HomeKit

Update: Right now, you can save 18% on the Eve Outdoor Cam at Amazon.

Eve Outdoor Cam is a sleek outdoor video camera for HomeKit, with integrated LED floodlight ideally designed to light up your driveway at night. I’ve been a fan of the Eve Indoor camera for a while, and my experience with the Outdoor Cam is similarly positive. HomeKit cameras are better than ever, thanks to significant user interface upgrades to the Apple Home app in iOS 16.

And HomeKit Secure Video support means clips are saved to your iCloud account in an end-to-end encrypted manner. To make things even more compelling, this set up requires no additional monthly subscription to use, assuming you pay for some iCloud storage. So how does Eve Outdoor Cam and the state of HomeKit Secure Video fare? Very well, for the most part …

HomeKit light bulbs offer both functionality and convenience. They’ve come down in cost in recent years while also getting much more reliable thanks to technology like Thread and Matter. These smart lighting solutions integrate seamlessly with HomeKit, enabling you to control your home lighting through Siri, the Home app, or Scenes/Automation. Beyond just lights, HomeKit light bulbs enhance energy efficiency, improve security, and create customized lighting environments to suit various activities and moods (think dimming as the night goes on). This week, I am looking at the mujoy Smart Light Bulbs.

iOS 18 will bring a huge variety of new features when it arrives this fall, including for pre-installed system apps. One such feature that was never formally announced: the Home app will enable Adaptive Lighting for Matter lights.

Smart plugs are the gateway drug for HomeKit. They’re low-cost and easy to install, and you can get many benefits from them. There are dozens upon dozens of options on where to start, though. The meross MSS315 smart plug delivers almost everything you’d want in a smart plug: Matter support, low cost, and small in size. The only thing it’s missing is Thread support and 5Ghz Wi-Fi.

In an interview on the Decoder podcast this week, Logitech CEO Hanneke Faber sent HomeKit fans into a frenzy when she said the company’s Circle View products were “pretty much gone.”

As it turns out, that’s not the case, but the future of Logitech’s smart home products doesn’t appear to be bright…

Summer is in full swing here in the United States, but my traveling is over for the summer. I spent the week before Memorial Day in Lisbon, Portugal, the week after Memorial Day near the Gulf of Mexico, and a few days in early June in Las Vegas for CriblCon. Having a HomeKit Home hub gives me remote access to all my favorite HomeKit accessories for monitoring energy, tricking would-be burglars by changing my lights, and much more. Here are some of my favorite HomeKit accessories for the summer.

Aqara has built a reputation as a HomeKit leader with the company’s newest devices offering support for Apple’s advanced features like HomeKit Secure Video and home key. For Prime Day, Aqara is offering big discounts on devices like its Smart Lock, Video Doorbell, Camera Hub, and Presence Sensor. Head below to take advantage of up to 33% off.

Lutron is the best in the business when it comes to reliable smart lighting solutions. Its Caséta line works great with Apple HomeKit and includes a wide range of switches, dimmers, and remotes. Today, Lutron is announcing two new entries to the Caséta portfolio: the new Diva smart dimmer ELV+ and new color options for the Pico Paddle Remote.

Apple’s home key continues to slowly make its way into more smart home locks. Aqara, fresh off the release of the U50 smart lock, has just released the Aqara U200 with advanced security features, Matter support, Thread support, and integration with Apple home key.

A number of people have reported their Philips Hue bulbs suddenly switching to 100% brightness, seemingly randomly.

Update: While the problem was reported to relate to Matter compatibility, it’s now been confirmed that the issue is with Hue code – see statement at the end …

Even as an Apple user, I can appreciate some of the work Google has done with its Nest lineup. I use the Google Nest doorbell and the Google Nest Cam with Floodlight in my house, and I am very happy with them. I use the Starling Home Hub. The latest Starling firmware brings support for something that unlocks a new use case for folks who like Google’s hardware but not the cloud service.

When looking to automate your home, a lot of the hype revolves around motion sensors and other devices, but I believe HomeKit door sensors are still some of the best devices to add to your Home app-backed home. I love the Onvis smart door and window sensor, as the device supports Thread technology for a robust smart home.

As we covered last week, iOS 18 includes a few notable changes for the Home app and HomeKit in general. One of those changes is hands-free support for unlocking smart locks thanks to Ultra Wideband technology. Unfortunately, and perhaps unsurprisingly, there are no locks on the market that actually offer UWB support.

Update: Find a statement from Schalage on their plans for a new HomeKit lock below.

Temperature tracking has long been one of my favorite aspects of HomeKit. Understanding how the temperature can vary in different parts of my house helped me decide where to use stand-alone fans and adjust our HVAC schedule. Meross recently released a new solar-powered temperature sensor that pairs nicely with HomeKit.

Apple TV and HomePod owners have the option of setting up these devices as a Home Hub to control HomeKit and Matter accessories remotely. However, while you can set up multiple devices as Home Hubs, there’s no option to choose a specific hub as the main one. But that’s changing with iOS 18 and tvOS 18, which finally give users this option.

While we still waiting for new smart home hardware products from Apple, iOS 18 does bring some new advancements to the Apple smart home software experience, with upgrades to HomeKit and the Home app.

The hero new feature this year is the addition of guest user access, allowing you to let visitors control your smart accessories temporarily, without adding them as a full permanent member of your Home. Also, there is new support for smart robot vacuum cleaners and door locks with Ultra-Wide Band connectivity …

I’ve been using Abode as my security system for over four years at this point. Even when I built a new house in 2022, I decided to choose Abode once again despite being able to pick from anything. It strikes a really nice balance between ease of use, strong technology, and reliability. The products are affordable, and the monitoring plan works great. Because the company has a UL-certified monitoring station. Abode recently released a new Abode Lock & Keypad smart lock, and I’ve had a little time to integrate it into the Abode ecosystem to see how it works.

In the age of YouTube tear-downs, it’s not often that Apple is able to hide a component of its devices from users who go searching for info. However, that’s exactly what has happened with the latest M3 Mac models and M4 iPad Pros…until today.

As reported by The Verge, many of the newest Macs and iPads contain a secret Thread radio that Apple isn’t saying anything about.

A few weeks ago, Aqara was in the news with the release of its new P2 motion sensor. I am a big fan of motion sensors for smart homes as they allow for some pretty rad automations based on who’s in a certain room and when. They’re generally low-cost enough that you can put them in multiple rooms without breaking the budget. Let’s dive into the new motion sensor and see how it works.

HomeKit smart plugs are one of the most useful smart home products you can buy. Everyone can find a use for them. They work with anything that has a 110-volt plug that auto turns on, and they’re really affordable. They’ve been around for years as well, so the hardware has become incredibly reliable as well. Linkind’s new Matter-enabled smart plug that comes in a 2-pack is an incredible value for those looking to automate multiple rooms in their home.