Any guides on what Homekit can do?

[flyinion]

Hi guys, trying to figure out all the smart home stuff and wondering if there is anything out there that really goes over what things like homekit can do so I can plan out what kinds of smart things I might want to add to our home? We picked up a couple of Ecobee3 Lite's a couple weeks ago but that's all we have at the moment.

We do have them connected to Google Assistant because we have a Google Home and it's supposed to be able to control them (but it's only been able to respond properly exactly once). The Assistant app works, but not the Home device so I'm thinking maybe just set everything up in Homekit instead and use "Hey Siri" since that can be voice activated without the phones being unlocked and in an app.

I'm just not sure what other devices might make sense and how to plan out setting it up in Homekit. My wife is wanting a smart door lock for sure, and we were thinking of lighting but I know the lighting can't be controlled by a normal switch once set up or at least I think that's true for the philips stuff which is what I've read is the ones to get for lighting.

 

[pkcable]

re:

I think this blog can help.....

https://www.imore.com/homekit

 

[Logistical Styles]

I just recently purchased the Hue starter kit plus an additional bulb and it's pretty decent. I'd like to get a color changing bulb to add to the setup but they are just so expensive. With the Hue system you can also use the regular light switch to turn off the lights. You just have to remember that when the switch is turned off then you can't control it again until the switch is turned back on. Once the switch is turned back on the bulb reconnects to the system.

I thought about investing in a smart door lock but I don't trust it just yet. I'd hate to have a malfunction with my door locks. I've also ordered a smart outlet to use in my man cave. Currently everything in that room runs off of one power strip. I'd like to be able to control the power usage in that room with Homekit. My next two items on my wish list are a smart thermostat and a motion sensor.

 

[mavsguy842]

I recently had two MyQ garage door openers installed, and installed the MyQ Home Bridge to control them via HomeKit and it's worked great so far (see my post in this forum). There are smart locks you can get where using a traditional key is still an option, and that would be a prerequisite for me if I were looking at one.

I also have Hue bulbs in two bedrooms, the living room, the basement, the entryway, and a lightstrip in the guest bathroom. The entryway and the guest bathroom are controlled via Hue motion sensors; the light strip is plugged into an outlet that always has power and the entryway switch is always left on. I control the living room via HomeKit, and leave the physical switches on all the time. The bedrooms are normally controlled just via the physical switches (HomeKit allows me to shut them off if they have been left on). In the basement I put the Hue dimmer switch next to the physical switch so we leave the physical switch on all the time and hit the dimmer switch when we walk past it as we get to the basement.

Dimmer switches use a watch battery and motion sensors use 2 AAA batteries that are user-replaceable. If I was going to stay in my house more long-term I would think about hardwiring the sockets with Hue lights and simply replacing the physical switch with the dimmer switch plate altogether, rather than using the included 3M tape to put the dimmer switch on the wall.