Two smart home accessories gained HomeKit support today, including the Arlo Ultra security camera and the Netatmo Weather Station.
Arlo Ultra
While users can already control Arlo Ultra cameras via the Arlo app, HomeKit compatibility enables iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch users to control the cameras with Apple's Home app and Siri voice commands. A free-of-charge automatic firmware update is now rolling out for both new and existing Ultra users.
With HomeKit, Arlo Ultra owners will now be able to receive notifications via the Home app when motion is detected. On the iPhone and iPad, users can also use Siri to quickly activate a HD livestream of the camera feed.
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HomeKit also allows users to set up automations to control other HomeKit-enabled smart home devices. For example, users can set up an automation to trigger HomeKit-enabled lights to turn on at certain times when motion is detected by an Arlo Ultra camera for added comfort and security.
Arlo Ultra security cameras have a wire-free setup and feature 4K HDR video quality, color night vision, a 180-degree diagonal field-of-view, an integrated spotlight, and two-way audio with advanced noise cancelation.
Pricing starts at $399.99, including a one-year subscription to 30-day rolling storage of cloud recordings.
Netatmo Weather Station
Netatmo has announced that all of its Weather Stations manufactured since October 2016 are now compatible with HomeKit. Older models do not support HomeKit due to necessary hardware changes Netatmo had to make.
To check whether your Weather Station is compatible with HomeKit, open the Netatmo Weather app on an iPhone or iPad and navigate to Settings > Station Name > Indoor Module > Hardware Version within the app. Station V3 models now support HomeKit, while V1 and V2 models do not.
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HomeKit support allows Weather Station owners to view the indoor and outdoor humidity and temperature, indoor CO2 level, and indoor air quality in Apple's Home app. Noise, atmospheric pressure, wind, and rain data remains limited to the Netatmo Weather app for now due to HomeKit limitations.
Weather Station users can also ask Siri to read aloud the measurements. Example questions include "Hey Siri, what's the temperature on the balcony?" or "Hey Siri, what's the CO2 level in the living room?"
And with automations, users can trigger various actions, such as HomeKit-enabled lights turning on if indoor CO2 levels become too high. Apple's Home app does not currently allow users to create automations related to temperature and humidity because those metrics are not recognized as triggers.
Weather Station pricing starts at $179.99.
Top Rated Comments
The absence of noise, atmospheric pressure, wind, and rain data is a little disappointing, although as I understand, it's more an Apple's issue than Netatmo's. Probably this category of sensors aren't yet considered by HomeKit. It could change in the future.
Nice to see Netatmo offering this compatibility, though. It was long overdue.
I went with Arlo initially because it was the better of the cameras on the market and it wasn’t Nest/Google. Plus they’ve been promising HomeKit for years now. Still nothing.