Hello guys i wanna start my homekit automations and i have to say i’m kinda lost on what brand i should buy and stuff

I bought my first smart plug and i did not realised i needed to check the 2.4 gz or 5gz

So now i have a question, my iphone is always connected on the 5gz but the device says it needs to be on the 2.4gz, does that mean my iphone also needs to stay on the 2.4gz ?

Thought that was a nice addition.

Side note, I finally fixed some of my flakey devices by removing one of my mesh routers. I had six of the Deco 6E units spread out around our large duplex. I unplugged one that was a floor above my main unit (WiFi backend.) Smart devices around the main floor are all working much more reliably now.

Looking for a little assistance from the community. After moving a year ago, I started building out smart home devices in our home. Eventually everything worked fine but at some point in the last month or so things stopped working and connecting.

Devices that used to work now show up as unresponsive, functionalities stopped working etc, after at least 6mo of no issues. Everything is up to date, and have even tried removing and re-added devices.

- I have a mix of "HomeKit" ready devices, Apple Devices, and devices connected via Home Assistant.

- Asus Zen Wifi Tri Band Router, which forever I had everything running through the same SSID because the device could appropriately route devices around the 2.4 and 5gz channels as needed.

It's thoroughly unclear what the issue is, because nothing seems to connect appropriately, but all my phones/apple TV's etc work just fine. If I can't connect to the regular wifi and get it connected to the separate 2.4 channel I created for just this, things either don't connect or connect then don't show up as active.

Anyone else having issues there things are bricked, and have pinpointed it to an iOS update or the router updates?

Thanks!

I am wanting to switch my current vivent security and smart home devices over to HomeKit so I can get rid of vivent. I currently have a wired Apple TV which will serve as my hub. I just ordered a meross garage door opener and eve energy plug that I will use for a couple of lamps and if that goes well I plan on adding an Aqara doorbell and an Abode security system. I may add a thermostat down the road as my Sensi doesn’t have the c wire so it won’t work. I will also probably add a light switch for my porch light. Is there anything I’m missing or I need to know? I’m assuming I set the devices up in their own app then add them to Apple home?

Hello we have 2 garage with Genie garage door openers… what module would be good one to make it smart and would work in HomeKit?

Any idea what’s the cause and how to fix?

As the title suggests, I’m looking for a battery powered smoke CO detector recommendations that are completely Homekit enabled, so I can get rid of my Google nest smoke detectors, which were great, but since Google are assholes, they are slowly being phased out by them. Why is it so hard to find one?

Hi all,

I’m planning to replace my old lock with the  U200. Right now I have an M2 hub, and I’m also considering getting either the new  video doorbell or the outdoor camera.

Since both the new doorbell and camera act as Thread border routers, do I really need to buy the M3 hub for automations? Is it the only hub that would enable remote control of the lock ?

I’d rather invest in the camera/doorbell instead of another hub, especially since all my existing Aqara accessories are working fine with the M2 but if with g5 pro or g410, I cannot remotely use the lock, it would be a deal breaker.

Has anyone here run a similar setup? was everything working as expected ?
Would I lose out on any U200 lock features if I go for the cameras and skip the M3 hub?

HomeKit will randomly turn my living room lights on. This is the only room impacted. Any ideas?

Hi all,

I’m about to purchase the Starling Hub to get my Nest doorbells working with Apple Home and have a couple questions regarding the Nest Aware subscription. What are the differences in functionality between subscription tiers?

For example, with Nest Aware Plus, I assume you get everything standard on Apple Home, including 24/7 that I get normally with Nest. However, what do I lose if I drop down to the base Nest Aware plan? And even further, I know Starling says Nest Aware is required, but what happens if I unsubscribe? Does it just stop working in Apple Home?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

There are many Fingerbots out there. Does any of those work with my HomeKit setup?

Hi I am looking to integrate more smart plugs into my home lights, TVs, and door locks (is that is a thing?). What is everyone’s opinion on which smart plugs to go?

Some of the things I want to do is tell Siri to turn on/off the lights, tv, and to lock and unlock the door. Do I need to get a HomePod to do all this?

I have two smart bulbs in my living room, one hue one nanoleaf. I want to set an automation so that an hour before sunset the lights turn on and gradually get to 100% by sunset. I originally set up automation separately using the “1h before sunset, 45 mins before sunset…etc” but the brightness was too noticeable and distracted guests, I wanted it more subtle. So I tried it using the wait command, originally had it increase 5% then wait 180 seconds before another 5% however it got to the second round of waiting before timing out, so I then tried to reduce the wait time, if it increases to 100% within half an hour, that would be fine, as long as it’s gradual rather then BAM 20% every 15 mins or so. I’ve read that the hue app can do this itself but as one of the bulbs is nanoleaf haven’t gone down that route, would it be easier to just get another hue bulb?

Thanks in advance

Edit: solved it…kinda, I set up 5 automations from an hour till sunset till sunset itself increasing the lights 20% each time then added a wait function for as long as it could hold out which was 230 seconds and increase by 10% each time. So through the hour the lights change 10 times, not sure how it will look will update after this evening.

Hey everyone,

I could use some advice on how to set up my smart home the right way. Right now, I’ve got a couple of Nanoleaf lights and a Philips Hue system. My goal is to eventually have everything running through HomeKit, but at the moment I only have an Echo Show 5 (Alexa). I’m planning to get a HomePod Mini soon.

From what I understand, since both Nanoleaf and Hue support Matter, I should be able to control them with both Alexa and HomeKit, right? The Hue bridge already works with Alexa and HomeKit, so that seems fine.

Here’s where I’m a bit stuck: I also want to expand my setup with smart plugs, contact sensors, and a thermostat. Ideally, these should work with both Alexa and HomeKit, but HomeKit is the priority for me. My assumption was that if a device supports Matter, then it should automatically work with HomeKit once I have the HomePod Mini as a hub. But then I see some devices advertised as “Matter-compatible” but not specifically “HomeKit-compatible.”

So what’s the actual difference here? Is there any risk in just buying Matter-certified devices and relying on the HomePod Mini to make them work with HomeKit?

Thanks in advance for any clarity — I feel like I’m missing something obvious.

I stay home for months, everything is running perfectly fine, my jbl speaker is connected, the matter thead sensors are working just fine, along with hue

I day I leave for the plane, home hub stops responding, its like a joke, doing it to spite me. Thing is, I have a friend checking up on the cats at home, whenever he is able, its nice to know when someone enters or leaves the home. Now my cameras are not on homekit, yet*, but if they were, it would be completely useless

Now here is the "problem", apple tvs working fine, I even see it on my tailscale as active, and even when it "crashes" and requires reboot, homekit would continue to work

Any ideas other than potentially getting another apple tv (I might for my room regardless of this)

Hey everyone,

After two months of hard work, I finally managed to finish setting up my fully HomeKit-supported smart home. But there’s one thing I’m still curious about: adding my family to HomeKit.

Here’s the issue—HomeKit feels pretty limited when it comes to user permissions. For example, in my room I have an Aqara E1 camera. I only use it occasionally to check what’s happening when I’m not around. Most of the time, when I enter my room, I set it to Privacy Mode and point it towards the wall. But if someone clicks on the camera in the Home app, it switches back to monitoring the room again, which makes me uncomfortable.

On top of that, my parents aren’t exactly tech-savvy, and they keep accidentally turning my room lights on and off.

So my question is: is there any way to define which cameras and accessories family members can access in HomeKit?

ive been thru alot of led light strips for my room but they they always break in like 6 months and i really want some again but that wont drain my money on bad ones, so please give good price under 60$ and that is 100ft

Hey, Im new to the community so please let me know if this is not supposed to be asked here!

I am try to make my new apartment smarter and one of the highest things on my prio list would be controlling my blinds.

I’ve been googling alot (and talking to the nice AI friend GPT), but cannot really find anything to fit my installation.

Where I live we have these blinds which are already installed inside the windows, and they are fitted with a string that you pull to open, release to close. Its not like these beaded chain loops. I feel like e motor to wind it up and down wouldnt be too hard to make, but cannot find any ready product that defines they can do it.

Do you have any ideas?

Since it’s a rental apartment, I do not want to make too much of an permanent installation (some screw holes in the wall to mount it is fine of course!)

It seems that every time I’m away on a trip, HomeKit doesn’t work correctly and I need to reboot the router.

I can put a smart switch on the power to the router, and then I could turn it off… but I could not turn it back on because there would be no Internet.

I am on Starlink and I can reboot the router from the app, but only if I’m on the local WiFi.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can remotely reboot my router?

Hello, I have always had a fascination with the StarTrek control panels in The New Generation (TNG) and thought it would be cool to make an app to control my Hue lights that also uses the familiar touch panel sounds. I originally built it in Java and React and ran it on a Raspberry Pi and hit it with a web browser. Then I thought how cool it would be to share it. Who wants a raspberry pi when you can use an iPhone, so I rewrote it.

Look for HueTrek in the app store or use this link https://apps.apple.com/us/app/huetrek/id6745201555

Should I make an Android version?

So I am in process of moving houses and trying to avoid starting over with a new home in HomeKit. My current home has an Orbi Wi-Fi 6 set up and the new house already has a new Wi-Fi 7 set up - both have the same Wi-Fi name and password.

I have started move 2 HomePod minis, and ecobee thermostat, Aqara doorbell g4 and m2 hub, and 2 Eufy indoor cameras to my new house and connected to Wi-Fi just fine and work in the apple home app. All of which are still in the say HomeKit home as my remaining lights and 2 other eufy cameras that are still in my current house.

My issue is when I am not at the new home my cameras there keep saying no response, but I can still access them in their own apps just not in the apple home app. I am really trying to avoid creating a new Apple Home and having to start new. Any suggestions?

I am looking for a HomeKit lamp to use as a “warning” if a specific door in our house is left open. We have a sensor on the door. But I want the cheapest lamp (not bulb) available. Although I would prefer something SEMI reliable.

TLDR need cheap HomeKit lamp to act as signal light for when a door sensor is open/closed

I am looking to hook up my ev charger to a smart power plug. Would need to sustain 13amp for many hours. Have tried the Meross smart mini plug but it overheats after 45 minutes, despite being advertised as being able to sustain 13 amps . Tried to lower the charger to 10 amp, same thing.

Any idea about what plug could work?

tl;dr: if you’re having trouble setting up a Schlage Encode Plus, remove spaces from your WiFi name.

I spent ~30 hours troubleshooting a Schlage Encode Plus that wouldn’t get past the “Access Codes” pop-up. After lots of debugging, I discovered that having a space in my SSID caused something in setup via the Home app to fail. My router’s SSID was VIZIO HD. Removing spaces fixed my problems.

I’m not sure exactly what was failing. With the same SSID, I had multiple HKSV cameras, garage door openers, HomePods, and an Apple TV. Everything worked. I did see intermittent “Hub not responding” banners (even when the hubs were available) as well as failures to update settings of accessories. Despite these, the Encode Plus only worked after I changed my SSID.

I have not found a single thread related to HomeKit and spaces in SSIDs, so I wanted to post this to help others in the future.

I’ve also drafted a series of comments for this thread with other details/things I’ve learned from this setup in the hopes of saving others from the same headaches I went through. But if you’re running into issues with your HomeKit setup, try removing all spaces from your SSID.

I gave a detailed bug report to Schlage. Customer support confirmed they forwarded it to the correct team.

Additional Schlage-specific notes:

1. If you’ve been trying to set up your lock and failing, you might need to recreate your home to clear the partially created Access Code state. Changing my router name was a requirement, but after failing to set up the lock I also had to create a new home, seemingly to clear this state
2. Schlage Encode Plus has a first-time calibration. If you factory reset one then enter the preset code on the back, you’ll notice it rotates its bolt to calibrate. I think this is likely a necessary step in setup. The most reliable way I found to make this happen was to exit the HomeKit setup dialogs after picking a room & name for the lock, and before getting into steps related to keys. Tap the (x), choose the option to save & finish later, then lock/unlock the Encode Plus from within the Home App. This lock/unlock signal should result in the Encode Plus running through its calibration.

Both dimmers use Matter over WiFi. It’s unclear if the scene buttons on the ‘Keypad Dimmer’ are exposed as programmable buttons in Apple Home.