nature-inspired option with the Elements Wood Look finish.

The Philips Hue app has been redesigned from scratch, greatly simplifying things like renaming lamps and moving them between rooms. Things that once required delving into the settings, sometimes two different places in Settings, can now be done right from the main screen.

The company says that there is more to come later in the year, including Dynamic Scenes, where the colors change gradually over time …

One of the benefits of using HomeKit for building your smart home is that there is a robust ecosystem of third-party apps to build on the experience. A few years ago, Indie developer Aaron Pearce released the popular HomeRun application for controlling HomeKit scenes from Apple Watch.

HomeRun 2 is hitting the App Store today with several new features for controlling HomeKit from your Apple Watch or your iPhone’s home screen.

E-ink technology is typically found in Kindle devices, but it’s one of the critical features of the Qingping Bluetooth digital thermometer.

Smart outlets are one of the simplest ways to start your smart home journey, and I’ve tried almost all of the ones that support HomeKit. With its new Thread support, the Eve Energy will become my go-to recommendation until other products add Thread supports.

As we reported earlier today, a huge Eufy privacy breach allowed users to view the live and recorded camera feeds of strangers. Eufy has now responded to this security breach, bizarrely attributing it to a “bug” that has since been fixed.

Update: Eufy has acknowledged the issue, and made a statement – below.

A huge Eufy privacy breach has resulted in both live and recorded camera feeds being shown to complete strangers. They also have complete access to the account, including control of pan-and-tilt cameras where fitted.

The issue was first noted on Reddit, and an Eufy cam owner at 9to5Mac has been able to confirm that he saw the same thing …

While it’s entering the humid months here in the southern United States, I am always on the lookout for new HomeKit devices to simplify my life. In the dryer months, my family uses humidifiers to keep our rooms from drying out at night. I recently acquired the VOCOlinc MistFlow smart humidifier for my HomeKit setup. Let’s dive into all it can do.

Back in 2019, Apple, Amazon, and Google teamed up with the Zigbee Alliance to announce the “CHIP” alliance for promoting smart home devices that work across multiple platforms. As the first devices certified by this alliance are expected to hit stores in 2021, the companies behind “CHIP” announced today that the project will have a new name: Matter.

In the process of building a new house, I’ve been putting a lot of thought into what I want to do camera-wise. I’ve even considered putting in Nest cameras outdoors (bridging to HomeKit via Starling Home Hub) and then HomeKit cameras indoors. As part of that process, I’ve been purchasing every HomeKit camera on the market, so this week, I am looking at the Ecobee SmartCamera as a potential option to build around.

Last month, Eve shared a deep dive into how Thread works and why it could be the future of smart home devices. Now the HomeKit-only device maker has announced three new products that are getting upgraded to include the useful Apple-supported Thread connectivity.

Update 4/27: After a short delay from the original launch date, the new Eve Energy smart plug with Thread is now available. Meanwhile, the new Apple TV 4K is another option to pick up a Thread-enabled HomeKit hub.

Before I became an adult, I rarely worried much about the weather. Now, I somewhat obsess over what’s happening and what will happen. After tornados ran through my town in 2020 (yes, a tornado during a pandemic), I especially watch the weather much closer in the spring. Dark Sky has been my weather app of choice with occasional use of Carrot Weather. Both apps are fantastic, but I am taking my weather monitoring to new levels by adding the Netatmo Weather Station into my HomeKit environment.

The popular smart home accessory maker Wemo is out with a new HomeKit-compatible Stage Scene Controller. This accessory is designed to connect with the Home app and make it easy for you to quickly set different scenes.

Back in 2019, Apple joined Amazon, Google, the Zigbee Alliance, and over 170 other companies to work on a new smart home standard called CHIP. After some delays, new smart home devices will be able to get certification for CHIP late this year which means we could see the first products arrive on the market in Q4.

If you’re looking to give your Home app a personalized makeover, HomePaper is a new app designed to help. Apple includes a handful of rather boring default wallpapers in the Home app, but HomePaper lets you take things to the next level by combining your own pictures with custom gradients.