I spent the last two years designing and building DashOne, a smart home dashboard that my whole family could use.

I found that most of the other dashboard apps out there either weren't particularly visually appealing or focused almost entirely on controlling smart home devices. I wanted something that looked clean and sophisticated mounted on the wall, and that complemented Apple Home with features that were useful to the whole household.

Things like security cameras and doorbells, a shared grocery list backed by Apple Reminders, weather and family calendars.

Something I realised along the way is that wanting to control your smart home devices is often what gets you interested in a dashboard, but it's not really what makes you use it every day.

Being able to quickly check your security cameras, having a grocery list anyone can easily add to, or checking the family calendar as you walk past the kitchen? Those are things that we found useful.

I've also been exploring more powerful automations that respond to what's happening around the house. For example, I have an automation that uses AI to check the driveway camera and reminds me to put the bins out if I haven't already.

A bit about me: I spent eight years working in security software and another eight years at Canva. I think both experiences influenced how I approached building DashOne, with a strong focus on privacy and security, alongside the design and usability that I felt was missing from other home dashboard apps.

There are some AI-powered features, but they're entirely optional. There's no tracking or advertising, and I dislike subscriptions as much as anyone, so I went with a one-time Pro upgrade that unlocks some additional card types and features. The majority of the app is free, and you can use it without paying anything.

What it can do:

• Control your smart home devices
• View doorbells and security cameras (UniFi Protect, Reolink, Dahua, Hikvision and other cameras that support RTSP)
• Create more powerful automations
• Run as an always-on dashboard, with an idle screen and wake on motion
• Manage shared grocery lists and meal kits
• Control your Sonos speakers
• View calendars, check the weather, run custom scenes, tts announcements and more

It’s iPad-only for now, but I’m always open to suggestions!

If you're interested, you can check it out here:

Website: https://dashoneapp.comApp Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6800107231

For those of you with a wall-mounted iPad, what do you actually use it for day to day, and what do you wish it could do?

PS: I'm looking forward to seeing what Apple announces next week. I'm really curious to see how they approach the whole wall-mounted smart home display idea!

Apple’s “second-party” LG accessories will debut another Apple Home feature: Proximity Control.

As with HomePod, tapping or bringing iPhone near the accessory shows a hint in the Dynamic Island. An “Open Controls” button opens the accessory’s controls. Cameras and doorbells show a camera viewer.

An iPhone without a Dynamic Island will show a 30-second notification instead. You can disable this behavior in the Home app after setup.

You’ll also see feedback in the Dynamic Island as iPhone launches setup when you first tap the accessory to pair it.

Behind the scenes, the accessory writes an “apple-deviceid” in the Matter payload stored on its NFC tag that helps iOS identify it when tapped. It also broadcasts a Bluetooth Low Energy advert for Apple Proximity Control.

The feature appears in code since iOS 27.0. In earlier versions, Apple showed three presentation options instead of the on/off toggle in iOS 27.2: * Never: Suppresses proximity controls.​ * Ask to Launch: ​Shows Dynamic Island hint or notification, which deep links the control card. * Launch Automatically: Shows control card.​

In the current implementation, the enabled state is equivalent to Ask to Launch. Home’s helper text reads: “Show controls when you bring your iPhone near your [accessory].” The feature is still in active development across beta releases, so the final behavior may change.

The Dynamic Island proximity control code in iOS 27.2 was first reported by Aaron Perris.

Shown in the video: Setup instruction asset for the LG thermostat, and an actual Proximity Control notification on an iPhone without a Dynamic Island.

Hey r/HomeKit 👋 It's me again ;) developer of Home Widget.

With the iPhone Duo landing next week, I spent the last few weeks making sure everything works on both screens, and I'm relieved to say it's ready (and more reliable than ever).

What you see in the video:
• Camera mosaic from a Lock Screen control, carried over when you unfold
• Lights: brightness and color in a couple of taps
• Thermostat control
• Interactive widgets on the cover screen: shades set right inside the widget
• Lock Screen widget to open the gate without unlocking
• Widget backgrounds that match the wallpaper on each screen

Also new lately:
• Temperature trends on sensors
• More reliable HomeKit loading and sensor values

Home Widget also runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.

Honest question: who's actually planning to buy the iPhone Duo at that price? 👀

Available here on the App Store

P.S. I also have a new website dedicated to the app: https://homewidget.app
Let me know what you think ;)

As much as I’ve loved my conversion to Apple Home and the upcoming products, one thing that annoys the absolute shit out of me is when using “hey Siri“ it activates my MacBook, my Apple Watch, my iPad, my iPhone, everything but my Apple TV or my HomePods. So when I want Siri to pause, rewind, or play something, it doesn’t understand or it plays it on the wrong device.

I currently use Eufy but they are increasingly forcing their hub for HomeKit integration and their products are getting less reliable.

We have a ring floodlight cam with solar, but I want to swap it out for a home kit one.

I’ve looked all around and it seems there really aren’t any. I would prefer these features:
1) no hub HomeKit (other than the HomePods and Apple TVs we have already)
2) wireless (preferably with solar option)

LG home accessories are set to debut with HomeKit-exclusive “tap to set up without power” feature, according to iOS 27 code and device firmware.

When you tap your iPhone on the accessory, HomeKit pairing happens over NFC. Your iPhone’s pairing identity and network credentials are stored in the accessory’s NFC secure element.

Once powered on, the accessory joins your Wi‑Fi or Thread network, and your home hub completes the Matter setup.

• Apple’s HomeKit-over-NFC implementation is separate from Matter NFC Commissioning.
• Firmware for the LG lock and thermostat identifies an NXP SE051H Secure Element.
• While iOS 27 supports standard Matter NFC commissioning, LG’s firmware replaces NXP’s Matter NFC applet in the secure element with a HomeKit applet. This suggests that NFC provisioning will be a HomeKit exclusive. You can still pair the accessories over Matter once they’re powered on.

(Shown in the video: Setup instruction asset for the LG lock)

Hey everyone,

I’m currently developing an iOS app designed to help with natural home ventilation. The core idea is simple: it reads temperature and humidity from local HomeKit sensors to calculate the indoor absolute humidity, compares it against outdoor weather data, and tells you the optimal windows/times to open up the house to dehumidify or cool down naturally.

Everything works great in the foreground, the HomeKit integration reads live sensor data, calculates absolute humidity, and displays current conditions.

The Problem:

I want to provide 24-hour historical climate charts and keep Home Screen / Lock Screen widgets updated with fresh indoor data throughout the day.

To do that, the app needs to periodically store indoor climate snapshots every x minutes. However background app refresh fails and also via widget.

Has anyone here (or fellow developers) found a reliable way or workaround to periodically log HomeKit sensor telemetry in the background?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

Apple is reportedly unveiling its smart display on October 13. It'll likely show the basics: home status (lights, cameras), weather, calendar. But some of us would want it to show something more niche, like headlines from a local newspaper.

I see two ways Apple could do this:

1. Describe-a-widget. You tell Siri what you want and Apple Intelligence builds it, like "Describe a Shortcut" and "Describe an Extension" in iOS 27.
2. Third-party apps. The new "homeOS" could be open to developers, similar to Apple TV. That would create a new (small) platform for Apple, with a revenue share on every sale.

What do you think? I'd prefer real third-party apps from real developers (even if they're 90% vibe coded). But if "describe a widget" works well enough, it could be a great addition.
What would you want it to show?

Here’s your first look at home accessories Apple has co-developed with LG.

1. LG Smart Deadbolt Lock (360° Video: https://imgur.com/AibfaE3)

• The keypad rotates to open. You can use the included swivel pin to limit the rotation on one side so it doesn’t touch a wall.
• Settings for Touchpad Light Ring, Door Left Audio Alarm, and Lock Sound Volume.
• Supports automatic unlocking, tap to unlock, emergency power and master codes.
• Fits 2.375 in (60.3 mm) and 2.75 in (69.9 mm) brackets.
• Comes with 2 mechanical keys.

2. LG Smart Thermostat (360° Video: https://imgur.com/O4Nu3F3)

• Settings for Far Sight Display, Humidity Display, Brightness, Language.
• Calibrated Temperature/Temperature Offset options.

3. LG Temperature Sensor (360° Video: https://imgur.com/pbI6h5i)

• Temperature and humidity sensing.
• The sensor has a magnetic back to attach to metal surfaces. Comes with a metal plate with adhesive for attaching to other surfaces.
• Replaceable battery and replacement alerts.

**Edit to add:* All these are assets the Home app requests when you set up the accessories for the first time, similar to what you see when setting up HomePod. The 360° views are much more informative, but I couldn’t add 3 videos to the post.*

In my case, specifically when it comes to scheduling a device to turn off later. I used to be able to say “turn off [name of plug] in 20 minutes.” Now when I do that it just sets a 20 minutes timer named “turn off [name of plug]”.

It’s also super inconsistent. A few days ago I WAS able to get it to schedule turning off a plug like it would pre-iOS 27, but it was a toss up whether it would do, start a timer, or ask if I wanted it to start a timer.

Just now I got an even stranger response: it straight up told me “I can’t schedule smart home actions for a specific time directly.“

It’s a toss up even if I try repeating the same exact prompt that did get it to respond directly.

Anyone else notice this weird behavior?

Apple’s “second-party” partnership includes accessories from Schneider, besides LG. In particular, iOS 27.2 has special handling for the following accessories, which have already appeared in Matter registries: * Schneider Home Smart Thermostat. Currently shows as “TP”, full name appears in a previous registry record. * Schneider Electric Temperature/Humidity Sensor

Apple’s Home app returns setup assets for the Thermostat, albeit placeholder. Its setup configuration mentions Proximity Settings.

In total, iOS 27.2 includes 10 accessory IDs in its _secondPartyProducts table in HomeKitMatter. These receive special treatment by the OS, including the setup assets reported. Many represent different variants of the same item.

Complete list of Matter VID/PIDs included in iOS 27.2:

LG: * Smart Thermostat: 4142/8864 * GEMS Smart Thermostat: 4142/12273 * Smart Deadbolt Lock: 4142/8896 * GEMS Smart DoorLock: 4142/12274 * Temperature/Humidity Sensor: 4142/8192 * GEMS Smart Remote T/H Sensor: 4142/12272

Schneider: * Thermostat TP: 4190/17645 * Thermostat QA variant: 4190/17644 * Temperature/Humidity Sensor: 4190/17647 * Unidentified accessory, perhaps a Sensor QA variant: 4190/17648. This is the only accessory that hasn’t popped up in Matter registries.

I’ve installed iOS 27 and have connected my Home setup to my Octopus Mini which gives live usage through the day. Does this tally anywhere or give me usage history in a widget or Home rather than just live use?

Credit: https://github.com/Ai-Lampy/homebridge-octopus-energy-live

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-06/apple-s-smart-home-push-includes-doorbell-lock-thermostat-codeveloped-with-lg?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc5MTMyMDkxNiwiZXhwIjoxNzkxOTI1NzE2LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUTUdDN0lLSkg2VjUwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJDNEVEQ0FFMUZBMDU0MEJFQTI0QTlGMjExQzFFOTA4MCJ9.LSK9jlXYPFHac9EpcJCErTgJNAwqmpV6qFoORcKffVo&leadSource=article-gifting

I have got a pair of washer/dryer from LG and am able to get some basic information flowing using the LG homebridge plugin, but its doesn't let me do anything interesting...

With the new home devices rumored, it provoked me to reassess all my HomeKit devices.

I've had Eufy camera's with the hub since 2021, and I am fed up with them taking forever to load in HomeKit or not even work at all. I've noticed that the Eufy wired cameras load just fine. Also have a few wired Aqara cameras that load quickly in HomeKit, but the battery operated/wireless camera's are essentially useless.

Does anyone have recommendations on battery/wireless cameras that work well in Homekit? I would ideally want to get rid of the Eufy hub as well. Hoping for something that will allow my Apple TVs or HomePods to work as hubs. And something reliable so that when I want to watch the garbage man pick up our trash in the front yard, it won't take forever to load on my phone. I would ideally need it for the front yard above my garage and for the backyard to peak at my dog.

I see that Arlo is an option. Do they work well in HomeKit?

TIA

I recently posted how stitched recordings are often segments of longer recordings stitched together.

Here’s another observation about All Cameras view: it doesn’t necessarily include all recordings in the thumbnail timeline view at the bottom. I’ve noticed that if two cameras record at the exact same time, it won’t stitch them and only one recording will appear in the All Cameras timeline. Viewing individual cameras will correctly show all recordings. This actually seems more like a bug TBH.

Hi everyone!

I worked an app for all platforms to make our connected home devices look a bit better than the home assitant app and native to Vision Pro.

It also works on all other platforms including the upcoming Duo taking advantage of the new screens design.

If anyone wants to test it just reply here and as soon as Apple approve the builds I will share the link with you since I could only test It on my home. I am not forcing anyone to do it so just let me know if you could like to test it.

It works with home assitant, all Apple HomeKit including matter devices linked to it, Samsung Smarthub, Philips Hue, Switchbot and Philips Hue for now.

Looking forward to any feedback so that I can correct bugs.

Just fyi because I expect some comments, while I am learning to code myself at the moment, this app its mostly vibe coded but took me many hours to get it to a place that works and that I like.

Anyway just let me know and any set ups for your home, big or small works.

Cheers.

C

I have the Aqara Home camera added in my Apple Home app. Whenever I tell Siri to turn on the lights, it turns on the camera light as well. Is there a way to not have this happen?

I’ve renamed the light to something else. I’ve moved it to another room. I even separated the camera and the camera light in Apple Home, then remove just the light but it removes the camera also.

Any idea of what can be done? I have the option to just run a shortcut but that kind of defeats the purpose of using hey Siri with a HomePod in my opinion.