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HomeKit Support Rolling Out to IKEA's TRADFRI Motion Sensor and Shortcut Button

gk4 said:
I think an Eero setup - with it's reputation for extreme reliability, makes more sense than Ubiqiti if you're in that price range.

The stuff geared to home users (UDM/UDM Pro) doesn't seem to have the reliability of the actual pro gear. People initially assumed it would because it's coming from Ubiqiti - but following it in the Ubiqiti subs, seems that people have mostly written it off.
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No issues with my UDM Pro (currently), but then again a UDM Pro doesn't really fit into that segment anyway, and I know what you're talking about with the UDM.

They kind of rushed the release of both products unfortunately, it's great hardware (at a great price if you ask me), and the software is getting there now, but they both had issues at launch. UDM launched without UbiOS, and took a rather long time before receiving a stable enough release of UbiOS. UDM Pro launched with a rather buggy release of UbiOS, I personally had an issue with my unit (bought right when it hit general availability in Europe) which caused it to boot loop and I had to factory reset it and install firmware from the beta channel to get it running. But that was a year ago, and I've had pretty much 100% uptime since those issues.

I know nothing about Eero, but I've heard good things. That said, I'm not a big fan of mesh personally, nothing beats good old ethernet when it comes to shuffling packets from A to B.
 
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jlc1978 said:
I've pretty much given up on Homekit. Amazon has done a good job with Alexa enabled devices so even if a number have Homekit as well I've stuck with Alexa. The big obstacle for me is Ring's lack of Homekit integration.

Ikea's stuff is iteresting but unless there is some compelling thing that otehrs don't offer I'd prefer not to add yet one more set of manufacturer's devices. I'm already at Amazon with Echo and Ring, Philips with Hue, and Feit with switches and lights.

I really don't get the button part. I find it easy to say "Alexa, turn on/off xxx" and Siri can do the same thing as well; why should I go to a button? If I want a button the app on my phone does that was well. Th eone advantage to that approach wouod be if IKEA's bridge soes all the lifting so nothing is sent to a remote server.
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Because sometimes you just need to press a button to fire off an automation. I don't want to be talking to Alexa/Siri when I'm putting my 1 year old to bed.
 
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I've been pondering setting up scene triggers using NFC tags... Downfall is you would always need to activate with your phone, but some instances, like a spot on the car, in the garage, in the shed, in a closetspace, might be handy. Eliminates having to hook up a button in a lot of cases. Dunno what people's experience has been doing something like that, but for about two years I used my phone to scan an Abbott Freestyle sensor on my arm via NFC, and it was always 100% effective in triggering the NFC read action.
 
MJaP said:
"The Shortcut button, which comes with stickers that can be used to indicate their function, will allow owners to quickly activate HomeKit scenes and switch off lights, for example."

So you buy a button to press so you don't have to press a button? Is this Inception?
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Exactly what I thought 😂😂 although then I thought it might be cool to use in a home theater system. Push the button when you walk into the room to dim the lights to 1%, turn on the tv, launch Netflix, turn on DND on my phone, etc etc.
 
SBlue1 said:
Just 6 Euros for that shortcut button? Thats interesting!
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But Ikea hasn't switched to Thread as their radio basis yet, have they? So that's a hard pass.

Ikea is about as reliable as the other top tier HomeKit manufacturers. Meaning that it does in fact usually work, but there's still about once a month or so that something loses its network connection for god knows what reason and then you've got to go through various steps from irritating (flick the light switch) to EXTREMELY irritating (pop lids off their remotes and wander around trying to re-pair devices).

I'm sick of it all; and you should be too.
 
MJaP said:
"The Shortcut button, which comes with stickers that can be used to indicate their function, will allow owners to quickly activate HomeKit scenes and switch off lights, for example."

So you buy a button to press so you don't have to press a button? Is this Inception?
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That's an extremely silly analysis.
Assuming things DO work (not a very good assumption with current HomeKit, but one day...) buttons allow you to AUGMENT your control in ways that traditional buttons do not.

For example
- you can have blinds that track sun/temperature, so normally operate manually, but you can use a button to close them under unusual conditions where you want privacy or darkness

- your lights can usually operate automatically, but a button provides control for visitors who don't know the pattern when things automatically switch on or off and feel powerless

- a button can control a device that's in a remote location; for example I use a button in the bathroom to power-on a smart plug in the garage that activates the hot water recirculation pump. Press the button, start brushing teeth, by the time I start shaving hot water has been pumped through all the pipes and there is no need to run the water (and waste it down the drain) for three minutes waiting for it to heat up. This same button cuts out the power after five minutes because (as anyone with a recirculator should know) it's not great for the pipe joints to have it pumping through the house 24/7 -- you will likely eventually develop microleaks.
 
Ikea needs to enable Thread support. Also, wish they would switch to non-directional USB-C plugs used w/their roller shade kits...
 
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MJaP said:
"The Shortcut button, which comes with stickers that can be used to indicate their function, will allow owners to quickly activate HomeKit scenes and switch off lights, for example."

So you buy a button to press so you don't have to press a button? Is this Inception?
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The switch within a switch.
 
MJaP said:
"The Shortcut button, which comes with stickers that can be used to indicate their function, will allow owners to quickly activate HomeKit scenes and switch off lights, for example."

So you buy a button to press so you don't have to press a button? Is this Inception?
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I like the idea because to use automations or to use “scenes” your lights actually have to have power going to them. If I flip the switch to turn my smart bulbs off before bed, and at 4am flip the switch on, it’s going to be at 100% brightness and I’ll have to wait while they connect to WiFi before I can adjust them to a very dim 4am appropriate level.

If I instead press this button at night to turn the lights off withOUT flipping the light switch, they’ll stay connected to WiFi the entire night and I’ll just have to choose my 4am scene when I get up for work.

It’s not a whole world of difference, but not being blinded every morning for work is certainly worth a few bucks for me.
 
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Ikea is rolling out the new release in Germany since today in the morning. Can see my motion-sensors in Home now.
 
The motion sensor is in HomeKit, but it seems the only thing it can do is send a push notification when motion is detected. Doesn’t add any funationality.
 
If these are going to be directly HomeKit compatible, will one need the Ikea bridge as well or can I just buy a couple of these switches and integrate them directly into my Home?
 
Feek said:
If these are going to be directly HomeKit compatible, will one need the Ikea bridge as well or can I just buy a couple of these switches and integrate them directly into my Home?
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Judging by other IKEA products, you 'll need to buy a bridge, assemble it from instructions that are all pictures, and have several parts left over afterward.

Seriously, it looks like a gateway will be needed. Get out your screwdrivers and allen wrenches...

jon81uk said:
The motion sensor is in HomeKit, but it seems the only thing it can do is send a push notification when motion is detected. Doesn’t add any funationality.
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Automation scripts wll let you trigger other devices as long as they all connect to Homekit; assuming it works similar to Alexa. I don't use Homekit simply because my Ring devices don't connect and I don't want to setup a bridge when everything works with Alexa. For example, I have set it up so lights can go on at night when motion is detected. If one back light detects motion they all turn on. If there is motion 2021-02-25ected in front of or in the garage the gaarage lights and entryway lights go on at night.
 
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jlc1978 said:
I really don't get the button part. I find it easy to say "Alexa, turn on/off xxx" and Siri can do the same thing as well; why should I go to a button?
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I've been searching for senors, buttons etc and think it would be handy for young children. And sometimes Siri and Alexa don't always turn on the right device - these ensure it.
 
Feek said:
If these are going to be directly HomeKit compatible, will one need the Ikea bridge as well or can I just buy a couple of these switches and integrate them directly into my Home?
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Depends what you want to do.

Ikea equipment can be run in multiple "modes", which they doubtless think is a plus, but it makes trying to find documentation a nightmare.

The simplest/cheapest mode os "you get a piece of Ikea equipment (like a blind or a lightbulb) and it comes with a pre-paired remote".
This gives you the functionality of the remote (blind up or down, lightbulb on/off/brighter) and nothing else.
For extra lolz (good luck figuring it out and not screwing up!) you can break the pairing and pair multiple devices to a single remote, so that that the remote now controls two blinds or three lightbulbs.

Better is if you get an Ikea hub. This now allows you to use Ikea's app to create various automations like open the blinds at a certain time, or switch off the lights at a different time. Like all these bespoke apps, the automation control is very limited.You will also voice control, which for some people is a big deal.
However the hub this will also enroll your Ikea devices in HomeKit, and so use HomeKit automation to control them, which IMHO is rather more powerful than Ikea's app.

Ikea's radio is Zigbee (not Bluetooth, not WiFi). Meaning that you will have to have a hub to communicate with HomeKit because Apple devices don't speak Zigbee. If you REALLY know what you are doing, in theory you might be able to use a different Zigbee hub (eg the Hue hub or a Hubitat box) to act as the connection between HomeKit and Ikea. But that's really pro-level stuff; just buy the damn hub.
(Or, alternatively, wait till Ikea transitions all their stuff to using Thread as the radio. When will that be? Who knows? End of this year?)
 
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name99 said:
Depends what you want to do.
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Most of my rooms have Hue bulbs but I have no switches - In a couple of the rooms I'd like to add switches to trigger automations within HomeKit. I have a Hue bridge and although I can do stuff within the Hue app, I'd rather keep all the automations/shortcuts etc within HomeKit.

This just seemed like a really cheap way to add switches to HomeKit.
 
Feek said:
Most of my rooms have Hue bulbs but I have no switches - In a couple of the rooms I'd like to add switches to trigger automations within HomeKit. I have a Hue bridge and although I can do stuff within the Hue app, I'd rather keep all the automations/shortcuts etc within HomeKit.

This just seemed like a really cheap way to add switches to HomeKit.
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If you want easy "physical" switches for lights, going all- (or mostly) Ikea might be a solution. The Ikea remote controls [not these smart switches, the old ones Ikea has shipped for years] come with the bulbs (if you buy the right package) and are cheaper than any other alternative.

Of course if you want switches that do more than just toggle the lights, then you want a real Smart Switch. But, like I said, wait if you can, for these to be upgraded to Thread radios.
 
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