Hunter Douglas shades review, new Ikea speakers, and a new door lock on HomeKit Insider
On this week's HomeKit Insider podcast, your hosts review Hunter Douglas's PowerView HomeKit-connected shades, discuss the new Ikea and Sonos collaboration, and talk about Level's new smart lock.
The news was relatively light this week in the world of HomeKit, although two new products debuted. Ikea and Sonos continued their work together on the Symfonisk speaker line with a new wall-mounted picture frame-like speaker. Level also debuted a new smart lock that it is billing as the smallest smart lock available.
Andrew spends some time discussing the Hunter Douglas PowerView shades and how they integrate with HomeKit. We've talked about the Hunter Douglas Shades in the past -- but after extended use, we're ready for our full review.
Stephen and Andrew also lamented recent issues plaguing their HomePods including non-responsiveness and confirmation demanded on iOS devices for personal requests.
Ron wrote in this week asking what is the best solution to cast audio directly from his turntable to his Sonos system or another AirPlay 2 device. Unfortunately, while there are some AirPlay transmitters, there are no AirPlay 2 models available. The most cost-effective solution may be to connect the turntable to an old iPhone or iPod Touch and use that as the transmitter for AirPlay.
The turntable can be connected with a Buddy Line audio adapter and the free AirChord app can transmit the audio to any AirPlay speakers.
Colin asked us if there was any HomeKit-compatible keypad that could connect to their existing HomeKit door lock. Apple doesn't have a HomeKit keypad category -- though perhaps it should -- so the only option is to choose a HomeKit door lock that has their own keypad option, such as August.
Our last inquiry from the week came from Christofer who asked for assistance in creating a shortcut that would run whenever he leaves the house and check to be sure all his doors and windows are closed and then sends him a notification with the statuses.
Keep up with everything Apple in the weekly AppleInsider Podcast -- and get a fast news update from AppleInsider Daily. Just say, "Hey, Siri," to your HomePod mini and ask for these podcasts, and our latest HomeKit Insider episode too.If you want an ad-free main AppleInsider Podcast experience, you can support the AppleInsider podcast by subscribing for $5 per month through Apple's Podcasts app, or via Patreon if you prefer any other podcast player.AppleInsider is also bringing you the best Apple-related deals for Amazon Prime Day 2021. There are bargains before, during, and even after Prime Day on June 21 and 22 -- with every deal at your fingertips throughout the event.
The news was relatively light this week in the world of HomeKit, although two new products debuted. Ikea and Sonos continued their work together on the Symfonisk speaker line with a new wall-mounted picture frame-like speaker. Level also debuted a new smart lock that it is billing as the smallest smart lock available.
Andrew spends some time discussing the Hunter Douglas PowerView shades and how they integrate with HomeKit. We've talked about the Hunter Douglas Shades in the past -- but after extended use, we're ready for our full review.
Stephen and Andrew also lamented recent issues plaguing their HomePods including non-responsiveness and confirmation demanded on iOS devices for personal requests.
From the audience
In recent weeks, we've had a few listeners write in with overheating issues on their Logitech Circle View doorbell. JP wrote in this week saying in his case, it was a power supply issue. He swapped his power supply from an 8V system to a 16V system and it solved some of the issues.Ron wrote in this week asking what is the best solution to cast audio directly from his turntable to his Sonos system or another AirPlay 2 device. Unfortunately, while there are some AirPlay transmitters, there are no AirPlay 2 models available. The most cost-effective solution may be to connect the turntable to an old iPhone or iPod Touch and use that as the transmitter for AirPlay.
The turntable can be connected with a Buddy Line audio adapter and the free AirChord app can transmit the audio to any AirPlay speakers.
Colin asked us if there was any HomeKit-compatible keypad that could connect to their existing HomeKit door lock. Apple doesn't have a HomeKit keypad category -- though perhaps it should -- so the only option is to choose a HomeKit door lock that has their own keypad option, such as August.
Our last inquiry from the week came from Christofer who asked for assistance in creating a shortcut that would run whenever he leaves the house and check to be sure all his doors and windows are closed and then sends him a notification with the statuses.
Links from the show
- Level Lock - The Smallest and Most Advanced Smart Lock Ever.
- Ikea HomeKit-compatible Symfonisk picture frame speaker coming July 15
- Hunter Douglas PowerView shades review: The most luxe experience a HomeKit user could ask for
- Doorbell Transformer Door Chime 16v 10va - - Amazon.com
- AirChord
- Headset Buddy Line-Level Audio Adapter - Amazon
Keep up with everything Apple in the weekly AppleInsider Podcast -- and get a fast news update from AppleInsider Daily. Just say, "Hey, Siri," to your HomePod mini and ask for these podcasts, and our latest HomeKit Insider episode too.If you want an ad-free main AppleInsider Podcast experience, you can support the AppleInsider podcast by subscribing for $5 per month through Apple's Podcasts app, or via Patreon if you prefer any other podcast player.AppleInsider is also bringing you the best Apple-related deals for Amazon Prime Day 2021. There are bargains before, during, and even after Prime Day on June 21 and 22 -- with every deal at your fingertips throughout the event.
Comments
What I love about zwave is it has its own mesh network that doesn't interfere with wifi. There are lots of zwave devices, almost none of them require a subscription or access to the cloud (and I wouldn't buy the few that do) - you can have 100% local control and you never have to worry about a company going out of business or dropping support for your kit. I'm a long time user of HomeSeer, but there are an embarrassment of hubs and solutions that will bridge Homekit to other home automation networks - starting with a free/open source solution with HomeBridge if you are good rolling your own solutions.
However if DIY isn't your thing, there are a number of solid plug and play solutions out there now - and again, many who let you keep all your home automation 100% local - no stinking cloud or subscriptions! You can have Homekit and also still have non-home kit devices. That's when things get really interesting. I am hoping Matter finally provides the one universal standard everyone can unite on - or at lease enough of the vendors/products I care about any way