HomeKit smart plug & garage door roundup, Twinkly lights, Aqara G3 on HomeKit Insider

On the latest episode of the HomeKit Insider podcast, your hosts discuss Twinkly's newfound HomeKit support, the Aqara G3 Hub, and we roundup our favorite smart plugs and garage door openers.

Twinkly, making of various holiday lighting products, has just updated their devices via new firmware to bring native HomeKit support. This includes various styles such as standard light strands, curtain lights, flexible strips, and bundles of lights. All just in time for the holidays.

Aqara also announced its new device, the Aqara G3 Hub, is available in the US. This camera/hub combo supports 360-degree video via the Aqara app. If you choose not to use the Aqara app, you can use HomeKit Secure Video with recordings saved directly to iCloud.

In the world of apps, we previewed an upcoming app that allows you to create custom HomeKit widgets to control your home.

The bulk of our episode was devoted to rounding up some of our favorite smart home categories. This episode we focused on two categories — smart plugs and garage door openers.

We explain what to look for, the various connectivity options, and our top picks for each of these categories. We'll tackle future categories in upcoming episodes.

Links from the show

• Twinkly - Lights
• Govee Thermometer
• Hub for HomeKit App
• Samsung Remote: ControlMeister
• Black Friday: Expand your HomeKit smart home with these deals
• Eve Energy Smart Plug
• Wemo Smart Plug
• Eve Energy Strip
• Lutron Outdoor Smart Plug
• WeMo WiFi Smart Outdoor Plug
• ConnectSense Smart In-Wall Outlet
• 2021 Apple TV HD (32GB, 5th Generation)
• Eve Aqua
• HomePod mini
• meross Smart Garage Door Opener
• myQ Chamberlain Smart Garage Control
• Chamberlain Smart myQ
• LiftMaster MyQ Home Bridge

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