Robotic lawn mowers, Ikea sensor, Arlo free recordings, and more

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On this week's Homekit Insider Podcast, your hosts talk about the new Ikea environmental monitor, the difference between Apple Home and HomeKit, how well robotic lawnmowers work, and more.

HomeKit Insider
HomeKit Insider


After receiving plenty of warranted customer backlash regarding its decision to end free cloud recording, Arlo is reversing course. Its CEO took to Twitter to announce they've made changes to their architecture to retain seven days of free cloud recording for users.

The camera maker is also extending its end-of-life dates for various products up to a year to allow their continued use and updates.

Signify, maker of the Philips Hue line, has had to discontinue two shapes of its Light Guide products. The globe and triangle proved to have production issues that led to reduced quality and output which ultimately lead to their demise.





This past week Ikea announced a new environmental monitor. It has a large backlit display that can show the air quality, humidity, and temperature. It will work with Apple Home via Matter.

A listener also wrote in to ask about the likelihood of robotic lawnmowers showing up in Matter and which ones we'd recommend.

Finally, your hosts chat about the differences between HomeKit and Apple Home.

Links from the show



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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    AppleZuluAppleZulu Posts: 2,006member
    Re: Arlo.

    Talk about too little, too late. Their news certainly prompted me to find a replacement system from a different brand, and to do so fairly quickly. I suspect the real prompt for the Arlo CEO's change of heart wasn't social media chatter, but rather seeing lots of the deprecated systems just go dark, without a matching uptick of newly purchased devices lighting up on the same accounts. 
  • Reply 2 of 7
    Re: the comment on Leviton switches needing resets: I have not had to reset mine - ever. Rock solid.  These are the best and super reliable for me. 
  • Reply 3 of 7
    How about a group name “Apple Home Bodies”?
  • Reply 4 of 7
    AppleZuluAppleZulu Posts: 2,006member
    timrand said:
    Re: the comment on Leviton switches needing resets: I have not had to reset mine - ever. Rock solid.  These are the best and super reliable for me. 
    Same here. After dealing several years with truly flaky wemo switches and outlets, I bit the bullet and replaced them all with Leviton. I’ve had one outlet go sideways and reset it, but the Leviton switches have been very reliable otherwise.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    vknvkn Posts: 1member
    Any recommendations for outdoor homekit cameras that are wireless? Seems like Arlo (with their homebase) might be the only option?  Am I missing an other option?
  • Reply 6 of 7
    vkn said:
    Any recommendations for outdoor homekit cameras that are wireless? Seems like Arlo (with their homebase) might be the only option?  Am I missing an other option?
    Take a look at Eufy. 
  • Reply 7 of 7
    I’m sure the robot lawnmowers have safety features built in but I would be concerned about a robot rolling around with a high speed spinning blade. Will it stop for an animal or a child? 🫣
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