I finally decided to take the plunge into doing some home automation. Since we don't own an Alexa or Google Home device but my wife and I both own iPads and iPhones -- I thought HomeKit was the logical standard to try to put it all under.
I've got to say, I'm finding it pretty frustrating -- even though I've gotten many things to work. I'm currently using a couple of the WeMo wi-fi mini outlets and 3 of the WeMo wall switches, plus the WeMo HomeKit gateway/hub. Additionally, I went with a Lutron Caseta "starter kit" so I could use their dimmer switch and remote control switch to make a pair of 3-way switches work that control a ceiling fixture at the top of our stairs. I already have a Chamberlain MyQ garage door opener and their gateway, but it appears I have to spend another $99 or so for a newer hub device to add HomeKit compatibility to it. (Right now, it only works remotely with the MyQ app.) And I already have a couple of EcoBee 3 HomeKit compatible thermostats which I've paired up with HomeKit for a while now. Most recently, I bought a couple of 2nd. generation August smart locks since Best Buy put them on a 1-day sale for $99 each.
First off? I quickly realized that our 3rd. generation AppleTV needed to be upgraded, if I really wanted to do all of this properly. It *does* still provide some basic functionality as a HomeKit gateway so you can send commands to your stuff when not on your local network .... but you can't set up any automations in HomeKit without the 4th. gen. AppleTV or later. So I just spent the $179 to go with the latest 4K AppleTV and put the old one up for sale.
Second? The August smart locks were a great way to add a major automation feature to the home without breaking the bank .... but I'm regretting going that route already. Right now, I feel like I'll just go ahead and use them until they break, but will chalk it up to "getting what you pay for" and will invest in something better if I do it again. My biggest gripe with these is the reliance on Bluetooth to control them and the lack of a decent wi-fi to Bluetooth gateway solution for them. (What happens is, the lock works fine with HomeKit as long as it's within range of the Bluetooth signal the AppleTV puts out. But because I put one of these on a detached garage's side door? HomeKit can't communicate with it at all, unless I'm standing right by it with my iPhone when I try to use it. Then its status in HomeKit suddenly goes from "not responding" to active.)
I *thought* the solution was buying an August Gateway for the lock. $60 later, I discovered it's not nearly as good a solution as it should/could be for two reasons. 1. The gateway outputs a very weak Bluetooth signal with far shorter range than the AppleTV's Bluetooth has. I had to plug the thing into a long extension cord and physically drape it across the door frame so it would be close enough to the August lock to communicate well with it. Pretty ridiculous! And 2. While it works fine with the August iOS app, HomeKit doesn't seem to utilize it at all. Even the August app won't use it by default. I have to tap on a small icon in the top right corner of the screen when I'm looking at the lock status to enable the "remote connection" first. I called August support to see if there was something I was missing to make the August Gateway actually work with HomeKit. The support rep was clearly a foreigner with a thick accent, and could only tell me to delete my entire HomeKit configuration and start over from scratch and then "that should work". I tried and it didn't!
One of my co-workers is going with all "Z-Wave" compatible automation products and then tying it all back to a Z-Wave to HomeKit gateway he's buying. I don't know for sure how well THAT will work, but I'm quickly thinking it's a better solution than all of these native HomeKit compatible products that use proprietary gateways and various schemes to communicate. Of everything I've tried so far, I'd say the Lutron Caseta has the best thought-out approach to things. They seem to create a proprietary wireless network coming from their gateway device, and each switch communicates with it on that "closed" network. You don't have each switch taking up a separate IP address on your LAN that way, like you get with WeMo, and the HomeKit integration seemed pretty solid. Unfortunately, Lutron doesn't offer devices like smart locks, that I know of, and their products seem to cost a premium too. They do have motorized window blinds ... but that's not something I'm worried about automating until FAR down the road.
Lastly? Is everyone else using HomeKit having the same problems I see, where devices seem to randomly fall into "not responding" status for a while, and then reappear again when you check back in the "Home" app later? Last night, my upstairs floor Ecobee just decided to disappear along with my 3 remote temperature sensors paired to it, and came back about 30 minutes later. That whole time, it was working great in the Ecobee iOS app itself. I've also seen random WeMo switches go to "not responding" in HomeKit and come back later -- again, still generally working in the native WeMo app if I launch it. I tried to grant shared HomeKit access to my wife's iCloud account on her iPhone 7, and she saw all of my devices but ALL of them showed "not responding" for her. This is pretty bad performance for something that costs so much to set up!
I've got to say, I'm finding it pretty frustrating -- even though I've gotten many things to work. I'm currently using a couple of the WeMo wi-fi mini outlets and 3 of the WeMo wall switches, plus the WeMo HomeKit gateway/hub. Additionally, I went with a Lutron Caseta "starter kit" so I could use their dimmer switch and remote control switch to make a pair of 3-way switches work that control a ceiling fixture at the top of our stairs. I already have a Chamberlain MyQ garage door opener and their gateway, but it appears I have to spend another $99 or so for a newer hub device to add HomeKit compatibility to it. (Right now, it only works remotely with the MyQ app.) And I already have a couple of EcoBee 3 HomeKit compatible thermostats which I've paired up with HomeKit for a while now. Most recently, I bought a couple of 2nd. generation August smart locks since Best Buy put them on a 1-day sale for $99 each.
First off? I quickly realized that our 3rd. generation AppleTV needed to be upgraded, if I really wanted to do all of this properly. It *does* still provide some basic functionality as a HomeKit gateway so you can send commands to your stuff when not on your local network .... but you can't set up any automations in HomeKit without the 4th. gen. AppleTV or later. So I just spent the $179 to go with the latest 4K AppleTV and put the old one up for sale.
Second? The August smart locks were a great way to add a major automation feature to the home without breaking the bank .... but I'm regretting going that route already. Right now, I feel like I'll just go ahead and use them until they break, but will chalk it up to "getting what you pay for" and will invest in something better if I do it again. My biggest gripe with these is the reliance on Bluetooth to control them and the lack of a decent wi-fi to Bluetooth gateway solution for them. (What happens is, the lock works fine with HomeKit as long as it's within range of the Bluetooth signal the AppleTV puts out. But because I put one of these on a detached garage's side door? HomeKit can't communicate with it at all, unless I'm standing right by it with my iPhone when I try to use it. Then its status in HomeKit suddenly goes from "not responding" to active.)
I *thought* the solution was buying an August Gateway for the lock. $60 later, I discovered it's not nearly as good a solution as it should/could be for two reasons. 1. The gateway outputs a very weak Bluetooth signal with far shorter range than the AppleTV's Bluetooth has. I had to plug the thing into a long extension cord and physically drape it across the door frame so it would be close enough to the August lock to communicate well with it. Pretty ridiculous! And 2. While it works fine with the August iOS app, HomeKit doesn't seem to utilize it at all. Even the August app won't use it by default. I have to tap on a small icon in the top right corner of the screen when I'm looking at the lock status to enable the "remote connection" first. I called August support to see if there was something I was missing to make the August Gateway actually work with HomeKit. The support rep was clearly a foreigner with a thick accent, and could only tell me to delete my entire HomeKit configuration and start over from scratch and then "that should work". I tried and it didn't!
One of my co-workers is going with all "Z-Wave" compatible automation products and then tying it all back to a Z-Wave to HomeKit gateway he's buying. I don't know for sure how well THAT will work, but I'm quickly thinking it's a better solution than all of these native HomeKit compatible products that use proprietary gateways and various schemes to communicate. Of everything I've tried so far, I'd say the Lutron Caseta has the best thought-out approach to things. They seem to create a proprietary wireless network coming from their gateway device, and each switch communicates with it on that "closed" network. You don't have each switch taking up a separate IP address on your LAN that way, like you get with WeMo, and the HomeKit integration seemed pretty solid. Unfortunately, Lutron doesn't offer devices like smart locks, that I know of, and their products seem to cost a premium too. They do have motorized window blinds ... but that's not something I'm worried about automating until FAR down the road.
Lastly? Is everyone else using HomeKit having the same problems I see, where devices seem to randomly fall into "not responding" status for a while, and then reappear again when you check back in the "Home" app later? Last night, my upstairs floor Ecobee just decided to disappear along with my 3 remote temperature sensors paired to it, and came back about 30 minutes later. That whole time, it was working great in the Ecobee iOS app itself. I've also seen random WeMo switches go to "not responding" in HomeKit and come back later -- again, still generally working in the native WeMo app if I launch it. I tried to grant shared HomeKit access to my wife's iCloud account on her iPhone 7, and she saw all of my devices but ALL of them showed "not responding" for her. This is pretty bad performance for something that costs so much to set up!
