For many years I was a Homebridge user, using a Raspberry Pi Model 3 however since the launch of iOS 16 I have been experiencing many issues, including lights refusing to turn on or off and the dreaded “no response”. With the majority of my lights being Nanoleaf using Thread (from the A12 Apple TV) and Lidls Zigbee bulbs, that I was using with Homebridge and a USB Radio on the Raspberry Pi.
I decided to ditch the Raspberry Pi for now and switch the Phillips Hue bridge which was compatible with my Lidl Zigbee bulbs. This was great and I was finally able to turn my lights on again. I’m also looking forward to the Phillips Hue Bridge getting updated to Matter, since at the time of writing the beta of the upcoming matter software is finally allowing third party accessories connected to the bridge to show up in the Apple Home App, this should mean that all of my Lidl bulbs will appear in the Home App again.
At time of writing I’m currently unsure if my Nanoleaf bulbs will support Matter, I am hoping.
I also picked up a couple of the Eve Weather with Thread support, since I wanted to know the temperature outside and in my living room. Particularly the living room since I wanted to know the difference in temperature from the thermostat in the hall and the living room.
The Eve Weather is a delightful thread device, I preferred the design of the Eve Weather to Eve’s indoor Air Quality Themometer. Also the Eve Weather boasts a 12 month battery life from a single button cell. The performance over thread is fast and I am able to see the temperature of my home both in Eve’s iOS app, (this should not be overlooked as it’s a great app, allowing you to explore the thread network in your home. Eve’s approach to a “no cloud” login is also very nice.) and the Apple home app. I’m using the iOS 16 lockscreen widgets too and I can see the current temperature of my home. I really hope that the Eve weather will support Matter but again at time of writing, I’m not sure of the plans.
I’m looking forward to more and more devices supporting Matter, the future is bright, the future is Matter.
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