Last year, we shared a list of some of the best HomeKit products you can buy, which was quite popular with MacRumors readers, so we thought we'd follow it up.
In our 2019 HomeKit video, we're featuring some more great HomeKit products, and we've added in some AirPlay 2 accessories as well.
Vizio TVs - HomeKit and AirPlay 2 support is coming to a bunch of TVs from Sony, LG, Vizio, and Samsung later this year, but Vizio has already rolled out support on some of its TVs in a beta capacity. If you have a recent M-Series or P-Series Vizio TV, you can try it out. AirPlay 2 lets you AirPlay content from your Apple devices right to the TV, and your TV will also show up in HomeKit. You can use the Home app and Siri commands to do things like change the volume, switch inputs, or turn the TV on or off.
Sonos Beam ($400) - The Sonos Beam is an AirPlay 2-enabled soundbar that's meant to be used with your TV, offering up impressive sound and allowing the same music to be played through other AirPlay 2-enabled speakers in your home, like the Sonos One or the HomePod.
BlueSound Pulse Flex 2i Speakers ($300) - BlueSound's Pulse Flex 2i Speakers are AirPlay 2 enabled, so you can use them alongside other AirPlay 2 devices. AirPlay 2 lets you play music on multiple speakers throughout the home, for a whole home audio experience. These are more expensive than some other competing products like the Sonos One, but BlueSound promises superior sound.
Chamberlain myQ Garage Door Opener and Home Bridge ($142) - Chamberlain's MyQ Garage Door Opener is compatible with HomeKit, though depending on your setup, you may need an extra accessory. With HomeKit compatibility, you can ask Siri to open or close your garage door, and you can check to make sure it's closed for peace of mind. You can also use the MyQ app.
Hue Outdoor Light Strip ($70) - Hue recently introduced a whole range of outdoor lighting, including the Hue Outdoor Light Strip. It's similar to the indoor version, but with a great diffuse light and waterproofing so it can stay outside. It's flexible enough to go anywhere, but you can't cut this version. Hue lights can be turned millions of colors either with the Hue app, the Home app, or via Siri.
Hue Signe ($160 to $240) - Hue also makes other unique lighting products, like the Hue Signe table and lamps. They're HomeKit enabled like other Hue lights, and while they're really expensive for lamps, they're cool and can fit just about anywhere because they're basically upright LED bars with aluminum stands. We have the table lamp, and it's a nifty accent light.
Have you used any of these HomeKit products, or have favorite HomeKit device we didn't mention? Let us know in the comments.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
I've been very happy with the Leviton Homekit switches I have installed, I'm surprised they aren't mentioned here more.
I hadn't seen the Insignia garage door control, that has me very interested since I have a Genie opener that came out before MyQ. Should work fine for the attached garage in my house, but I'm guessing it won't work in my shed where the opener has separate open/close/stop buttons?
Those Hue light strips are just insane. $70 for 7 feet. Outrageous. You’re much better off buying some normal lights and connecting them to 1 HomeKit outlet.
MyQ is trash. Insignia is way cheaper, more compatibility and works flawlessly. [doublepost=1556226579][/doublepost]You also forgot Schlage smart sense, AQARA products - all around cheapest and best products, Ikea smart plugs and lights
My experience over the last year:
MyQ retrofit on two 8 year old Liftmaster/Chamberlain garage door openers - took some effort to install and setup, but has been solid and reliable since. I have set a schedule to make sure the doors are closed at night.
Schlage Smart Sense door locks on two doors - nice design, easy to install on door, finicky to setup, reliable operation.
30 Leviton HomeKit switches, dimmers, some with multiple switches per light - generally reliable, occasionally one will go offline, requiring a reboot by cycling the breaker (switches) or air gap (dimmers).
As a UK reader, a lot of these are US only products (like the whole Leviton brand), unfortunately.
Also, regardless of location, I want products that work with all three of the main ecosystems: Apple, Amazon, Google. So therefore I can use either of them.
And as another user above states, we need products that can work in a fail safe mode (i.e. not come on full blast if LAN goes down; wired or WiFi), and work in manual mode (i.e. wall switches that can be pressed without the need for an app, imagining situations where a friend or outside person in our home, needs to turn lights on/off without resorting to any app control).
Until these functions are de rigueur, nothing will convince me to buy in to anything outside of the Ring Pro doorbell I have as I live in a first floor flat).
Assuming you read post before, I am in the same position, I am rebuilding my appartement right now, so I did a lot of research, Z-wave is the most interesting, problem is it is a bit too geeky. Homekit isn't the one I am looking for, too limited, Zigbee neither. Z-wave isn't cheap, and you need a controller, some of them are really expensive like the Fibaro home controller, there are USB stick for Z-wave, running it on a computer is just overkill, a RaspberryPi would do the job just fine, but they UI is just horrible, someone needs to step in to make it as easy as click and go.
I’ve been researching the garage door thing. It seems as if Insignia has departed both the Apple Store AND Amazon. The recent reviews on BestBuy.com MAY be an indication that Insignia has had real issues pushing out a promised firmware upgrade to solve numerous problems.
I have the MyQ system and use it a Siri Shortcut that allows me to open or close via Siri. Works well for me.
This whole Home automation is still very much fragmented and few make it easy and stable. I am looking for a reliable system that integrates just about everything around the house without becoming too geeky, or having to put code in to a program. Integration into the switches I have is also a problem, here in Europe there are a few big brands of switches but few of them have Homekit support, the ones that have are ugly-not my taste. Looked into Z-wave, seems like one of the best ones, sadly to take full advantage of all features you have to be able to code, right now I have little time to do this. States to me is also important, by this I mean if there's a power outage (very rare here) it should not automatically return to on like the Philips Hue did before, I don't want it to be awakened by a full blast at night time. There's another problem with hue, switches, the regular in wall ones, they do not communicate and that's the whole issue with Hue, switch it of and turning it on turns it to full on, Z-wave does not have this problem, it's also better and more stable than Zigbee.
I have a Nest Thermostat because I like the style of it, sadly it's now owned by Google for several reasons, one major issue is, there's no Homekit support, I think I know the reason....!! I also dislike the thing it operates on battery, thought it could survive a substantial time without being on a charger, it barely survives minutes, do I have a faulty one...?
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Top Rated Comments
I hadn't seen the Insignia garage door control, that has me very interested since I have a Genie opener that came out before MyQ. Should work fine for the attached garage in my house, but I'm guessing it won't work in my shed where the opener has separate open/close/stop buttons?
MyQ retrofit on two 8 year old Liftmaster/Chamberlain garage door openers - took some effort to install and setup, but has been solid and reliable since. I have set a schedule to make sure the doors are closed at night.
Schlage Smart Sense door locks on two doors - nice design, easy to install on door, finicky to setup, reliable operation.
30 Leviton HomeKit switches, dimmers, some with multiple switches per light - generally reliable, occasionally one will go offline, requiring a reboot by cycling the breaker (switches) or air gap (dimmers).
Eve window/door sensor - easy to setup, reliable.
Homekit isn't the one I am looking for, too limited, Zigbee neither.
Z-wave isn't cheap, and you need a controller, some of them are really expensive like the Fibaro home controller, there are USB stick for Z-wave, running it on a computer is just overkill, a RaspberryPi would do the job just fine, but they UI is just horrible, someone needs to step in to make it as easy as click and go.
I am looking for a reliable system that integrates just about everything around the house without becoming too geeky, or having to put code in to a program.
Integration into the switches I have is also a problem, here in Europe there are a few big brands of switches but few of them have Homekit support, the ones that have are ugly-not my taste.
Looked into Z-wave, seems like one of the best ones, sadly to take full advantage of all features you have to be able to code, right now I have little time to do this.
States to me is also important, by this I mean if there's a power outage (very rare here) it should not automatically return to on like the Philips Hue did before, I don't want it to be awakened by a full blast at night time.
There's another problem with hue, switches, the regular in wall ones, they do not communicate and that's the whole issue with Hue, switch it of and turning it on turns it to full on, Z-wave does not have this problem, it's also better and more stable than Zigbee.
I have a Nest Thermostat because I like the style of it, sadly it's now owned by Google for several reasons, one major issue is, there's no Homekit support, I think I know the reason....!!
I also dislike the thing it operates on battery, thought it could survive a substantial time without being on a charger, it barely survives minutes, do I have a faulty one...?