Nanoleaf added a handy new portable smart lamp with brand partner Umbra and two new smart bulbs to its Essentials line, the company said Thursday.
All of the products will work through the Matter smart-home standard with HomeKit and other smart-home platforms.
Aqara showcased its new Smart Lock U200, Camera E1, Dual Relay Module T2 and Ceiling Light T1M at IFA 2023 in Berlin, Germany, last week, the company said.
The products support the Matter home automation standard and should go on sale in the coming months, Aqara said.
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.
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.
Apple has not given up on updating the underlying architecture for its Home app. After initially pulling the upgrade, the company is working on version 2 and could release it soon.
The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) showcased companies and products using the newly available Matter home-automation standard at a launch event in Amsterdam Thursday.
The group, which includes Apple, Google and many other companies, emphasized the standard’s building momentum and drew a rough road map of what’s to come.
The third-generation of Eve Light Switch adds support for Thread and will be updated with Matter, keeping it on the cutting edge of smarthome tech. The smartswitch continues to support Apple HomeKit.
It can be used as either a single-pole or 3-way switch.
Apple announced a plethora of iOS 16 features at WWDC22. But not all of them made their way into the first public release of the OS in September. Some of them will arrive later this year or even in early 2023.
Check out this list of iOS 16 features that we are still waiting for.
The wait is over for Matter 1.0. The Connectivity Standards Alliance, which includes Apple, Amazon and many more, has introduced the cross-platform home-automation standard after lengthy delays.
It is intended to break through the walled silos of Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa and Google Home, allowing accessories from a wide range of companies to communicate. It might finally make smart homes more common … potentially even mainstream.
The recent news that iPads won’t function as Home Hubs with iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 stands corrected. Apple now says they’ll work. But they won’t benefit from any new features in the revamped HomeKit and Home app.
And that’s likely to be a pretty big drawback.
Among the many new products and features Apple showcased at WWDC22 came news of a revamped Home app for the HomeKit smart-home platform.
Arriving with iOS 16 later this year, the app is rebuilt from the ground up. Apple said it will be more efficient and reliable, especially for homes with many accessories. And it will support the new Matter smart-home technology standard.
Working to automate your smart home with better security? Aqara recently updated its Motion Sensor for HomeKit, renaming it the Motion Sensor P1 and adding sensitivity modes and longer battery life — up to five years.
The release date for the Matter standard has been pushed back to fall of 2022. Previously, Apple and the rest of the Connectivity Standards Alliance had hoped to launch the cross-platform home-automation standard much earlier in the year.
A primary goal is interoperability, allowing accessories to connect to HomeKit, Alexa, Google Home, etc. Matter might finally make smart homes more common… even mainstream.
There is a lot to get HomeKit fans excited at this year’s CES tech showcase in Las Vegas. Quite a few companies announced products that will support Apple’s home-automation system, including lights, door cameras and more.
Glitzy projects like concept cars get more attention, but HomeKit accessories are more likely to make people’s lives better.
At CES 2022, Nanoleaf said an upcoming firmware update will make its lighting products the first third-party border routers for HomeKit-over-Thread devices available now and coming out in the future.
The firmware update, due to roll out in the first quarter of 2022, will broaden Nanoleaf products’ support for Thread, improving devices’ connectivity and reliability over home networks.
Belkin unveiled the Wemo Smart Video Doorbell that uses Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video. It’s built around a 4MP, wide-angle lens.
Also at CES 2022, Belkin announced redesigned smart plugs and lighting solutions with support for Matter over Thread, which means they’ll also support HomeKit.
Plus, the wraps came off Belkin SoundForm Immerse noise cancelling earbuds with support for Apple’s Find My system.
The soon-to-launch Schlage Encode Plus smart lock could be the first to support Apple Home Key, according to various leaked documents. And, in another “first,” the smart lock looks likely to offer Thread support for HomeKit.
HomeKit Authority reported on the Schlage Encode Plus recently, citing a since-removed Home Depot listing, Schlage’s own installation guide as well as a Federal Communications Commission filing.
The rollout of Matter, the standard expected to help smart-home systems like Apple HomeKit, Google Nest and Amazon Alexa Smart Home use devices in common, is delayed again.
Apple is a leading member of a new organization creating a standard for home automation devices. A primary goal is interoperability, allowing accessories to connect to HomeKit, Alexa, Google Home, etc.
Previously, it was up to the makers of smart home products to make devices that worked with more than one voice control system. Many chose to support just one.
