Great iPhone and Mac-compatible accessories for your smart home

Smart home technology can make your life a lot easier, but it can also be incredibly frustrating, too. That’s because smart home tech isn’t designed to play nicely together. You might use one app for your smart lights, and another for your smart plugs, and a third for your smart lock. You’re soon lost in a mess of apps and your home feels far from smart.

Apple HomeKit is designed to help. It allows you to bring all your HomeKit-compatible smart devices under one roof, and control them with a single app, or even with your voice via Siri. Not every smart home device will work with HomeKit, but there are plenty of smart devices and accessories that do. Here are some of the best Apple HomeKit devices that you can get your hands on right now.

Our picks for the best Apple HomeKit devices in 2023

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Apple HomePod 2

Best HomeKit smart speaker

Control your smart home with your voice or enjoy music in high quality

The second generation Apple HomePod is a smart speaker that offers great sound. It can also act as a Home hub for your HomeKit accessories, allowing you to control them even when you’re away from home.

Pros

• High quality audio
• Control your HomeKit accessories with your voice
• Acts as a Home hub for remote control and automation

Cons

• Not the cheapest smart speaker

control HomeKit devices with the Home app as long as you’re connected to the same Wi-Fi network. If you want to be able to control them from anywhere in the world, however, then you’re going to need to set up a Home hub.

A second generation HomePod is the perfect solution. It will automatically register as a Home hub when you add it to the Home app, but you can also use it to control your HomeKit devices with your voice via Siri. It’s a great smart speaker in its own right, with high-quality audio, and temperature and humidity sensors built in. If you’re not too fussed about sound quality, the HomePod Mini is a more cost-effective alternative.

Apple TV 4K (2022)

Best HomeKit streaming box

Stream your favourite shows and control your HomeKit gear remotely

$125 $148 Save $23

The Apple TV 4K (2022) is the perfect streaming box for Apple users, allowing you to take full advantage of subscriptions such as Apple TV+ or Apple Fitness+. It will also act as a Home hub to allow remote control of your HomeKit accessories.

Pros

• 4K streaming with HDR10+
• Integrates seamlessly with Apple subscriptions
• Acts as a Home hub

Cons

• Expensive compared to other streamers

Another great option for a Home hub is the Apple TV 4K (2022). Once set up as a hub, it will communicate with your HomeKit devices even if you’re on the other side of the planet, ensuring that you never leave the lights on by mistake again, or you turn them on to make it look like you’re home.

It’s a great streaming box, with support for HDR10+ and works brilliantly with Apple subscriptions such as Apple Fitness+, Apple Arcade, and Apple TV+. It comes in 64GB or 128GB options, and you can choose between the Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi & Ethernet variants. The Siri remote is also useful addition; if you miss what someone says during your favourite show, you use the remote to ask Siri what they said, and the content will rewind and play the same section again with subtitles.

Smart lights are one of the easiest ways into the world of smart home tech. Swap out your bulbs, plug in a smart hub, and you can control your lights with an app or even with your voice. Philips Hue is one of the biggest names in smart lighting, and with good reason; its products are excellent, are easy to control, and work perfectly with HomeKit.

Philips Hue Starter Kit

Best HomeKit smart lighting

Smart bulbs that can display any colour you can imagine.

$160 $200 Save $40

Philips Hue is one of the biggest names in smart lighting, and this starter kit is an easy way to start your smart lighting journey. With the included hub, you can control your lights even when you’re away from home.

Pros

• Bulbs offer both white and colour light
• Smart hub included to control the bulbs remotely
• Work seamlessly with the Home app

Cons

• Cheaper alternatives are available

There are Bluetooth Philips Hue bulbs available that don’t require a hub, but you lose some functionality, such as the ability to be able to control your lights when you’re away from home. For the most control, this starter kit with colour bulbs and a smart hub gives you everything you need to get started with smart lighting.If you have dumb devices that you wish were smart, a smart plug may be all you need. By plugging your device into a HomeKit-compatible smart plug, and then smart plug into the power, you can turn the device on and off directly from the Home app. You can even set up automations so that your smart plug turns your coffee machine on first thing in the morning, ready for you to wake up to the delicious aroma.

Wemo / Pocket-lint

Wemo Smart Plug with Thread

Best HomeKit smart plug

A smart plug designed to work with a HomeKit home hub.

$20 $30 Save $10

The Wemo Smart Plug uses Thread to communicate wirelessly with your Home hub. It can also act as a repeater, passing signals along to other Thread devices. You can also control the Wemo Smart Plug over Bluetooth.

Pros

• Thread-compatible
• Designed to work with HomeKit
• Can be controlled remotely via a Home hub

Cons

• Requires a compatible Home hub to use Thread

The Wemo Smart Plug with Thread is a great smart plug that works seamlessly with HomeKit. The plug communicates over Thread, which is a mesh networking technology that allows smart devices to communicate with each other. In order to use Thread you’ll need a Home hub that can act as a border router. Currently, this includes the Apple TV 4K 2021 or later, the second-generation HomePod, and the HomePod mini. If you don’t have one of these, the Wemo Smart Plug can also communicate over Bluetooth.

Ecobee Smart Thermostat Enhanced

Best HomeKit smart thermostat

A HomeKit-compatible smart thermostat that can reduce your bills.

The Ecobee Smart Thermostat can automatically turn off the heating when you leave home. It can then preheat your home to the perfect temperature for your return. You can control the Ecobee Smart Thermostat through the Apple Home app.

Pros

• Geolocation to only heat your home when you’re in it
• Control the temperature with your voice via Siri
• Can be self-installed

Cons

• Remote sensor sold separately

If you’re looking for smart home tech that can save you money, then a smart thermostat may be just what you need. The Ecobee Thermostat (2022 Edition) is a HomeKit compatible smart thermostat that is packed with features. You can install it yourself with a little know-how, so you won’t need to pay for installation.

The thermostat can use geofencing to tell when you’ve left home and turn off the heating or cooling. It can then preheat or precool your home before you arrive so that you walk into a house that’s the perfect temperature. You can also use smart scheduling to suggest changes to your heating schedule based on when you’re away from home. With HomeKit, you can control the temperature in your home through the Home app, or even ask Siri to the turn the heat up if you’re feeling a little cold.Some smart tech can feel like it’s been made smart just for the sake of it (smart fridges, for example) but once you’ve got a

August Home Smart Lock Pro with Connect Hub

Best HomeKit smart lock

A HomeKit-compatible smart lock that you can unlock with your iPhone or Apple Watch.

$230 $280 Save $50

Unlock your home with your iPhone, Apple Watch, or simply walking up to your door. You can lock the door remotely, so you’ll never have to worry about leaving it open again.

Pros

• Unlock the door with your iPhone or Apple Watch
• Remote control to let people even if you’re not home
• Auto unlock for hands-free access

Cons

• Can’t be purchased without the Connect hub

Once you have a smart lock, you’ll never want to go back. The August Smart Lock Pro is a HomeKit-compatible smart lock that attaches to your existing deadbolt on the side of your door. With the Connect bridge you can then control your smart lock from anywhere.

The August Smart Lock Pro can automatically unlock the door when you approach, so there’s no more fumbling for keys when you’re carrying armfuls of shopping, and it will automatically lock when you leave, so you don’t have to spend the day wondering if you really did lock the door. You can also opt to lock or unlock with your iPhone or even your Apple Watch.

Logitech Circle View Wired Video Doorbell

Best HomeKit smart doorbell

A HomeKit-compatible smart doorbell that can tell you who is at the door.

A smart doorbell with a built-in camera that allows you to see who is at the door even when you’re not home. Facial detection can even tell you who is at the door.

Pros

• Works with Apple HomeKit Secure Video
• Facial recognition so you know who’s at the door
• Monitor your door remotely

Cons

• Wired version only, no battery option

Not every smart home device will work with HomeKit. The popular Ring smart doorbells, for example, aren’t compatible. If you’re looking for a smart doorbell that works with HomeKit, however, then there are plenty of options out there, including the Logitech Circle View Doorbell.

Using Apple HomeKit Secure Video, you can store footage from the doorbell securely in the cloud, and access it from anywhere. You can use facial recognition to tell you who is at the door, and even see a pop-up on your Apple TV showing you who has just rung the doorbell. There’s also colour night vision to keep your home more secure at night.

How I picked the best Apple HomeKit devices

I tried to ensure that I selected products from some of the most popular smart home accessory categories, including smart lighting, smart plugs, and smart thermostats. I also wanted to select products that could be used without necessarily having a Home hub set up. However, without a Home hub, you won’t get the full array of features that are possible with the devices above, such as remote control or automation.

How to choose HomeKit devices

If you’re looking for HomeKit devices to add to your home, there are a few important questions you’ll need to ask.

Does the device support HomeKit?

Not every smart home device will work with Apple HomeKit, so you can’t just buy any smart home tech and expect it to work. If you’re shopping in person, look out for labels that read ‘Works with Apple HomeKit’ or ‘Works with Apple Home’ to be certain that the device is compatible. If you’re shopping online, the product page should make it clear if HomeKit is supported. If you don’t see HomeKit mentioned on the page, then it’s more than likely not compatible. Some smart tech will work with multiple smart systems, so just because a device works with Alexa or Google Home doesn’t necessarily mean that it won’t work with HomeKit.

Do I need a smart hub?

Many smart devices use their own proprietary hubs to allow the devices to be controlled via app or via voice. For example, some Philips Hue bulbs require the Hue hub in order for you to control them through the app. Some accessories also require you to create an Apple Home hub using a HomePod or an Apple TV 4K if you want to gain access to all of the features, such as automation and remote control. Make sure you know what type of hub you’ll need, otherwise you may not be able to communicate with your smart accessories.

Can I still use devices that aren’t HomeKit compatible?

Absolutely. There’s nothing to stop you using smart devices that aren’t compatible with HomeKit using their native apps. You won’t be able to add these accessories to the Home, app, however, so you’ll need to switch back and forth between the apps, or use voice control from a different ecosystem such as Alexa or Google Assistant.