Matter is the brand new answer to all our sensible residence compatibility issues, proper? That’s what we’ve been advised, and that’s what we wish to occur, proper? Open stands on every thing associated to know-how are preferable, however generally, new requirements take years to mature. That’s what we’re seeing with Matter. We’re even seeing manufacturers like Wemo back away from Matter assist as effectively. Over the previous few weeks, I’ve been testing a product known as Homey Bridge, and it’s one of the attention-grabbing sensible residence ideas I’ve tried in a while.
HomeKit Weekly is a collection targeted on sensible residence equipment, automation ideas and tips, and every thing to do with Apple’s sensible residence framework.
What’s Homey Bridge?
Homey Bridge is designed to be the common sensible residence hub that connects all your units seamlessly from throughout a number of manufacturers and protocols. With built-in assist for numerous protocols similar to Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, 433 MHz, and Infrared, Homey Bridge makes it simple on your sensible residence units to speak to one another. It really works with merchandise/companies from Philips Hue, Nest, Spotify Join, Wiz, Yale, Aqara, GE, Bosch, and plenty of extra. In a way, it’s designed to be the bridge that connects with every thing with out the seller needing to construct assist for Matter, HomeKit, and many others. It’s bridging a number of protocols collectively. You’ll be able to see your complete record on Homey’s website.
Set up and setup
The satan on bridge merchandise is all the time within the particulars, although. How simple is it to configure? How do the merchandise work collectively? Homey has accomplished a pleasant job on making a seamless setup and set up course of. You’ll unbox the gadget, plug it as much as energy, obtain the iPhone app, and also you’ll observe the easy built-in steps. For me, it took round 5 minutes to create an account and add my bridge.
As soon as the Homey Bridge was arrange, I went to work including some units from Fibaro and Aqara the place one relies on Z-Wave and the opposite relies on Zigbee. The entire onboarding expertise was very Apple-like. The merchandise included logos, photos, and many others. Homey walked me by means of onboarding the merchandise in a neater means than any sensible residence platform does at present. None of those merchandise have any concept what or who Homey is. Homey handles all of the onboarding and connection in a really Apple-like means.
Homey Circulation
Homeu Circulation is Homey’s capability to create guidelines to control how your merchandise work collectively; it’s actually one thing else and takes the thought of automations for a sensible residence to the following stage. Logic Circulation-cards can be utilized together with variables, similar to numbers, texts, and booleans. In the event you’ve felt restricted by what HomeKit gives, it’s a pleasant improve.
General – who’s Homey Bridge for?
I actually loved your complete Homey Bridge expertise. It’s not a HomeKit-compatible product, but it surely does combine with Siri Shortcuts. Seeing how the workforce constructed a bridge that acts as an integrator of numerous sensible residence merchandise while not having a brand new firmware replace offers me pause to surprise if Apple ought to have taken that route as an alternative of supporting Matter.
Homey Bridge is out there for a one-time charge of $69 from Amazon or instantly from Homey. To get probably the most out of the product, you have to a Homey Premium subscription for $2.99/month.
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