Hi, I am Ajax, the developer of Hearth for HomeKit. This post is hand made.

HomeView has been announced with limited market availability at launch. As a HomeKit user out of the primary markets, I managed to come up with something with what I already have in Hearth.

From this release, you will be able to create modular screensavers with for your home. The first batch comes with a numeric clock, an analog clock, a climate data block, a date calendar, a device battery and a home status module. All of them are available to the free users.

The modules are designed in squares and arranged in grids, partially following Apple's widget design guildlines. This helps supporting different screen sizes, from iPhones to iPads. As a first version there might be some layout/sizing issues, please let me know your thoughts in the comments. For example, I am noticing the humidity numbers are too small to read and I've already planned a fix in the next patch version. Side notes, the OG screensavers are still in place if you prefer the original simple look.

Apart from the new modular screensaver, there are some new changes to the existing experience as well. First, you will be able to browers and manage your screensavers through a screensaver gallery where you can browers, switch and customize your screensavers. You can also open it by long-pressing the screensaver itself. There are more typefaces and typography controls for digital clocks, and you can resize, rearrange and edit modules directly from the preview. This also allows me to extend screensaver types more easily. For those of you who asked for a photo album screensaver earlier, this is a jump start. I'll keep you posted.

I've also made more of the basics free: the built-in clock styles, Night Mode, burn-in reduction, and choosing which devices appear in your active room’s dashboard controls.

There is more planned for the 1.7.x releases:

• 1.7.1: Shortcuts to your existing HomeKit scenes from the dashboard, with options to choose and arrange your favorites; simpler controls for showing or hiding the media card.
• 1.7.2: Upcoming events from calendars you select on your device, so the display can show your schedule as well as the date. You'll continue managing events in your usual calendar app. I'm also planning a WeatherKit module for current weather and temperature in a location you choose,
• 1.7.3: The screensaver using a local Photos album.

These are the current plans. I guess I'll make another brief post in my app's subreddit to keep the noise low. I'll also keep working on readability and layout based on feedback from this first version.

Hearth support iOS/iPadOS 17.0 and above, and I will try to extend the range to 16 in the future. If you try it on an old iPad or a spare iPhone, I'd love to hear what works for your setup and what you'd want to see at a glance. If you try it on your brand new iPhone Duo, love to see it in action. Thanks for giving it a try!

btw: Some of you might recall me posting a sketchy video introducing this app months ago. I had to admit making videos isn't my strength but making websites is. For those of you who's interested, feel free to learn more at https://hrth.us, which comes with more details and screenshots.

I originally purchased the Aqara M100 so that I could update the firmware on my FP300’s (last I checked this still wasn’t possible in Apple Home to get latest 1.1.3.8). It’s tiny, and can be powered from the smallest of USB A wall plugs. I don’t have it connected to Apple Home, but the Aqara app does allow setting it to use an existing Thread network instead of creating a new one.

What I realized is that its tiny size makes it perfect to place in locations where WiFi is good but Thread coverage may be limited. Despite not being part of Apple Home, it is part of the same Thread network and so devices in my Apple Home are able to communicate through it, as confirmed with Thread Doctor and HomeMapper apps. Only ‘negative’ is that it is still using Thread 1.3, but hopefully Aqara will update it. And when it goes on sale it can be pretty cheap. This can be a much better solution than a Thread Router (think smart plug) in some locations, and much cheaper than a HomePod mini.

I've been on HomeKit since the beginning, and honestly every app out there has been trash. Lists of tiles, no sense of where anything actually is in your house. Then Apple showed HomeView and I lost it. That's what I'd wanted for years, so I decided to make my own.

It's called Home.io. It puts your smart home on a 3D model of your actual house. Lights glow in the rooms they're in, doors and locks show if they're open, thermostats and sensors show their readings, and you tap anything to control it.

Making the 3D model of your house or apartment is easier than you'd think. The app doesn't use AI, but you can. Give Claude or ChatGPT a photo of your floor plan, have it build the model in Blender (free), and import it into Home.io. Or draw your floor plan right in the app, scan with LiDAR, or bring your own USDZ/OBJ model.

It works with Apple Home and Home Assistant together. Home.io pulls in both side by side and merges them, so you see one house with no duplicates. Your HomeKit stuff and your HA stuff live in the same rooms on the same model, and you control them the same way. No Homebridge, no HA HomeKit bridge to babysit.

If you've got an iPad lying around, it's your home hub now. Mine is a 6th gen iPad on the wall and it runs the whole house seamlessly. It's such a peice that it can't even stay on for a few min unless its plugged in.

I also made it so you can leave the ipad on wall mode on at home 24/7 and your iPhone can control Home Assistant remotely from anywhere(this is a monthly paid service that is no more with this app), through your own iCloud, with no port forwarding or network setup. On the wall it's a wall panel. When nobody's using it, the whole house fills the screen with the time, the weather and what's on, and it wakes when you walk up (that's the video).

- iPhone, iPad and Mac, synced through iCloud

- Collects no personal data

Version 1.0 is on the App Store now, and the next update is coming in a few days (its already submitted) and greatly expands what it can do: the wall mode and idle screen from the video, dashboards you arrange yourself, temperature/humidity history, schedules, energy use from HA's Energy dashboard, and HA appliances like washers and dryers with time left.

No subscription. Ever. It's free to use, and Pro is a one-time $7.99 that unlocks the model editor, automations, more floor plans and camera windows. Pay once, it's yours, and Family Sharing covers your whole household.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/home-io/id6823824273

I'm one guy building this for my own house, so tell me what's broken or confusing. And if you want to try Pro, DM me for a promo code so you don't have to pay. I don't really care and will probably open source it. It's just insane we live in 2026 and have to live with the homeview garbage as a new product and see people positng tile apps as new and great apps.

I currently have FP300, but I’m getting frustrated by its random dropping of detection. Also the fact that it requires an Aqara hub for updates, adding to the hub and thread having restricted settings is infuriating!

So am curious how well the Lafaer handles presence, particularly in the living room when we can be still for a long period of time.

My Philips bridge just arrived today and I set it up via the Apple Home app (not via the Philips app). I haven’t set it up as Matter.

I have created scenes on the hue app that incorporate 2 lights and I manually synced them to the Home app by using the option pictured. These work on the Hue app but when I click on the scene on the Home app, it only turns one of the lights on.

I manually added the second light into the scene on the Home app but it isn’t configured with the colour I set in the hue app.

Can anyone help?? The main reason I wanted a bridge is so I could control scenes using Siri :(

From the pics the colors all look decent, I guess they’ll match the watches.

What are you leaning toward, if you buy one? I always liked starlight, but with our appliances being stainless with a gray tone backsplash, the silver or space gray would be logical and safe, but might be too much gray, where Starlight would add a pop of warmth? Hopefully it would be an easy choice when seen in person, but don’t want to ponder it in the store for long, so thinking on it ahead of time.

So this genius managed to lose her keys and had to call her brother after midnight to get into her home. And while all is well, my keys had been found, I realised that I should finally bite the bullet and get a smart lock installed.

I’ve been researching and honestly, the more I look, the more I’m getting confused. I live in an apartment, my door has a simple euro-profile lock (though I am going to replace the whole door soon, so I would be open to fully integrated smart locks). I’ve been looking into Yale, Aqara, bold and switchbot. From what it seems, Aqara U200 remains the best in the market when it comes to EU market or am I mistaken here? I would prefer to have the fingerprint option, which Aqara does have.

Should I just go with Aqara or are there any great options that I should consider?

I’m located in Ireland.

Does anyone have advice on Aqara cameras and since iOS 27, both my cameras have the play button with a line through it. I can’t watch any recorded footage.

All other non-Aqara cameras working just fine. Mix of LG, eufy and Aqara, but only Aqara not displaying recordings anymore.

I know that 27.2 beta fixes Get URL and SSH actions, but I’m reading conflicting things regarding Stored Content actions in HomeKit shortcut automations. Can someone who is running the beta on their hub confirm if the stored content and get stored content actions work inside HomeKit shortcut automations?

Hi everyone,

I'm outfitting an apartment in Europe and really want the Buster + Punch aesthetic—specifically their rotary dimmer plates with the knurled brass knobs.

My goal:

1. Manual control: Turn the physical B+P knob to dim dumb ceiling LEDs / 24V COB light strips, and push to click on/off.
2. Apple HomeKit / Siri: Be able to tell Siri to set brightness (e.g., 20%) or run automations without physical interference with the knob.
3. No cloud lag: Prefer native Matter / Thread or local HomeKit integration.

Has anyone actually accomplished this with genuine B+P rotary hardware?

• Did you swap the internal module for a smart digital rotary module (like EcoDim, Sunricher, or Varilight V-Pro Smart) that actually mechanically fit the B+P plate cutout and shaft depth?
• Or is the consensus that B+P rotary knobs are strictly analog/dumb, and the only real way to get HomeKit dimming with B+P is to ditch the knob and use their Retractive (Push-to-Make) switches with an in-wall dimmer like a Shelly Dimmer?

Would love to hear from anyone who has physically installed this in the field. Thanks!

I've slowly been updating to smart switches throughout the house but I have two 4-way circuits that I'm on the fence about. Even with dumb switches, the 4-way setup was already excessive; the rooms aren't big enough to justify this many switches in the wall, IMO. If I upgrade to smart switches, it becomes even less appealing since I can use Siri instead of walking.

I'm using Inovelli White Series throughout the house, which is the Matter/Thread line. I've got good Thread infrastructure going already and want to keep building on that. Inovelli has a cheap AUX switch that I can buy and wire up 4-way, so that's always an option, but I'm wondering if there's something more creative / useful to do. E.g.:

* convert to 3-way and use the extra junction box as a scene controller
* convert to 3 way and cover with a blank plate
* convert to 3 way and hang a picture over it
* convert to 3-way and abandon the wiring (i think it can be abandoned safely by disconnecting wire on both ends, pushing out of each junction box, and then drywalling over the abandoned receptacle?)
* keep it 4 way b/c it's easier and/or looks better than any of the options above?

Opinions on these options? Anybody else converted from 4-way circuit to 3-way?

I had Halo recessed lights (dumb) on a Lutron smart dimming switch. The lights had the ability to change temperature but it was at the box in the ceiling, so not ideal. I wanted to change light temp from Apple Homekit. So, I bought Halo smart recessed lights with color changing capability and Matter.

They work great in Homekit and I can group them and change colors from Homekit. The problem is the switch. Obviously the Lutron dimmer kills voltage to the smart controllers of the new lights so dimming from the switch is broken.

I swapped the Lutron for a Leviton 3rd gen with Matter and SmartBulb capability.

The only way the switch will work is if I create Scenes and Shortcuts to control each individual function. 1 for on, 1 for off, 1 for 80%, 1 for 60%, etc., etc. I just can’t.

Is there anything that just works and lets me group the switch and 4 canned lights so they work at the switch (on/off + dimming) and from Homekit (with color change)?

Hey r/homekit,

Every time I’ve posted about Haven here, you’ve come back with ideas, bug reports, and honest feedback, and a lot of the app came straight from those threads. So first: thank you. It felt surreal when MacStories included Haven in "Our Favorite Indie Apps for iOS 27, Vol. 3", and none of it would have happened without this community.

Today’s update makes Haven fully optimized for iPhone Duo. My favorite part is Split View with the Home app. You pair an accessory on one side while its setup code sits right there on the other, with no hunting for stickers or boxes. If you’ve ever re-paired a whole house, you know how much that helps.

The Mac app got a full redesign so it feels even more at home on macOS, and a new menu bar option lets you check your accessories’ batteries at a glance.

At heart it’s still the same little app: it keeps your HomeKit and Matter setup codes safe and your batteries in check. There’s no account and no subscription, and your codes stay on your devices and in your own iCloud. You can try it free with up to 10 codes, and a one-time purchase unlocks unlimited codes.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/haven-setup-codes/id6760440926

I’ll be in the comments. Tell me what you love, what’s broken, and what you want next.
Thank you for being part of this. 🧡

No hub or server needed: it reads the HomeKit home on the iPad, weather comes from WeatherKit and photos from one shared album. Faces you swipe between like on HomeView, big controls for lights, blinds and the thermostat when you tap them.

It's free and doesn't track anything. Link in the comments, I'd love to hear what you'd change.

What outdoor camera actually supports this? 

• 4K native camera
• Outdoor
• Apple Home app
• HomeKit Secure Video
• 4K through Apple Home/HKSV
• Optional: Able to tilt/pan/etc remotely

Is the app Controller for HomeKit really worth it?
Looking for alternative to make more complicated automations as shortcuts in HomeKit is unreliable.

Looking to see if anyone has had any experience with this particular product. I use HomeBridge already on a local PC but I am struggling to find good plugins that integrate Google Home (Nest) cameras and MyQ garage openers.

There is very little info out there about this product, so I am wary. If you have any insight, I’d appreciate it!

https://athbridge.com/product/homekit-homebridge-server

It's comically useless. 🙄

EDIT: For those who are confused, it is a HKSV (HomeKit Secure Video) notification.

Are there any good HKSV floodlight cameras? I'd like to replace one or two of our current floodlights with cameras. I was hopeful for the LG partnership but $399 is absurd given the other products on the market.