Smart home devices have exploded in recent years, thanks in part to the likes of Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant. But some folks forget that Apple was one of the first on the scene with a smart assistant on your phone thanks to Siri. The difference here is that with Siri and Apple HomeKit, you can have all of your smart home devices interlinked and controlled right from your iPhone, iPad, or even the Mac.
For a little while, HomeKit accessories were pretty scarce, but we’ve seen a massive uptick in options over the course of just the last year. Some of this has to do with the lower price of the HomePod Mini, making it easier to put Siri in every room of your home. Today, we’re going to take a look at the best HomeKit devices and accessories that you should be considering.
The HomePod Mini is one interesting device, as this $99 smart speaker offers fantastic sound quality while putting Siri everywhere in the home. Considering that the original HomePod has been discontinued, this is really the only Siri smart speaker available and it can act as your smart home hub. Plus, a recent update introduced a few new colors as Apple gets more “hip” and has stopped only offering variants of black and white.
The new Apple TV 4K is an absolutely incredible streaming device, and as you would expect, it works perfectly with HomeKit. The new-and-improved Siri remote is absolutely incredible, and you’ll still get access to all of your favorite streaming services, along with the surprisingly-impressive Apple TV+.
The next generation of Level Home’s industry leading smart locks, now featuring Apple home keys. Level Lock+ advances our renowned invisible technology and brings it to the next level by seamlessly integrating home keys. Home keys allow you to simply and securely lock and unlock your door by tapping Level Lock+ with your compatible iPhone or Apple Watch. Level Lock+ offers world-class security together with everyday convenience and beautiful design.
Although it’s been slimmed down over the years, nothing comes close to the Meross Smart Plug Mini. You’ll get the same great HomeKit compatibility, all in a much thinner and more compact form factor. With the likes of the this smart plug, you just set up the plug on your iPhone or iPad, plug in your lamp or another device, and then turn it on or off from your iPhone, iPad, or even use Siri.
A wired video doorbell that works exclusively with Apple HomeKit, featuring Logitech TrueView head-to-toe HD video, Face Recognition, color night vision, 2-way audio, and more. Replaces your existing wired doorbell and works with your existing indoor chime. Built to support Apple HomeKit Secure Video so you get end-to-end encryption, Face Recognition, package detection, rich notifications, and custom Activity Zones. Requires iCloud+ plan and home hub device.
Set lights to automatically adjust with changing seasons so your family always comes back to a well-lit home; you can also enable the smart away feature to randomly turn your lights on and off to look like you’re home even if you’re away. Caséta connects with more leading smart home devices – including Alexa, Apple Home Kit, the Google Assistant, Serena shades and Sonos – than any other smart lighting control brand.
The key to keeping your home healthy: Eve Room measures volatile organic compound (VOC) concentration, temperature, and humidity levels in your home. Detect harmful VOC levels caused by everyday items, including furnishings, appliances, gadgets & toys, and track how activities such as cooking and cleaning cause indoor air quality to drop – enabling you to ventilate in good time.
Included SmartSensor (50 dollar value) adjusts the temperature in the rooms that matter most to reduce hot or cold spots to keep you comfortable. Built-in air quality monitor alerts you to poor air quality, provides tips on how to improve it, and reminds you when it’s time to change your furnace’s air filter. Premium materials and advanced engineering mean a large, vibrant display with a cinematic interface, a timeless design, and next level occupancy sensing.
Few things can make you realize the power of HomeKit than having some smart lights scattered around your home. For years, the Philips Hue lineup of products has been the industry leader in the HomeKit space. The competition is finally beginning to get a bit more fierce, but in our opinion, it doesn’t get much better than Hue.
The Video Doorbell G4 is complementary to Aqara’s indoor home cameras, and together these cameras help users to keep an eye on their homes, families and visitors anytime, anywhere. This doorbell allows highly flexible installation as it can be battery-powered or wired for continuous power. It not only supports HomeKit Secure Video and local streaming to Amazon and Google smart displays, but it will also work with Matter after the Matter specification for cameras is ready. The G4 features local, AI-enabled facial recognition, which can trigger different automations depending on the person, and the device also includes both the 7-day free cloud storage and the optional local storage via a microSD card.
Andrew Myrick is a freelance writer based on the East Coast of the US. He enjoys everything to do with technology, including tablets, smartphones, and everything in between. Perhaps his favorite past-time is having a never-ending supply of different keyboards and gaming handhelds that end up collecting more dust than the consoles that are being emulated.
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