HomeKit

Apple HomeKit allows users to control smart home devices using iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, HomePod, and Mac. There’s a wide variety of accessories available, including lights, thermostats, smart plugs, door locks, cameras and more.

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on HomeKit:

Aqara’s new HomeKit-enabled wares include powerful hub, smart plug and lock

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Aqara Hub M3
The new Aqara Hub M3 can help your run your whole smart home.
Photo: Aqara

Aqara highlighted new HomeKit-enabled smart-home devices at CES 2024 Monday in Las Vegas — the new Hub M3, Border Router Plug and Smart Lock U300 — plus an AI chatbot interface for the Aqara Home App.

The devices support both Matter and Thread networking standards. And the hub may help you control your whole smart home.

Aqara Smart Lock U100: Your key to a smarter, safer home

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You can open the Aqara Smart Lock U100 with your iPhone or Apple Watch.
You can open the Aqara Smart Lock U100 with your iPhone or Apple Watch.
Photo: Aqara

Not very many deadbolt smart locks support Apple HomeKit or home key, the handy feature that lets you unlock the door with your iPhone or Apple Watch. But Aqara’s highly capable Smart Lock U100 does, and it offers many other smart features as well. That makes it a top choice for Apple fans everywhere to keep their homes safe and secure.

If you’d like to never carry a physical key and never get locked out again, read on.

Update to Matter standard makes your fridge smarter

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Matter standard logo
The Matter 2.1 update adds support for 9 new kinds of appliances and more.
Photo: Connectivity Standards Alliance

The Matter connectivity standard helps different devices and smart-home platforms like Apple HomeKit and Amazon Alexa work together. And with an update Monday, it added nine home-appliance types and got other improvements, the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) behind it said.

Matter specification 2.1 adds support for refrigerators, dishwashers, laundry washers, robot vacuums, air-quality sensors, air purifiers, fans, stand-alone room air conditioners, and smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms.

New Ecobee smart doorbell beams video to thermostat screen

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You're on camera via thermostat screen, complete with vertical field of view and smart sensing.
You're on camera via thermostat screen, complete with vertical field of view and smart sensing.
Photo: Ecobee

The new Smart Doorbell Camera that Ecobee rolled out Tuesday offers an “industry leading” vertical field of view and a “first of its kind” live video stream beamed to a thermostat screen, the company said.

For any smart home powered by HomeKit or Amazon Alexa, the camera offer clear vision day or night, radar-sensing tech for accurate detection and a battery-free enclosure that allows reliable usage in extreme temperatures, Ecobee said.

Nanoleaf gets festive with most advanced holiday string lights yet

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However you celebrate in the deep, dark winter, these lights can help.
However you celebrate in the deep, dark winter, these lights can help.
Photo: Nanoleaf

New Nanoleaf Essentials Matter Smart Holiday String Lights — with support for the new Matter standard and all smart-home plaforms, including HomeKit — are coming in time for winter holidays, the company said Thursday.

Or maybe even in time for Halloween, for that matter. At any rate, it’s almost time to get festive.

Is your smart light bulb giving passwords to hackers?

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A research paper found TP-Link's Tapo L530E smart bulb suffers four security flaws.
A research paper found TP-Link's Tapo L530E smart bulb suffers four security flaws.
Photo: TP-Link

A popular smart light bulb from TP-Link suffers from severe security flaws that could give hackers passwords and other information, researchers said Wednesday.

A paper examined four flaws in the bestselling TP-Link Tapo L530E, which works with Apple’s HomeKit platform.

Make any home smart with Brilliant’s new control panel

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Even renters and people uncomfortable working with wiring can use this.
Even renters and people uncomfortable working with wiring can use this.
Photo: Brilliant

Smart-home systems maker Brilliant unveiled a new “install it anywhere” plug-in version of its Smart Home Control Panel Tuesday.

Any homeowner or renter can use its touchscreen-based control and automation system to manage smart home products integrated with HomeKit and Siri.

Use Home Key, fingerprints or passwords with new deadbolt smart lock

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Home Key lets you open this new deadbolt smart lock with an iPhone or Apple Watch.
Home Key lets you open this new deadbolt smart lock with an iPhone or Apple Watch.
Photo: Aqara

Aqara released its first deadbolt smart lock Friday, the Smart Lock U100. It’s fully compatible with Apple’s HomeKit and you can open it with Home Key, fingerprints, passwords or — get this — a physical key.

Snark aside (a physical if often provided with smart locks for power outages), the stout new lock integrates with the Matter home automation standard and could become a vital part of HomeKit users’ smart-home arsenals.

Floating iPad Pro works as a ‘perfect’ second screen [Setups]

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Whoah, how'd that iPad Pro learn to fly?
Whoah, how'd that iPad Pro learn to fly?
Photo: StatFlow@Reddit.com

We often see computer setups festooned with several big external monitors, Mission Control style. But some great setups get by with zero external displays, like today’s featured iMac setup.

The iMac provides the main screen, of course. And then “black magic” makes the iPad Pro levitate as a second screen. Or something like that. See below.

Siri can command this robot to clear the air

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The little bot will tell you how clean the air in your space is, and clean it for you.
The little bot will tell you how clean the air in your space is, and clean it for you.
Photo: nara Pro

When you start to worry the air in your home could make you sick, an air purifier can help. And they’re getting smarter (but hopefully not “rise of the machines” smart a la Terminator).

The nara Pro, which the company bills as “the versatile air purifier robot,” runs a two-stage system via artificial intelligence that works with Siri and HomeKit, as well as other smart-home systems.

And you can get a good deal on it on the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform.

Belkin’s Wemo smart-home brand taps the brakes on Matter standard

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Wemo products like this dimmer switch work with HomeKit over Thread, but forget about Matter certification for now.
Wemo products like this dimmer switch work with HomeKit over Thread, but forget about Matter certification for now.
Photo: Belkin/Wemo

Belkin’s smart-home accessories brand, Wemo, is “backing away from Matter and dimming our dreams of a smart home utopia.” That’s according to a report published Wednesday.

At a time when companies are rushing to ready products for the new smart-home networking standard, which is meant to let different brands work together, Wemo’s hesitation is a surprise.

Its products work only with HomeKit. Now it looks like that won’t change anytime soon.

iOS 16.4 beta 3: All the new features and changes

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New emoji will arrive in iOS 16.4 and macOS Ventura 13.3
iOS 16.4 beta packs plenty of new features and changes.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

A week after the second iOS 16.4 beta dropped, Apple seeded the third build to developers. Unlike the first and second build, the third beta is light on changes.

You can find everything new in iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4 beta 3 below. There’s also an archive of the new features spotted in beta 1 and 2.

Test indoor air quality with new Ikea monitor

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The monitor's launch comes in April and its HomeKit and Matter compatibility are expected via a pending Dirigera hub update.
The monitor's launch comes in April and its HomeKit and Matter compatibility are expected via a pending Dirigera hub update.
Photo: Ikea

Ikea unveiled its new indoor air-quality monitor Tuesday. With a name that sounds like a Swedish jet fighter — Vindstryka — it’s designed to help you combat pollutants in your home or office. And it will be HomeKit- and Matter-compatible through the Ikea Dirigera hub after the company updates it.

The Swedish home furnishings giant set an April launch date for the monitor but hasn’t added a price tag yet.

LG software update brings Apple services to hundreds of smart TV brands

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Apple TV+ is just one of the features coming to more smart TVs.
Apple TV+ is just one of the features coming to more smart TVs.
Photo: Apple

Consumer electronics maker LG added Apple TV, Apple Music, AirPlay and HomeKit to its webOS Hub Tuesday, making Apple’s core services available to smart TVs from 200 brands that use the custom software.

The update starts rolling out Friday in more than 100 countries and regions. It could provide quite a boost to Apple globally as new users try the features.

What new HomePod temperature and humidity sensors can do for you

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What new HomePod temperature and humidity sensors can do for you
Here's how to take advantage of the temperature and humidity sensors in HomePod 2 and HomePod mini.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

HomePod 2 and (surprise!) HomePod mini both include temperature and humidity sensors. These can be used by Apple’s Home app to control HomeKit accessories. Or just tell you how hot or cold it is in your living room.

Here’s how to use the sensors in Apple’s large and small smart speakers.

HomePod head-to-head: How Apple’s new smart speaker compares to original

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Is the new HomePod really that different from the 2018 HomePod? Yes and no.
Is the new HomePod really that different from the 2018 HomePod? Yes and no.
Photo: Apple

Now that the full-size HomePod is finally back, just how different is it from Apple’s original smart speaker? At a glance, you might not think the $299 speaker Apple unveiled Wednesday is that different at all, because the exterior design looks so similar. But compare the new HomePod’s features to the old model, and you’ll find significant changes.

It seems potentially much-improved as a smart home device, but whether it’s a better speaker is questionable.

Apple prepares for return of Home app architecture upgrade

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iOS 16.2 bring in a new Home architecture upgrade option.
New HomeKit Architecture
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Apple apparently plans to re-release its update to the underlying architecture of its HomeKit home-automation system in the near future. The upgraded platform for the Home app is included in the latest iOS and iPadOS betas.

The company briefly made this update available to all users in December before withdrawing it due to unspecified problems.

Protect your valuables with Yale’s new HomeKit-enabled smart safes

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Yale's new smart safes come in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi versions.
Yale's new smart safes come in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi versions.
Photo: Yale Home

Worried about keeping your valuables safe? Venerable lock maker Yale said Tuesday it has two new smart safes for you: Yale Smart Safe and Yale Smart Safe with Wi-Fi.

And you can control the new safes using the Home app via HomeKit. Or, in the case of the Wi-Fi-enabled safe, with the Siri voice assistant.

Aqara previews video doorbell and other new HomeKit gadgets

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With AI onboard, the new Aqara G4 Video Doorbell can recognize people.
With AI onboard, the new Aqara G4 Video Doorbell can recognize people.
Photo: Aqara

Smart-home specialist Aqara said Thursday it will expand its product line in the coming months with a new video doorbell, LED light strips, a sensor with artificial intelligence and a smart door lock that works with Home Key. All of the new devices will work with HomeKit and other smart-home systems.

Rather than showcasing new products at CES 2023 in Las Vegas, however, the company put out a video showing off the four items below as if it were at the show.

Apple removes new Home architecture upgrade option in iOS 16.2

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iOS 16.2 bring in a new Home architecture upgrade option.
Thank your stars if you did not upgrade the Home app's architecture in iOS 16.2.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

With iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, and macOS Ventura 13.1, Apple introduced a new architecture for the Home app. Following issues reported by early adopters, the company has pulled the upgrade option altogether.

The new Home app architecture promises improved performance and reliability. It was an opt-in upgrade, with users getting the option when they opened the Home app after installing iOS 16.2.

Eve beams Matter support to an array of smart home devices

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The Eve Motion sensor is one of the devices to receive the new firmware update with Matter support.
The Eve Motion sensor is one of the devices to receive the new firmware update with Matter support.
Photo: Eve Systems

A number of devices across Eve Systems’ product lineup are receiving support for the home automation networking standard Matter with a new, optional firmware update, the company said Monday.

Matter support — which lets devices from different makers work together over the same network — will come to Thread-enabled devices in the company’s Eve Door and Window, Eve Motion and Eve Energy lineups.