Let HomePod listen for alarms as you buy MagSafe car chargers

On the 150th episode of the Homekit Insider podcast, your hosts talk about HomePod's new smoke-detecting feature, answer a listener question and more.

This week, Apple pushed a server-side update that enabled sound recognition for HomePod and HomePod mini. This allows both of Apple's smart speakers to identify smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in your home and promptly send you an alert.

Aqara also released its long-awaited FP2 occupancy sensor — not a regular motion sensor, but one that detects the presence of a person whether they're moving around or not. This is the only presence or occupancy sensor for Apple HomeKit, so far at least, and your hosts gave their first impressions.

Next, Google-owned Nest started supporting Matter this week which marks the first time a Nest thermostat will work natively with Apple Home. The latest-generation Nest thermostats — but only the latest — will show in the Home app and be controllable like any HomeKit-certified thermostat.

Finally, we go hands-on with two new MagSafe car chargers and answer a listener's question on how to prevent smart video doorbell theft.

Links from the show

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