Hey and greetings from Germany!

Iam about to set up 2 Cameras for my home and I want the to be HomeKit compatible.

When i look at eve and netatamo I barely see difference between them. Maybe it’s just the wider filming angle from eve.

I would like to hear some opinions from people who had to make the same decision. Why did you choose eve or netatamo?

And are there any other good home kit outdoor cams?

I been trying to find a smart padlock that is compatible with HomeKit, are there any in the market?

If so, what would be good?

I was hoping to find an explanation for this odd issue.

Bought a 4 pack of the Meross MSL120 6 months ago from Amazon. I put 3 of the bulbs in a ceiling fan and 1 in a table lamp. Every two weeks or so, 1, 2 or all 3 ceiling fan bulbs show up as no response in the Home app. They are all grouped in the Home app, so even if one is not responsive, the group no longer works and I have to ungroup them to see which one(s) are not responding. But the bulbs always work in the Meross app and the one in the table lamp always works in the Home app.

I even switched out the one in the table lamp with one from the ceiling fan (with one that kept disconnecting from the Home app) and now that it’s connected to the table lamp, it stays connected in the Home app yet the bulb that worked just fine in the table lamp is no not responding in the ceiling fan.

Is there an issue with the ceiling fan? Or do these bulbs not like being that close together? I’m guessing it can’t be that since they still work in the Meross app. Otherwise does anyone have a recommendation for bulbs that might work better? I’m looking for something that can get bright and can change color temps.

Not sure if this is due to iOS 18. When creating Automations for Sensors, my water leak sensors don’t show up as choices to select. They show up everywhere else and are fully responsive (Aqara & Eve). Meanwhile, my remaining non water sensors show up while creating a Sensor Automations the “normal” way.

I had to create the Automations from within the settings for each water sensor (4). The Automations are working as I want them to so no complaints there.

I went back into the Automation page and the Automations that I made in the individual sensor settings are displayed. However, they can’t be edited from there since the sensors aren’t shown as a selection. I have to modify from within the individual sensor settings.

Bizarre, but I have everything working so it’s just a visual annoyance at this time. I’ve had the sensors for quite a while and don’t recall this strange behavior with creating Automations.

Anyone experience this before with water sensors in the Home App?

Anyone had experience with correcting the direction of zemismart shades? Seems the switch in the Tuya app will either make it correct on the HomeKit app or correct on the Tuya app/manual remote but not both. Please help! Thanks

When I adjust the brightness of my hue lights in the homekit app I keep getting a spinning wheel next to the light. I made a scene that turns off all the lights and when I click it, it says failed. Any tips on why this happens?

Time for battery replacement. (Qingping Thermometer Hygrometer)

We are away for several weeks on a trip. The house sitter told me the automations stopped working and, when I look at the Home app, the “connected” hub is the stupid Default Room hub that does not really exist in my network. Any ideas on how to get one of the (many) other ATVs or speakers to take over? Needs to something simple like power cycling since I am remote and the house sitter is not tech savvy.

Thanks for the help…

UPDATE: Interesting, somewhere between last night and this afternoon the “Automatic Selection” option on Servers and Bridges became available. Was able turn that off and manually change to one of the Apple TVs from 3000 miles away. The Hue Hub isn’t seeing any of its lights so will have the house sitter power cycle that to (hopefully) fix.

my exact question was asked 4 years ago:

All I want is a doorbell that sends a push notification when it’s pressed. I couldn’t care less about video or intercom or any other bells and whistles. If I could keep my existing doorbell button that would be great. Does such a thing exist?? I also use HomeBridge so could work with that. I suppose really all I’m after is a simple relay to push notification.

-- end quote --

There were a number of DIY ideas given. Is there any pre-built option nowadays? I do not want a zigbee button outdoors, because we get cold & hot extremes here. I'd like to wire to the chime end. Don't want anything with a battery that needs changing. I would be happy to change the actual chime (recommendations?)

If DIY is the only way, what would I need for this particular wiring? (I really have no idea if it's DC or AC or has a transformer.) Even better a solution with a step-by-step guide. (I can turn off a circuit breaker and attach a wire to a terminal, and if necessary do a quick solder, but that's the extent of it.) I do have HomeBridge running on a NAS but not currently used for anything.

existing chime

Hi all,

I am building a home in Sydney, Australia and I am planning to work with my electrician to somewhat automate my home with HomeKit accessories. I felt this would be useful for both myself and prospective HomeKitters in Australia looking to undertake a similar feat.

I will preface this thread by stating that wherever possible, I’m after Matter or native HK accessories wherever possible to limit playing around with Homebridge, which is probably to my detriment. I’ll probably end up with Zigbee switches. I also want everything to be hardwired so there is zero requirement for maintenance of power/batteries.

Wifi will be Ubiquiti UniFi with Access Points throughout for whole of home and outdoor coverage.

My overall strategy is going to rely heavily on smart switches, which will do the grunt work for lighting, blind control and access control. The switch themselves - this is the hard bit in an Australian context. There are Legrand Netatmo switches or Clipsal Wiser available to us here in Oz, but they are quite expensive. I know there are some other companies offering Matter switches but I either don’t like the look of them or they’re from non-reputable companies. Building a home - warranties, particularly from local stores, are vital.

All lighting will obviously be controlled by the respective smart switch.

Blinds (shades) will be hard wired motors that are powered by the smart switch. This should remove issues with compatibility with remotes/proprietary hubs.

Access to front door and external front gate will be via electric strikes that are hard wired to a smart switch. This will allow access to be controlled via the switch itself and also HK. I do like the idea of having keypads similar to the Aqara U200 kit. Not sure if the keypad can be used separate to the locking mechanism. If so, I wouldn’t mind 1x keypad outside the front door, and 1x keypad for the front gate. Automation could be set up to operate the electric strikes when the code is entered.

Doorbells - May go with Aqara G4 although the USB-C wired chime is a bit shit. Could maybe hide it in a cupboard somewhere.

Garage door and front gate options are plentiful. Would probably go with Meross as I’ve used with great success in the past.

Aircon - I will be using an Actron system, I have not figured out HomeKit integration at this stage so might need Homebridge

Cameras - UniFi Protect, will need Homebridge at this stage

Sound - AirPlay 2 in ceiling speakers in living area and master bedroom. Many brands capable.

I will likely mounting an iPad to act as an accessible wall controller in the living room.

I haven’t thought much yet about:

• pool pump and pool lighting,
• security system,

Have I missed anything?

Happy to discuss with anyone and I hope this thread is helpful for all of us Aussies in a similar boat.

I live in a basement meaning I don’t have control of the temperature and it gets cold in the winter and I don’t know where to start. I normally have a small space heater but I want something where I can get it to turn on it the space is below a temperature, I can turn it on/off, I can turn it on before I get home / off after I leave, etc. I’m new to the HomeKit and just don’t know where to start

Hey all

I move to a house next year and want to add some security cameras outdoor and alarms.

I also want to add a camera to the toddlers room and playroom - just to check from time to time what they are doing when i shortly go to the kitchen as example.

What camera would you use in my case?

Currently debating on which I should get and serve as my Home hub. I don't have any Apple TVs or HomePods currently. Just a bunch of light bulbs and a smart TV on my Home app. I want a home hub so I can do home automations. I live in a studio apartment.

Here's the different categories I can think of that I would care about and which product seems to have the advantage:

• Can it hear a smoke detector and notify me? HomePod Mini
• Does it have a temp + humidity sensor? HomePod Mini (Plan is later to make my dumb air conditioner smart via a smart plug and then have it turn on when the apartment gets warm enough)
• Does it have a wired connection? Apple TV 4K
• Does it not add an extra remote to my entertainment setup? (Currently sitting at 2 with my TV and AV receiver remotes) HomePod Mini
• Does it not take up another ethernet slot on my network switch? (Only have 2 spots left) HomePod Mini
• Does it offer a superior Operating System and user experience compared to my LG C1 OLED TV's Operating System? Apple TV 4k
• Will it solve the problem where my Apple Home app doesn't always power on my LG C1 TV? Maybe Apple TV 4k (If not I'll need to seet up Homebridge with a Raspberry Pi)

So basically it seems the HomePod Mini would be a cleaner solution (no extra remote, wouldn't need to buy separate temp, humidity, smoke sensors), but it's possible that it would be the less reliable solution (no ethernet connection).

Anyone able to lend some advice here? Thank you!

Help! I’m a newbie and I’m really struggling with what should be a “simple” automation.

I’ve got a YoLink motion sensor in my mailbox. I would like an automation to turn on a pole light in my living room when the mail arrives, then to turn off the light when I pick up the mail from the mailbox.

Simple, right? But it’s kicking my behind trying to get this to work.

I’ve got HomeBridge and have set up both a simple on/off dummy switch and a 30-second dummy switch. I’ve experimented with trying to incorporate one or the other in my automations — but haven’t figured out the correct way to use them.

FYI the YoLink motion sensor has a 60-second cool-down.

So far I’ve got two automations, one for turning on the light, and one for turning it off…but…problems…

First automation: When motion detected Set Pole Light to On

(This works perfectly. The next step is where I run into trouble…)

Second automation: When motion detected (Do Shortcut) IF pole light is on Set pole light to off End If

The problem with these two automations is that the pole light turns on and then the 2nd automation immediately turns it off. There was no new motion so I don’t understand why the 2nd automation runs immediately.

I thought maybe I needed to delay the 2nd automation by 65 seconds to make sure the initial motion detection had cleared so it could properly act upon a new motion detection.

Second automation (with delay)
When motion detected
(Do Shortcut)
(Variable) 65
Wait (Variable) Number
If Pole Light is On
Set Pole LIght to Off
End If

The results of this is that the first motion detected turns on the pole light…and then is shuts off after 65 seconds even though there’s been no new motion detected.

This is just a brief sample of the dozens of automations I’ve tried. I feel like this should all be happening inside a single automation that’s been converted to a shortcut, but I haven’t had any luck getting a single automation to work either.

Help!!

I am trying to detect people, animals, and packages, but I am having trouble with vehicle detection. Any suggestions on how to improve this? By the way, the Dahua app successfully detects both humans and vehicles. From what I understand, HKSV performs its own analysis and does not depend on the camera for detection.a.

Hey everyone! So I recently decided to switch from Alexa to HomeKit in my home. I have about 8 Govee light bulbs, Govee backlight, outside Govee lights, and a Govee space heater that I want to sync to HomeKit. The problem is.. I threw away the boxes for each of these products a while ago. Is there anyway for me to retrieve the set up codes so I can add them to HomeKit? I already set up homebridge on a mini pic, added the Govee plugin and connected the homebridge server to my HomeKit. The accessories are showing up on the homebridge server but when I try to add them to HomeKit, I’m prompted to enter a setup key. Thanks in advance!

Hello Everyone,

I am a student, and I am conducting research on the Smart Home Automation App for my project on the challenges faced in setting up a smart home and what features you would like to include in the smart home automation app. As a part of this, I'm interested in hearing from the community about the most common problems you've encountered when building your own smart home.

Thank you in advance for your participation! Your insights will greatly help me understand the practical challenges individuals are interested in creating smart homes.

Here is the link for the Google form: https://forms.gle/2rru3KeXPf5VL7Uu7

I grouped a bunch of my lights into one on home app two days ago and today in homekit they are all seperated and the names back to default. Did this happen to anyone else?

I created an automation so that it opens my lock when I arrive home, I do not mind making that confirm on my watch, but it seems to only show up on the phone. Does anyone use these automations and are able to confirm on the watch?

I have 3 Meross smart plugs - all of them were working fine for a few years. Then a couple of weeks ago my internet service dropped for an hour or two in the middle of the night (no idea if this was weather related or services to the lines).

Either way, the following day my WiFi was working fine but plugs were showing “updating” or “no response” in the Home app. Since then, I have made sure my iOS, iPadOS, HomePod OS, and firmware on the plugs are all updated. I have also tried multiple resets on the plugs and one reset of the HomePod. So far, nothing has worked.

The plugs work fine in the Meross app, but I want to be able to use HomeKit features (automations, Siri, etc). My WiFi has always been a standard network (no split between 2.4Ghz or 5.0Ghz, no mesh, etc). Any help or suggestions on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated!

I have two Netatmo cameras connected to my HomeKit network. One of these has stopped recording clips when it detects motion.

I have compared the settings of the one that continues to record to the one that has stopped recoding, and they seem identical.

I’ve includes screen shot. Note the camera is active and connected, but the slider to review detections is absent.

Any ideas?

Recently I bought a new blind with a Matter motor in it. It's the first Matter (over Thread) device I've put into my HomeKit network, so was keen to see how it would perform. Unfortunately, I kept having issues with "Not Responding" on a regular basis, enough for it to be unreliable. So, I thought I'd try adding another Bridge Router closer to it and see if I could integrate that into the HomeKit thread network. I got the ESP32-H2 dev kit and flashed the Border Router example onto it.

Once I got it up and running, that's where things got a little frustrating. First, it showed me that the two Apple TV hubs were running on different Thread networks. Second, I couldn't find a way to get the new Border Router into the network at all. As many have found, Apple locks the network creds in the keychain. And there's no easy way to get them out (unless you can write C), nor have it join another Thread network through Apple's interfaces.

I know some have had success with using Nanoleaf to access the HomeKit credentials, but I didn't want to go that path and buy devices I won't use. I do have Home Assistant though. I noticed, despite my Home Assistant container not being on Thread capable hardware, that it had access to the iCloud keychain and could see the Apple TVs and the ESP32-H2 BR. Handy.

So, here's what I did:

1. Installed Thread on Home Assistant (obviously)

2. Imported the HomeKit data into Home Assistant and made it preferred.

3. I then added the ESP32-H2 BR details for the REST API. All I needed to do was simply point to the IP address of it, and it added it.

4. After this, I basically told HomeKit to add itself to the ESP32-BR Thread network. Everything was unified at this point. Both Apple TVs and the ESP32-H2 BR.

The ESP32-H2 BR has a function in the web config (if you enable it), to show the topology of the Thread network. It clearly showed both Apple TVs and the ESP32-H2 in the same Thread network, confirming what Home Assistant had done. And now the blind works reliably. I'm about to go buy more!

Thanks Home Assistant! HTH.

I could probably post this to 10 different subs, but I thought I would start here. Has anyone ever tried getting their RV Firefly integration connected to HomeKit?
I upgraded the network of our new rig and included an Apple TV. I’m familiar with Home Assistant and how I would use that, but I currently do not have anything running HA in there. This is really about centralizing control and information more than automation anyway.

So today I wanted to test drive Sonoff M5 and to my surprise it was added to Homekit as power outlet. Any idea how to change this?

Hello, i have connected my t1 light strip to m3 hub and connected to homekit by matter but i dont have adaptive light control no more,

i have 18.1 update on my homepod

So I don’t use the security system very often, but for the last several months if I put it in away mode in HomeKit it immediately disarms. Like with 5 seconds. Works just fine in the Aqara app and shows seemed in HomeKit. The alarm can they be properly disarmed from either app. Has anyone encountered this?