Lots of new smart home gear, cheap HomeKit sensors, & Matter 1.2 on HomeKit Insider

By Andrew O'Hara

On this episode of the HomeKit Insider Podcast, we check out several new products and discuss the delay with vacuums in Matter 1.2.

HomeKit Insider Podcast

There were quite a few products released this week, including the eventual availability of the Nanoleaf Matter Smart Multicolor HD light strip that we previewed last week.

Meross also debuted a new Matter-enabled smart plug that is more slim than its predecessor. The MSS315 allows users to more easily fit two into a standard American receptacle.

Aqara released the new Knight Series Q1 switches, but only in China. US users should feel too left out though, as it is nothing but a minor tweak of the Z1/Z1 Pro models by squaring off the corners slightly.

Finally, Ring is offering its first camera with built in pan and tilt support. Despite their promises, none of the Ring cameras still support Apple Home.

Your host then spent some time talking about a pair of sensors that are available on Aliexpress. From a company called Qingping, they are officially certified by Apple and have very low price tags.

One model is a 5-in-1 environmental sensor with PM2.5, PM10, humidity, temperature, and CO2 monitoring that sports an OLED touchscreen and a rechargeable internal battery.

The second is a temperature and humidity sensor with a one-year coin cell battery. The values are displayed on an integrated e-ink display.

Finally, we round out the show by talking about Matter 1.2 and the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra, which is the very first robotic vacuum cleaner to be fully Matter certified.

Despite being announced six months ago, no major ecosystems support the Matter 1.2 spec and it may be quite a while until they do.

Links from the HomeKit Insider podcast

Those interested in sponsoring the show can reach out to us at advertising@appleinsider.com

Keep up with everything Apple in the weekly AppleInsider Podcast. Just say, "Hey, Siri," to your HomePod mini and ask it, and our latest HomeKit Insider episode too. If you want an ad-free main AppleInsider Podcast experience, you can support the AppleInsider podcast by subscribing for $5 per month through Apple's Podcasts app, or via Patreon if you prefer any other podcast player.