HomeKit Weekly

When automating your smart home, much of the attention centers on cameras and lights, but I believe HomeKit door sensors are arguably among the most critical devices to add to your setup. I’ve written about Onvis before, but the Smart Security Alarm Contact Sensor (CS2) takes the concept of a simple door sensor and turns it into a lot more. It supports Thread, but the really cool add-on here is a 120dB siren built right into the sensor. Let’s take a look at the Onvis CS2.

Since early 2020, I’ve used abode as my primary security system and have done so across two separate homes. It is now 2026, and in the world of smart home tech, six years is usually an eternity. I continue to get emails asking if I am still using it, or if I’ve jumped ship to some thing. I wanted to take an opportunity to update my review for 2026, discuss how the hardware has held up, and frankly, warn you about which hub you should buy for HomeKit.

I love the smell of candles, but I hate the anxiety that comes with an open flame. There have been multiple times I’ve had to turn around after leaving to double-check that I’ve blown out a candle. That is why the SwitchBot Candle Warmer Lamp caught my eye. It promises all the ambiance and smells of a candle with zero risk of burning the house down. Best of all, it supports Matter right out of the box, making it a native citizen in your HomeKit/Apple Home environment.

Nothing in my life brings more stress than worrying about water leaks. Especially during the coldest part of winter, thinking about freezing pipes bursting, etc, it somewhat keeps me up at night. I have written before about how much I rely on water leak sensors to ensure I don’t have leaks that I’m unaware of.

While “puck” style sensors are awesome for slipping under a sink, they have a fatal flaw: water has to touch that specific 1-inch spot to trigger an alert. If the leak starts six inches to the left, you might not know until your floorboards are already warping. This week, I am taking a look at the new Shelly Flood Gen4 sensor.

Water leaks and water damage are one of my biggest fears as a homeowner. With hardwood floors throughout my house, even a small water leak could turn into a massive repair bill and a huge inconvenience to get them repaired. A slow drip from a sink can quickly cause thousands of dollars (or tens of thousands) in damage to your floors and cabinets. If I had to choose one smart home category that actually gives me peace of mind, it would be the ones that prevent disasters. In 2026, the water leak sensor is still the most critical piece of hardware in my HomeKit setup.

I love the idea of a fully automated smart home setup where my lights turn on exactly when I need them, and the thermostat adjusts itself without me even thinking about it. In practice, however, there are times when you simply want to push a button for things to happen. For guests, babysitters, or when I don’t want to use my iPhone, physical controls remain the gold standard for interaction.

This week, let’s take a look at the Flic Hub LR and the new Flic Duo as a nice way to control your Apple Home scenes and devices.

Aqara is introducing a new presence sensor that is a natural addition for HomeKit users who want reliable automations without the need for a camera. The new Aqara FP300 combines mmWave presence sensing with a traditional PIR sensor and also adds on light, temperature, and humidity readings. For Apple users, the big story is Thread and Matter support, allowing it to easily integrate with the Home app for fast, room-aware automations.

The smart home world is continually moving toward Matter, and Aqara is one of the companies driving this transition forward at a steady pace with its new products this year. Their latest hub, the Aqara Hub M200, replaces their older hubs and features a cleaner design, along with support for Matter. For HomeKit users, this means another step toward a future where more Aqara accessories can integrate seamlessly with the Home app, while still leveraging the benefits of Zigbee behind the scenes.

If you have been in the smart home world for any length of time, you may have some older gear that doesn’t support Matter, such as older Zigbee sensors, Z-Wave thermostats, and IR remotes for ceiling fans, etc. They all work fine, but they live outside your HomeKit setup. That is why this new update from Homey caught my attention. They are rolling out a new Matter Bridge app for Homey Pro and Homey Pro mini, and it gives HomeKit users a way to pull a huge range of non-Matter accessories right into the Home app as if they were native devices.

Thanksgiving is incredibly late this year, so Christmas shopping is already in full swing. HomeKit accessories make great gifts for any Apple fan. They are usually low-cost and add real value to any smart home setup. For this week’s HomeKit Weekly, I have updated my HomeKit gift guide for 2025 to help you find the perfect addition for your favorite Apple smart home fan.

As I reported a few weeks ago, SwitchBot keeps expanding its lineup of Matter-enabled devices, and this week I’ve been using the new SwitchBot Smart RGBICWW Floor Lamp. If you want a smart lamp that’s bright enough for daily use but flexible enough to create ambiance, this one has worked great thus far. It connects directly to HomeKit through Matter, eliminating the need for a hub outside of a HomeKit hub. It can produce up to 1200 lumens of light and supports warm white, cool white, and full-color modes.

SwitchBot continues to expand its smart home lineup, with the newest addition being a great new lighting series that works with Matter over Wi-Fi. That means you can connect lights directly to the HomeKit without needing a hub or bridge (outside of an Apple TV or HomePod). The new lineup from SwitchBot includes new RGBIC lights, a flexible neon rope light, and randomly, even a candle warmer lamp that can sync up with your existing HomeKit scenes and automation. SwitchBot has been a roll in 2025 with several new products that work great with HomeKit. Let’s dive in to what’s new.

HomeKit Secure Video continues to be the only camera storage option that I will use indoors. The Aqara G100 takes full advantage of that with 2K clarity (outside of HomeKit), weatherproof construction, and AI detection. It’s made to work indoors or outdoors, and can be used directly with HomeKit without needing another service.

Presence/motion sensors are one of the best ways to make automations feel more natural, but most of them run on batteries and eventually have to be swapped. That’s one of the main reasons I really like the Meross MS600 Smart Presence Sensor. It plugs into the wall, so you don’t have to worry about battery swaps. It combines millimeter wave radar, motion detection, and a built-in light sensor to detect it all.

Small room fans are one of the easiest ways to keep air moving and a space comfortable. I personally love to sleep with a fan blowing on me. What makes the SwitchBot Smart Desk Fan even better is that it supports Matter, so you can easily use it within your HomeKit environment. That means you can automate it based on the room temperature, so instead of running all the time, it only comes on when needed and shuts off when it’s not.

Previously, I wrote about the SwitchBot K11+, a smaller robot vacuum that was a great option for smaller spaces. This week, I am looking at the new SwitchBot S20, and this one is built for much bigger homes. After using it for the past few months, I believe it may be the best robo vacuum on the market, with some nice workarounds for rooms in Apple’s Home app.

Earlier this year, iOS 18.4 brought support for Matter’s implementation of robot vacuums into HomeKit. I’ve been testing a few various models over the past few months, and SwitchBot has done a fantastic job. I’ve been using the SwitchBot K11+ for the past three months, and I am excited to talk about it this week.

Around my city, Halloween almost brings out as many “all in” people as Christmas when it comes to decorations. In fact, one house near me starts setting up in August and then keeps it going through Christmas, just dressing the Halloween-themed skeletons in Santa hats to carry them into the next holiday. If you’re still turning on all of your Halloween decorations manually, it’s time to automate that using HomeKit.

Video doorbells are one of the most popular ways to start building a smart home, and Apple users have a great option that works with HomeKit Secure Video. The Aqara G410 Doorbell Camera takes that foundation and adds even more. It records in 2K (not supported by iCloud), supports HomeKit Secure Video, and doubles as a smart home hub with Matter and Zigbee built in.

I love being able to control my smart home from the Home app, Control Center (my most used right now), or by asking Siri via a HomePod, but sometimes you just can’t beat a physical product for things. For my Matter enabled shades, I use the remote as much as I control them with the Home app. There are moments when pressing a button or turning a dial is easier than pulling out your iPhone. That’s exactly why the SwitchBot Hub 3 is an awesome product, and it’s something I want Apple to copy with the “HomePad”.

SwitchBot released its Evaporative Humidifier last year, and it’s now even better thanks to newly upgraded firmware that includes Matter 1.4 support. The update brings faster setup and better cross-platform compatibility for a device type that is typucally stuck as a “dumb appliance” in your house.