Homey Bridge Good Dwelling Hub Assessment

The Homey sensible hubs have been round for years now, and I coated the launch of the unique Homey Professional again in 2019.

Homey has been making an attempt to be the panacea of sensible house fragmentation lengthy earlier than the Matter was a factor. They’re arguably one of the best resolution for anybody utilizing a mix of sensible house applied sciences with their house.

In principle, the brand new Matter commonplace is meant to do what Homey has been making an attempt to do for years. Nevertheless, thus far, my expertise of Matter has been a bit lacklustre.

Till Matter good points higher traction, Homey appears to be the way in which to go if you need your sensible house gadgets to all work with one another in unison.

Athom introduced the inexpensive Homey Bridge at CES 2022, however has solely just lately began delivery it.

Additionally they have the Homey Professional 2023, which is offered for pre-order and is a big improve from the older generations. Homey Professional may even finally assist Matter and Thread, which ought to, hopefully, make it one of the best sensible house hub in the marketplace.

Homey Bridge vs Homey Professional

For the Homey Bridge, you’ll virtually definitely must subscribe to Homey Premium as this may allow limitless gadgets vs the 5 you get on the free plan.

Cell App / Net App

You may management your Homey by way of a cell app or an online interface. Functionally, each the cell app and net interface appear to be the identical. You may have all the identical tabs.

The cell app is helpful when I’m including gadgets and fundamental management of the gadgets inside my community. I discover the online interface vastly superior for the whole lot else. It’s so a lot sooner establishing flows and customising your community when working from an enormous display with a mouse and keyboard.

The net interface can be superior when wanting on the insights interface, which graphs the utilization of all of your gadgets.

Good Dwelling Manufacturers & Gadgets that aren’t supported

Homey has integrations for an enormous vary of sensible house manufacturers. I feel I counted over 60 apps out there when wanting on the apps for the traditional Homey, and you’ll get extra with the Homey Professional.

Homey Professional has entry to neighborhood apps, and these are the place you will discover the extra obscure manufacturers.

It’s simpler to listing what they do not have, and sadly, they are some things lacking that I would love.

• TP-Hyperlink Tapo is probably the primary one, they’ve Kasa, so it’s irritating there isn’t any Tapo.
• Eufy Safety and Eufy Dwelling are solely out there for Homey Professional.
• Arlo.
• Reolink.
• Airthings – they’ve an app for it, however it’s only for Homey Professional and never the brand new mannequin and the app does not assist the Airthings View Plus.
• Good Life – used for white-label Chinese language sensible house gadgets (I’ve a wise energy strip).
• Tuya – Is just out there on the Homey Professional.
• Ecovacs – Homey Professional solely.
• Luke Roberts Lighting – Homey Professional solely, although this can be a little bit of a distinct segment product.
• Hunter Douglas / Luxaflex PowerView sensible blinds is Homey Professional solely.
• Warmth Genius / Genius Hub – which admittedly is a little bit of an obscure sensible heating model. Tado is the primary possibility inside Homey.

Itemizing all of these manufacturers makes me realise what a multitude my sensible house is.

Matter not supported

One massive omission with the Homey bridge is that it isn’t Matter enabled, and it additionally doesn’t assist Thread, nor will or not it’s upgraded to assist these.

In principle, Matter assist would resolve quite a lot of the issues with unsupported gadgets that I’ve listed above.

I feel the most definitely purpose for that is that Athom and making an attempt to push customers to get the superior Homey Professional.

Homey Professional will not have Matter or Thread at launch. They’re anticipated to be rolled in Q2 and Q3 of 2023, respectively.

Integrating Homey Bridge with totally different sensible house ecosystems

Whereas the above listing does make it appear to be there’s a lot lacking, most of these manufacturers should not important for my sensible house, and I received quite a lot of gadgets efficiently built-in.

Nevertheless, it isn’t excellent and relies on every particular app and the underlying know-how it makes use of. Simply because a model is supported, it does not imply all of the merchandise inside that model can be supported.

I additionally wasn’t in a position to full the combination with among the gadgets I take advantage of, although I’m certain if I put some effort into problem-solving I may repair these.

Philips Hue

Fortunately the Philips Hue integration works effectively. It was simple to pair up, simply log into your Hue account and hyperlink it. It’ll then import all of your mild and you may place them into your rooms.

Sadly, it does not seem to import any movement sensors or switches that you might have.

The performance isn’t fairly pretty much as good because the Hue app. The color choice is extra fundamental, and responsiveness is a little bit slower, however general it’s wonderful.

You may have all of the triggers and occasions that you’d anticipate for establishing flows.

With Philips Hue, the lights do not get grouped collectively as they do with the Hue app. If you wish to set off all of the lights in a room directly, it’s good to arrange a move.

TP-Hyperlink Kasa

TP-Hyperlink Kasa additionally labored completely. Once more, you simply log in together with your TP-Hyperlink account and hyperlink up the programs.

For Kasa, I’ve a number of of the Kasa HS110 vitality monitoring sensible plugs, and the Homey app conveniently reveals the present vitality utilization.

It’s irritating that Tapo isn’t working, as these merchandise are cheaper than Kasa. I’m pretty certain that Kasa is slowly being discontinued. Most up-to-date product launches have all been beneath Tapo.

The move choices are good, as you’ll anticipate you’ve the on/off choices, however you can even set off occasions based mostly on the facility utilization.

Aqara / Zigbee

Issues get a little bit extra sophisticated with Aqara. Homey does not join with Aqara by way of an API in the identical means as Hue or Kasa. The Homey Bridge is a Zigbee and Z-Wave hub, so that you due to this fact pair up the Aqara gadgets straight with the hub.

The issue right here is that the Aqara gadgets have to be programmed into the Homey system for them to work correctly. You may have numerous Aqara gadgets to select from, however not all of them. From the gadgets I’ve, I wasn’t ready so as to add the Good Radiator Thermostat E1 or the brand new Good Video Doorbell G4. Nevertheless, the doorbell is not even Zigbee, it is WiFi.

You technically can add the E1 thermostat, nevertheless it reveals up as an unrecognised Zigbee system.

Yale Entry

I used to be in a position to join my Yale Linus sensible lock, and this enables me to lock/unlock my door it additionally gives some helpful suggestions on the battery state and all of the occasions. Nevertheless, it does not say which person has locked/unlocked the door.

For this, I can arrange flows when the door is locked/unlocked and likewise for the battery alarm.

Netatmo

I’ve had the Netatmo Presence floodlight digital camera working for just a few years now, and that is the one digital camera I used to be in a position to combine with Homey.

It does not do a lot inside the primary app web page, however it may be used for some first rate triggers in your flows. You may arrange triggers for human, automobile, and animal detection after which connectivity occasions 

Dana Lock

I’ve the Ultion Good Lock, which is principally a Danalock V3 that has been built-in with the full-door {hardware}.

SwitchBot

Initially, with SwitchBot, I did not have a lot luck. I attempted to pair the WiFi-connected hub, and no gadgets confirmed up. Re-trying just a few days later, I used to be in a position to get the SwitchBot Hub 2 imported into my system, and this additionally gave me entry to the second temperature and humidity sensor I had.

For the flows, the hub solely had choices for temperature and humidity. There have been no choices for the buttons or IR distant.

Sonos

Sonos works as you’ll anticipate. When you log in and hyperlink the system, you achieve management of any speaker inside your account.

You even have an intensive vary of triggers and actions out there with the move settings.

Dyson

For Dyson, I’ve the Dyson Pure Cool Tower Fan, however the choices with the Dyson app are the 360 Heuristic robotic vacuum, Dyson Cool, and Dyson Hyperlink.

I used to be in a position to get it working with the Dyson Hyperlink possibility. Nevertheless, it solely gives temperature and humidity relatively than indoor air high quality.

Dwelling Assistant

I did not have a lot luck getting Dwelling Assistant to work, however I additionally did not put a lot effort into working it out. With this, it’s good to present the IP and port of your Dwelling Assistant set up.

I wasn’t in a position to get it to work with my native IP and port or the distant entry URL you should use with Dwelling Assistant. I did not attempt port forwarding as I do not actually need to expose my LAN gadgets to the web.

Plex

I wasn’t in a position to get Plex to work for some purpose. I assumed it required me to have distant entry working correctly, however this did not appear to repair something. I simply received an error saying, “No Working URL To Plex Discovered”.

Wiz Related

For Wiz, it’s good to go into the Wiz app, then settings and integrations, allow the Homey integration and enter the code supplied.

I do not actually use any of my Wiz lights in the meanwhile, however you’ve all of the settings you’ll anticipate for a wise mild.

Withings

The Withings integration is attention-grabbing and has plenty of potential. I’ve the Withings Physique Cardio scales and the Sleep Monitoring Mat. It additionally works with blood stress monitor and smartwatches.

Specifically, you may set a move set off for whenever you fall asleep or get off the bed. This looks as if among the best automation triggers chances are you’ll need to use.

Page 2 for Flows, Worth and Different Choices and the Conclusion

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I’m a UK tech blogger and have been within the trade for over 10 years now working Mighty Gadget, its sister websites and contributing to different websites across the net. I’m captivated with all tech together with cell, wearable, and residential automation. I’m additionally a health fanatic so cowl as a lot health tech as potential. Follow me on Strava