Note: I should state that I’m taking this information both from what can be gleaned from the claim in the Apple document (link below) and my communications with someone involved in making devices that work with Apple Home. That being the case, there could be possible misunderstandings as to what Apple intends, but with little to go on, the following is what has been understood.

In the release notes in Apple’s List of Home Enhancements in iOS18 PDF, it states the following;

The post Does iOS18 Offer a Hub-Free Option to Apple Home Users? appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

It’s also important to note that this update only makes the Dirigera a Matter bridge, not a Matter Controller. So this can expose the connected devices to Matter platforms, but you won’t be able to add Matter devices to the Ikea ecosystem via this hub. That said, based on Ikea stating the following, could this mean it may have a further update to make it a Matter Controller?

“As the first step in adopting Matter, the DIRIGERA hub will be updated to become a Matter Bridge, enabling it to support any Matter-enabled system.”

It’s probably unlikely, and more of a possibility that the company would release a separate Matter Controller, but even that seems less likely. Ikea also state that the update is available to users wherever the Dirigera hub is sold, which could mean it may not be available in your region if you imported one.

Matter support for the following product categories will be available via the update – lighting, sound, air purification, remote controllers, and sensors. Ikea has stepped up its smart home game in fits and starts, most recently with the addition of the new Inspelning smart plug for North American users that also offers power monitoring.

The post Ikea Adds Official Matter Support to the Dirigera Hub appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

PACKAGING | CONTENTS

Considering the package sent to me came from China, the box survived pretty well, as did the contents, thankfully. There’s not a lot to see, but everything required was included. I was also sent a SwitchBot Hub 2 for the purpose of testing the K10+ Pro out, which you won’t get, but is also not a requirement unless you plan to add it to Apple Home. That may not be worth it at the time of writing, but may make all the difference with iOS18.

The main piece is the robot vac itself, which only comes in white. Visually, it’s pretty much the same as the previous model, except for the larger front docking sensor. Similarly, the docking station is fairly similar to the previous iteration, with just a different fascia, now grey instead of black. You get two side brushes (one of which is a spare), a main manual and a quick setup/reference card, a Hepa filter (one is already installed in the vacuum), 30 disposable mopping pads for wet floor cleaning, and a pair of disposable dust bags. That’s pretty much it.

THE VACUUM

In many ways the K10+ Pro looks much like any other robot vac out there, with a LiDAR unit on top,  front ‘bumper’, sensors around the edges, and a corner brush. Where it differs to most other models is down to its size. I have been using a Roborock S6 for a while and it has served me well, but it’s slightly too large to reach certain places, most notably when it fails to get between the legs for our dining chairs. It’s just slightly too large. The K10+ series (both models) are 34% smaller, and so getting into these narrower gaps is not an issue. Now I no longer have to put the chairs on top of the table when I need to get a robovac to do its thing, and that’s a big deal for me.

There are two main buttons on the top, much like other vacs, with a Power and Home button, but actually the housing around the LiDAR sensor is also a button which can be pressed down, although typically this is usually only when you’re setting or resetting the device.

There are vents either side of the unit, although one is home to a small speaker for the robot to communicate the actions it’s taking, like cleaning, returning to the dock, or for alerts if it gets stuck.

The rear is home to the dust box. This also has a shutter that only opens when it’s connected to the base station, which is also when the internal battery is being recharged. This is achieved via two metal connectors either side of the aforementioned shutter. Whilst the dust box is set up to be emptied automatically via the docking station, you can actually empty the contents of the box yourself, and forego the cost of further disposable dust bags, although considering you shouldn’t need to replace these bags for 90 days, I think it’s worth the ongoing costs versus the potential issues you might encounter emptying the contents yourself, as I’ve had to do with the Roborock S6. At the top of the dust box is another docking sensor, as the K10+ Pro has to reverse into the dock.

The top of the robot has a removable plate that reveals an on/off toggle switch as well as a way to access the dust box, which is lifted out via a fold away handle. The underside is home to a pair of powered wheels, a directional wheel, and three edge or ‘cliff’ sensor – one set either side, and one at the front. This is designed to prevent the robovac from falling down a flight of stairs, if you’re using it on an upper floor, for example.

IMPROVEMENTS OVER THE K10+

If I’m honest, whilst I’ve never tried the original K10+, if I were to have one, I don’t think the improvements afforded the K10+ Pro are worth the upgrade. If you don’t own the K10+, then going for the Pro model makes total sense of course. Visually, they’re much the same apart from the differences already mentioned, but they have beefed up the suction power, going from 2,500Pa to 3,000Pa. That doesn’t seem a lot but it’s a 20% increase overall. SwitchBot claim its ability to clean further into corners has been improved, although given the brush attachment looks the same, I’m not sure how that has been achieved, unless it’s to do with the improved suction.

They have changed the sweeper from a combined rubber blade and coarse brush, to an all rubber design, which appears to work better with hairs apparently. Whilst the LiDAR sensor hasn’t changed in and of itself, the robot does now also use PSD (not the Photoshop file format…), which stands for Position Sensitive Dectector. This is charged with better avoidance of objects, and knowing where it is, if it has been moved to a different location. I personally haven’t noticed it being any better than my S6 in this regard, although it’s definitely faster at getting around, and with the S6 only capable of 2,000Pa, the K10+ Pro is 50% more powerful.

THE DOCKING STATION

My Roborock has a docking station, but it’s merely there to recharge the internal battery for the S6. With the K10+ Pro, you get a bit more, as is clear from the size of it. It has the connectors for recharging, as standard, but in between these two connectors is a large port. This connects to the port on the robovac, to suck out all the dust, dirt and hairs collected, and store them in a disposable bag in the top section. Above this port is also what I guess is a sort of transmitter to guide the robovac back for recharging.

The top section has a lid, and once opened you can see the rather cavernous space granted for the disposable dust bags. The bottom of this section has a fan to draw the dust into the bag from the vacuum’s dust box, via the evacuation tube. Fitted inside the lid is a mopping pad clip plate, although I’ll be honest and say if you’re looking for a robovac that can also do a deep clean via the mop, this isn’t the type of model that’ll work for you.

The bags that work with this base station can collect up to 90 days of dust and hair, although that really depends on a variety of factors. It’s pretty easy to fit, and once installed you don’t even think about it, although I’ve found myself checking how full it is on occasion (OCD much?).

the inside of the dust bag holder is a mopping pad clip plate. If you want to give your floors a cursory wipe, you can remove this plate, wrap a mopping pad around it, and clip it to the base of the robovac. It’s positioned to fit over the rubber brush, so effectively you can mop or vacuum, but not both at the same time. As stated, I’m not convinced this is worth using, and even though my Roborock S6 has a similar set up, the application of disposable pads is a lot more well thought out, as the S6 has a clip on module that also contains a small water reservoir that slowly leaks water onto the mopping pad. So as it stands, in the absence of a dedicated robovac with fully dedicated mopping functionality, the K10+ Pro does the vacuuming, whilst the S6 is now designated with wiping the floors when required.

When it comes to the base station doing what it’s meant to do, it’s actually a lot more pleasant of an experience than I’d anticipated. Prior to this device being sent, I would dutifully empty the dust box for the Roborock S6 after each clean. This would first involve wrapping a disposable plastic bag around the box, shaking the contents of the box loose, so they’d end up in the bag, then dispose of the bag, once sealed. This would often result in some dust getting out, and going up my nose, and boy do I have sensitive sinuses! As you can imagine, it wasn’t great, but it was the best way to deal with the collected dust. Now with the K10+ Pro able to do it for me without any intervention, it’s one less hassle, for which I’m grateful.

Wrapping up the features of the base station, the box also contains a small blade/brush combo to cut tangled hairs from the rubber cleaning brush. The rear of the unit has a fitted power cable. I was sent the UK version with a Type G plug, but it works fine with an adaptor, so I’m ok with it.

IN APPLE HOME

At the time of writing this review, I’m still on iOS17, so if the next iteration of iOS comes with better integration, I’ll update this section of the review to reflect any changes – good or bad. I guess Apple Home integration can’t get any more basic though, so I have high hopes that things will improve. As it stands, to get the K10+ Pro into Apple Home, you have to associate the K10+ Pro with one of SwitchBot’s own Matter hubs. This is also where it can get a bit confusing; most SwitchBot devices use Bluetooth,  and so they need these hubs for both their own ecosystem, and for third-party Matter ecosystems. The hubs are Matter enabled, allowing the devices connected to them to be exposed to Apple Home, which is much the same as Aqara Zigbee devices, and how they interact with their own Zigbee hubs. However, the K10+ Pro uses WiFi, so it actually doesn’t need a hub, or so you would think. For SwitchBot’s own ecosystem, it doesn’t – unless you want it to work with other SwitchBot devices – in which case you’ll almost certainly have a hub anyway. To expose the robovac to Matter platforms like Apple Home, you need the hub, so even if the vac isn’t connected to the hub via Bluetooth, in the app it’s part of their ecosystem, and is therefore able to associate with the hub for the purposes of getting it exposed to Apple Home.

What you do get is minimal, however. You get a tile, which can be displayed as a power outlet, a light, or a fan, so not exactly representative. To be clear, this is not the fault of SwitchBot, it’s simply due to Apple Home not being ready for robot vacuums in iOS17. Beyond that, there’s a toggle switch that does the same as the tile, a settings page that allows you to include the device in scenes and automations, and a tab to show that it’s connected to a SwitchBot hub.

Pressing the icon on the tile, or toggling the switch, simply activates the vac to clean the whole home (once you’ve actually set it all up of course). There are no options to clean specific rooms as such, so you only get the option to get it to start cleaning, or stop cleaning and return to the docking station. Luckily, as the SwitchBot app offers the chance to use Siri Shortcuts, so there is more that can be done, which I’ll touch on next.

THE SWITCHBOT APP

Things are different in the SwitchBot app, which is to be expected. You get a single tile on the home page, which allows you to launch the robot to do a full clean (by pressing the circular button), without having to go deeper into the app. Tapping anywhere on the tile other than the circular button launches a pop up that gives you three options – Clean, Finish, and Recharge. Pretty self explanatory. Tapping on ‘More’ launches the full range of options.

Assuming you’ve set up the robovac and have mapped your home, you’ll get the floor plan on the home page. The app will automatically break up the plan into rooms, although you can edit it yourself too. Beneath that are metrics to tell how much floor has been covered on its last clean, how long it took, and the estimated area based on the whole plan.

At the very bottom are four buttons; Charge, Clean, Max, and More. The first two allow you to send the vac back for recharging its battery, and begin cleaning, respectively. Max is actually the option to choose from four different cleaning strengths; Quiet, Standard, Strong, and Max. The More button opens up additional options.

You get buttons either side for cleaning modes (vacuum or mop), empty the dust box, how many times the cleaning task is to be performed in one session – with a maximum of two. My Roborock is capable of three cleaning passes, but it does have a much larger battery. You can save the current map, as well as set no-go zones, which is useful for areas where you might want to keep the vac away from.

once selected, the previously mentioned ‘More’ button opens up additional features that allow you to edit your current map, choose from other stored maps, create schedules, or show a cleaning report. You can choose from a selection of voices in different languages, which includes English (US accent), three Japanese voices, Korean, Hokkien (a Chinese dialect), Taiwanese Mandarin, German, Spanish, French, Italian, and Dutch.

The page also allows you to directly control the robovac with a three button controller that allows you to steer it. Finally, you can choose between a whole house clean, clean individual rooms, and select what order they’ll be cleaned in, and even clean a specific area.

Having been used to the UI of the Roborock app, at first I felt it was better than the one presented by SwitchBot, although I’ve come to appreciate the options to quickly access certain functions, that in the Roborock app require a big more digging. All that said, the one area Roborock’s app is arguably better is with Siri Shortcuts. With SwitchBot, you can start, pause or resume cleaning, return it to the dock, pause docking, locate the robot, change the suction power, or change the cleaning mode. What you can’t do is create a Siri Shortcut that allows you to ask the robot to clean specific rooms. Roborock does offer this, and so I can tell my Roborock S6 to clean the main bedroom. For SwitchBot it’ll only offer to clean the whole apartment. Hopefully SwitchBot can update the options to include specific rooms at some point.

There are further options to tweak the way it cleans and empties, which as a summary, include;

• Do Not Disturb (no voice announcements or noises between certain times)
• Sound volume
• Dust collection settings
  • Dust collection time – how long the docking station collects dust from the robovac once docked
  • Dust collection frequency – how often it will empty the dust box (after 90, 75, or 60 mins of cleaning time)
• Child lock
• Button lights

PERFORMANCE IN DAY TO DAY USE

At first I wasn’t sure I’d like it, after coming from a very happy experience with the Roborock S6. That eventually changed, for a couple of reasons, but mostly due to its smaller size doing a better job of getting into areas I’d previously have to adjust every time I wanted to clean said area. Now it’s much easier to clean without having to temporarily hoist dining room chairs onto the dining table due to the space between the chair legs being a tad too small for the Roborock to contend with. I’m also really happy to let it clean the dust by itself, which is one less job, and one less messy one at that.

I wish the Siri Shortcuts options were better, as already stated, but with iOS18 it may not be neccessary (fingers crossed). I would say that whilst the object detect seems to be no worse than my S6, I thought it would be better, but it doesn’t appear to be an improvement. It will still bump into things that are clearly in its path, so the PSD option doesn’t seem to make any real improvements.

One area of frustration, which thankfully I no longer need to deal with is the vac not being able to find the docking station sometimes. This all happened early on in the process, and as such I eventually got to the bottom of the issue that causes it to happen. So when you’ve mapped out your home, you can set it off to go cleaning, but if you happen to try to make any adjustments to the floor plan whilst it’s doing so, it appears this screws things up for the vac in relation to the map and how to find the base station. In some cases this can be (relatively) easily remedied by deleting any maps currently in use, and remapping your home. If that doesn’t fix the issue, deleting the robovac, and re-adding it to the SwitchBot app is the remaining option. Since stumbling on this discovery, I’ve ensured that I don’t try to fiddle with the floor plan until its back at the the docking station, and so far I’ve not encountered the issue again, so feel confident that this was the issue, with a remedy to go with it.

Other than that, for the price, it’s pretty reasonable. Robot vacuums are fast becoming the most expensive item for your smart home, and prices for some are astronomical, even if the cost is justified. Still, we’re at a point now where SwitchBot now have a K10+ Pro Combo, which was just announced at IFA 2024. This ‘Combo’ includes the K10+ Pro that I’m reviewing here, but it comes with a modified base station that allows the also included handheld robot vac to connect to, and empty it. You can read more about it HERE. If like me you already have a handheld vacuum (we have a top line Dyson that it pretty darn amazing all by itself), then the combo may not be of much appeal, but if you’re not a fan of having to empty a vacuum of any type on a regular basis, and you’re in the market for a handheld too, this may be the perfect option.

Either way, the K10+ Pro has converted me, and so the Roborock is currently on standby only, with the option to do some mopping as required. Recommended.

The post SwitchBot Mini Robot Vac K10+ Pro (Review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

This is bulb meant to be seen, however, in part due to the shape, but also for the fact it uses LiFX’ own ‘Polychrome’ technology. This allows the bulb to display not just the now standard 16 million colours (it can offer billions apparently), but multiple colours at once. The specs state the T10 bulb has 104 individual LEDs with a massive 52 controllable zones. That’s insane for a light bulb! However, it’s just as well this bulb is meant for mood lighting, as it tops out at a mere 5.2W at full brightness, so this isn’t going to perform as well for decently lit areas.

As with all LiFX releases since it was obtained by US lighting company Feat Electric, this new bulb adopts the Matter standard, using Matter over WiFi for its method of connection/communication to you smart home. This means aside from a Matter Controller, no hub is required. Aside from supporting the four major Matter compatible platforms – Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings, it will also work with Home Assistant and even Razer Chroma for all the avid gamers out there.

Currently the bulb is available to purchase in the United States for US$39.98 at Home Depot. Whether it’ll come to other territories is not clear, although it does work with both 110~120V and 220~240V systems.

The post New Matter Enabled Tube Light from LiFX Now Available appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

On the surface, these may look much like previous product the company has sold, namely the Nanoleaf Canvas. However, the ‘Blocks’ differ in some significant ways.

The first, and obvious difference is the fact that there are five ‘Blocks’ to choose from, with a basic ‘Square’, and ‘Textured’ square, a ‘Light Pegboard’, a ‘Shelf’, and a ‘Small Square’ that is essentially 25% the size of the standard Square. like the Canvas, and all of their other lighting products, these offer up to 16 million colours, and can connect to one another to form a sort of patchwork of lights.

In the case of the blocks, which we also saw with Nanoleaf’s ‘Shapes’, you can mix and match these different options to create something less uniform, and more organically shaped. With the Shelf option, you can place your favourite models, phone, mini speakers etc on them, with the limit for support set at 1.5kg in weight. The Pegboard option, which offers the hooks as a separate purchase, you have the option yo support up to 3kg in weight. The Textured Blocks appear to have a more three dimensional aspect to them, that should add an extra layer of interest to your lighting setup.

The one thing that may surprise many, is that the Blocks do not currently support Matter, and may never actually do so. In one sense, it won’t matter (no pun intended) to Apple Home users, but for Google, SmartThings, and Alexa users, who are trying to go all in on Matter, you’re going to have to return to a cloud-based option for getting these into your smart platforms. This is an odd choice, given that the company started off as one of the early adopters of both Matter and Thread, but are seemingly backing away from both to varying degrees of late; Their 4D TV light strip combo only offered a standard WiFi connection, as does their Nanoleaf Skylight. Add to this the company now releasing Matter over WiFi Essential Bulbs and Multicolour light strip, when Thread was fine, although it’s always good to have the choice I suppose. That all said, there is a possible silver lining…

Nanoleaf’s announcement of a wireless controller/button/switch took us by surprise, but only for the fact that previous announcements from the company regarding controllers seems to have come to nothing. Back in 2020 the company unveiled a very odd looking device as part of a yet to materialise ‘Learning Series’, which included technology dubbed U-IQ. Whatever the reason, Nanoleaf now have a new wireless remote – the Sense+ Smart Switch – that offers 5 buttons. In terms of size, it does appear to be similar to the Wemo Stage Scene Controller, but is designed in the first instance to work best with Nanoleaf’s own lighting products. The top and bottom buttons act as on and off switches, whilst the middle button acts as a dimmer. It also has two programmable buttons on either side of the aforementioned dimmer, which can be programmed in Apple Home to control non-Nanoleaf products. Two major plusses with Nanoleaf’s offering is that it also comes with both light and motion sensors, which both help to turn on the relevant Nanoleaf lighting in a room, as well as adjust according to how much light is in said room.

The other surprise is that whilst this switch will use Matter over Thread (currently via something called ‘Matter Early Access, which sounds distinctly beta…) it also offers connectivity via a new Nanoleaf protocol called ‘Litewave’ that allows the switch to connect directly to Nanoleaf products, which would be useful in a Nanoleaf home without Thread, but it does seem a little pointless otherwise. Still, if they’re offering this with Matter over Thread, it’s all good, especially at a reasonably inexpensive US$26.99 (plus shipping).

The post New Nanoleaf Products and Some Surprises… appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

By far the most interesting for me, are the two air purifiers. The model above not only operates as a air purifier to remove hair, dust and particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5) from your room, but it also comes with a very interesting ambient light that appears as though it’s floating above the purifier itself. The ambient light is capable of producing colour, and supposedly changes to specific colour depending on the air quality in the room it’s located in. The top of the light acts as a sort of night stand (assuming it’s placed next to a bed), so it can serve more than just a purifier and mood light.

If you want to take things up a notch, the other purifier touted is essentially the same in terms of both the purifier and mood light, but the top of the lamp features a larger and wider table top, with a wood finish. Not only that, but it also has a Qi charger built in. The charger itself is the Qi standard, so although you’ll get 15w for Android phones, iPhones are restricted to 7.5w, with Apple approved chargers able to reach 15w.

Both purifiers offer Hepa 13 filtration, which also includes a carbon filter for odours and VOCs. It also comes with a built-in PM2.5 sensor, although the company are also offering the option to buy the purifier with their recently announced Meter Pro or Meter Pro (Co2 monitor) sensors.

Both air purifiers will be exposed to Matter via the company’s hubs in a future update.

Fresh off the back of their recently released K10+ Pro (video HERE), SwitchBot has now announced the K10+ Pro Combo! This is essentially the K10+ Pro robot vacuum, with a larger/taller base station and a more or less traditional hand held vacuum that wouldn’t look out of place in a Dyson showroom. Both the K10+ Pro and the handheld vacuum make use of the base station, but emptying the contents of the dust boxes via separate portals.

The hand-held vacuum comes with a variety of fittings that allows you to clean various areas, from the back of sofas, to tight corners, and even the interior of your car. both this and the K10+ Pro have built in batteries of course. Whilst the K10+ Pro is exposed to Matter via its association with the company’s Matter bridges, it’s not clear if the hand held vacuum will also be exposed to Matter, or indeed be exposed separately.

SwitchBot’s Roller Shade is the world’s first adjustable and fabric-replaceable smart roller blind. Its width adjusts from 0.5m to 1.85m or 22.8″ to 72.8″, which will hopefully provide a precise fit for most windows. The fabric can be easily replaced to match any décor, with options such as 100% blackout for privacy protection. In addition to remote control, the Roller Blind supports automation scenes and integrates with major smart home platforms through Matter (via SwitchBot Matter-compatible Hubs), offering a smart, hassle-free solution for everyone.

SwitchBot’s Roller Shade is the world’s first adjustable and fabric-replaceable smart roller blind – at least as far as we’re aware.Its width adjusts from 0.5m to 1.85m or 22.8″ to 72.8″, which will hopefully provide a precise fit for most windows. The fabric can be easily replaced to match any décor, with options such as 100% blackout for privacy protection, UV protection, and thermal insulation. Operable via the SwitchBot app, voice commands, or remote control, the Roller Blind supports automation scenes and integrates seamlessly with major smart home platforms through Matter (via SwitchBot Matter-compatible Hubs), offering a smart, hassle-free solution for everyone.

The post SwitchBot Tease More Products at IFA 2024 appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

The company is enhancing home security with its 4MP Camera Hub G5 Pro, designed for outdoor use with True Colour Night Vision, the Garage Door Controller T2 Kit, and the Valve Controller T1 and Smoke Detector for protection against water and fire damage.

Aqara is expanding its Thread product range, incorporating both Thread and Zigbee communication. Its European energy management lineup now includes Thread-enabled wall switches such as the Light Switch H2 EU, Dimmer Switch H2 EU, and Shutter Switch H2 EU. The smart lighting portfolio has also grown with the Thread-enabled LED Bulb T2 for every day and mood lighting. Aqara is also showcasing its AI-powered voice assistant, the Aqara Voice Mate H1, which works with the Hub M3 and enables interaction with Aqara Copilot.

The company continues to support the Matter standard, expanding integration and automation possibilities. Aqara is showcasing these products and other prototypes at IFA 2024 in Berlin.

Key Products

• Camera Hub G5 Pro: Aqara’s first outdoor surveillance camera, available in PoE and Wi-Fi versions. The 4MP camera includes True Colour Night Vision, AI capabilities for detecting faces, vehicles, pets, and packages, and end-to-end encryption. It supports Apple Home, Alexa, Google Home, SmartThings, and RTSP for streaming to NVRs and video servers.
• Garage Door Controller T2 Kit: This device controls up to two garage doors, offering smart security through geofencing, voice assistants, mobile apps, and automation. It integrates with Aqara and third-party devices and supports Alexa, HomeKit, Google Home, and other Matter-enabled platforms.

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  Valve Controller T1: Designed to work with leak detectors, this device automatically shuts off water or gas systems in case of a leak. It is compatible with various pipe sizes and features a wireless design for easy installation

• Smoke Detector: This smoke detector has an 85-decibel siren and triggers alarms across other Aqara hubs and smoke detectors in the home. It operates on Zigbee and has a battery life of up to 10 years.

Energy Management & Smart Lighting

• H2 EU Wall Switches: These Thread-enabled switches include Light Switch H2 EU, Dimmer Switch H2 EU, and Shutter Switch H2 EU. They support both Thread and Zigbee protocols, allowing users to choose between Thread for Matter compatibility or Zigbee for additional features.

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  LED Bulb T2: Available in RGB and CCT versions, the Thread-enabled LED Bulb T2 offers a wide range of tunable whites and colours for both productivity and atmosphere. It supports both Thread and Zigbee.

New Integrations and Capabilities

• Advanced Matter Bridging: Aqara’s Hub M3 allows users to sync conditions and actions from the Aqara Home app to other Matter platforms, enabling more complex automations.
• Home Assistant Partnership: Aqara has joined the Work with Home Assistant programme, with the first certified devices including the Hub M3, Smart Lock U200, and Motion and Light Sensor P2.
• Tesla EV Integration: Tesla electric vehicles can now be integrated into Aqara Home automations, allowing tasks like scheduling charging during off-peak hours and synchronising with other home devices.

Voice Interaction

• Voice Mate H1: This battery-powered accessory works with the Aqara Hub M3, enabling users to control the system via voice without needing a phone. It activates only when picked up, ensuring privacy.

The post Aqara Unveils New Products at IFA 2024 appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

This is the fourth gateway to be released by Zemismart over close to the last three years, with the original HomeKit compatible hub being released back in October of 2021. This was superseded a couple of years later with a new model that from appearances, looks identical to this latest offering, but not before the company also released the Smart Matter Hub M1, their first Zigbee hub that included both a Matter Controller and a Thread Border Router (video HERE, review HERE).

Now, with the latest release, which in some ways combines aspects of all previous hubs, we get a Zigbee hub to work with Tuya devices, but instead of using Apple HomeKit, or the cloud-based legacy connections for Google and Amazon, it uses Matter. This essentially means this is a cut down version of the M1 hub, so it does utilise Zigbee for Tuya devices, and it can connect to all Matter compatible platforms, due to its Matter credentials, but it can’t work with Thread devices, or act as a Matter controller for the Tuya ecosystem, which would allow for third-party Matter devices to connect to Tuya. It does beg the question as to who this is aimed at though, but despite the omissions compared to the fully featured M1, the M6 does have an antenna that the company told me has a 330m / 1082 ft reach (without barriers) for devices connected to it, which sounds extraordinary.

Like recent previous models, the M6 continues the trend towards USB-C with a power port utilising this method, as well as an ethernet port for a wired connection. There’s no wireless option for the hub.

Despite the packaging stating it’s a Tuya Zigbee gateway, it is a ZemiSmart product, as is evidenced from the branding on the front of the hub. It is primarily designed to work with Tuya certified Zigbee devices, however.

The packaging states the hub model is the T1, which is at odds with the product itself, which is listed as the M6 on the underside of the hub, alongside the Matter QR code. As this is Matter compatible, Apple Home users, as well as Google, Amazon, SmartThings, and Home Assistant users can all benefit from it, with Amazon and Google with the most to gain from leaving the legacy cloud connectivity behind in favour of local control. For Apple Home users, the benefits are more apparent if you’re coming from the company’s original hub, but much less so from the M1 with its Thread Border Router and Matter Controller features.

The package comes with a USB-A to USB-C cable, and an ethernet cable, but no power supply, which is standard these days. The M6 is due for release soon, although we don’t have a confirmed date as of yet, but we’re told the M6 will be competitively priced, which is typically the case for ZemiSmart products, even with the release of a whole slew of products that use Matter, with either Thread or WiFi.

The post ZemiSmart to Release New M6 Matter Compatible Zigbee Hub appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

We tested this device, and compare it to our existing (but now ageing) Roborock S6. Watch the video to see how they compare.

You can purchase the K10+ Pro from Amazon stores in your region using the (affiliate) links below, which cost you nothing extra but help us buy more products for review, to keep you informed on how products perform.

• Amazon US
• Amazon DE
• Amazon UK

The post The SwitchBot K10+ Pro Mini Smart Vacuum (video) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

The visual differences are a large front docking sensor, and instead of a shiny black frontage where the robot vacuum couples with the docking station, the Pro model opts for a matte grey finish.

Inside, it’s a different story, with the company claiming the K10+ Pro reaches hard to reach areas better than its predecessor. The main rubber and bristle brush on the underside has now been replaced with an all rubber version, which should make tangled hairs a thing of the past. The battery remains the same, at 3,200mAh, but the motor has had a 20% bump, so you now get 3,000Pa instead of 2,500Pa in the original model.

And finally, whilst both models use LiDar SLAM technology for mappings and object avoidance, the new model comes with a position Sensitive Dectector, which aims to improve the robot from bumping into things, but also improve the mapping of your home.

Both models come with a docking station that also removes debris collected by the vacuum, and stores it in a disposable bag that doesn’t need replacing for up to 90 days. Unlike their flagship model, the S10, the mopping functionality of the K10+ Pro is secondary, with only the use of mopping pads wrapped around a special attachment, for when you want to give your floors a bit of a wipe.

The K10+ Pro is also Matter compatible, although only via one of the company’s own hubs – the SwitchBot Hub 2, or the SwitchBot Hub Mini (w/Matter) – which then allows the vacuum to be exposed to Matter ecosystems. However, despite the Matter standard now supporting robovacs, the platforms themselves, including Apple Home, do have some catching up to do, so at present, the K10+ Pro, once added to Apple Home, only appears as a basic on/off device, much like a smart plug. this allows the vacuum to be activated or sent back to the docking station, but not much else. With iOS18, it is hoped that more granular control of these devices will be accessible from within the Home app, however, although floor plans, and other advanced features will almost certainly be the preserve of the manufacturers’ own apps.

The SwitchBot Mini Robot Vacuum K10+ Pro is available now on Amazon stores in the US (with a US$180 OFF coupon), Canada, Germany, and the UK, for US$599.99 / CA$599.99 / UK£499.99 / €599.99 respectively, in addition to Switchbot’s own online store.

The post SwitchBot Release Updated K10+ Pro Mini RoboVac appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.