Mike Wuerthele
Smart home peripheral company Fibaro has debuted a trio of Bluetooth Low Energy sensors for Apple's HomeKit, and is releasing flood, door and window, and motion sensors.
The new sensors from Fibaro rely on a HomeKit hub in the form of an Apple TV or iPad to relay the information to the purchaser, or to initiate an action through pre-programmed automation events through iOS 10.2 or tvOS 10.1.
The Flood Sensor is equipped with gold telescopic probes that detect water as soon as it appears and allows the device to function on uneven surfaces. The Flood Sensor also acts as a temperature sensor.
The Fibaro Motion Sensor is actually a multi sensor, measuring movement, ambient temperature and light intensity. It is battery powered and runs on Bluetooth LE wireless technology, and features an eye-shaped LED indicator changes colors to signal motion, temperature level, tampering and light.
The Door and Window Sensor is a dual contact and temperature sensor that can be placed on any door or window and comes in seven colors.
Monday's release of iOS 10.2 brought changes to Apple's HomeKit platform, giving users the ability to receive instant alerts for a variety of new connected device types in their home, including the Fibaro sensor line, and similar devices from El Gato.
The retail pricing for the Fibaro Flood Sensor or the Motion Sensor is $69.99. The Door and Window Sensor is $59.99. All three products are expected to be available to consumers in the U.S. by the end of 2016, with gradual roll-outs to other countries in 2017.
Introduced in 2014, HomeKit allows users to connect to a variety of compatible so-called "internet of things" devices through the iOS Home app in conjunction with each other, as opposed to a series of disconnected interfaces. The addition of Siri control to HomeKit allows for complicated sequences of events to be induced from an iOS device or a Mac running Sierra.
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Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
Amber Neely
4 Comments
There is still one glaring issue with these and other devices... notifications with DND enabled. Back when DND was first made available, you could allow calls from your Favorites as an exception, but no emails or txt. Now with IOS 10 you can allow certain contacts to alert audibly even with DND enabled if they call or txt you (haven't tested emails yet). But this is not the case for HomeKit devices and needs to be. Whether its a security camera, water or motion sensor, smoke detector, etc. if it can alert your phone through Notification Center, it should have a DND bypass. But that doesn't exist yet. It should. I like to be able to sleep through the nightly sales and spam emails that come in overnight, but still be awakened if my daughter calls for an emergency or even just txts to say she's home safely. It would also be nice to get an audible alert when a camera senses someone at the back door at 2am or a water sensor notices a flood from a cracked pipe. Until Apple adds this to IOS/Homekit, the alerts are somewhat meaningless...
The other issue is having the Eye of Sauron staring at you all the time...
Waiting for another Polish Smart Home manufacturers as grenton.com releasing devices in line with HomeKit