Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

HomeKit UK Homekit garage door opener ?

sundialsoft

sundialsoft

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 2, 2010
172
66
Scotland
Having successfully installed a Homekit smart thermostat for the heating I'm now looking at the garage door. I have an existing garage door opener with wireless remote controls. I'm looking to upgrade this so I can operate the garage via homekit from my iPhone.

Has anyone in the UK found a suitable product? Thanks in advance.
 
I don’t know of one but will watch this thread with interest. I’m in the UK too and our HomeKit stuff is very limited currently.
 
Weaselboy said:
www.nytimes.com

Driving Home to a Garage That Auto-Opens and Auto-Closes When I Leave is the Cheap Thrill We All Deserve

A smart garage-door opener controller provides remote control and alerts you whenever your garage opens or closes. Some can open automatically when you get home.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

I just ran across a review of openers this morning that might help you. The last one on that list supports Homekit.

The site is US focused, but Amazon UK might have the product.
Click to expand...
Thanks. the Chamberlain one is on Amazon UK but it's £185.00 + £13.99 delivery. Seems costly compared to the others.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Weaselboy
Do you have a lift master or chamberlain garage door? If so is it a myq enables one? If so get the loft master Homebridge that works with HomeKit and be done with it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sundialsoft
I just ordered an iSmartgate lite from amazon. Will let you know how that goes, but I have a Hörmann too - the wiring is simple and there a compatibility thing on the iSmartgate website, so should be fine.
It’s the security aspect I am more concerned about...my HomePod is in the garage cos it’s my gym, so I don’t want some random scum shouting for the garage door to open 😂, so hopefully it will require iPhone or watch authentication.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sundialsoft
I was just about to suggest an ismartgate garage door or ismart gate. I have an ismart gate on an actual gate and it works great. I did hardwire because location was an issue for WiFi. But works without fail.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sundialsoft
I just automated a gate with a gate opener from AliExpress for £14. Same unit available on Amazon for a bit more. The gate already had actuators but I wanted to run them via Siri. The actuator uses the SmartLife App which now has the ability to use Siri Shortcuts.

Makes driving upto the gate a breeze.

I have multiple SmartLife enabled devices now. So much cheaper than HomeKit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sundialsoft
Yeah there are cheaper ways of doing things if you are sole user via your iPhone.
Not quite my use case tho, sadly. I have a few Kasa switches, one for a fan in my gym for example, so I would like the mrs to be able to use it too but she doesn’t have or use the apps like that (Much preferring to shout to make things happen 😜). Whilst probable user error, I tried a shortcut for Siri, but it only works on HomePod for me and only works for me when my phone is available (else HomePod says no device)...it has its limitations and I discounted it in relation to a garage door.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sundialsoft
Well, iSmartgate works just fine. Took about 15 mins to set up then wiring in was 5 mins.

Garage door opens via watch and phone for all in my ‘home’, but not via HomePod as opening doors requires authentication. Door closes with everything, including HomePod.

Cost not too bad @ £130, considering I don’t have any remotes and it is almost £50 just for one bulky key fob button
 
  • Like
Reactions: sundialsoft and StumpyBloke
I have been using iSmartGate for a while now and it works reliably, but oh, so slow when using their app as you have to wait for it to download unnecessary stuff first. Having now set up a Home Hub and can just ask Siri to open the door it's much better. But…

Bear in mind that the camera for use in their app only works on subscription. This was not made clear when I purchased the whole kit. I hate subscriptions like this and won't have anything to do with them. I buy what I need and expect to be able to use it, but after a short while the camera stopped working and they basically demanded money in order for it to work again. I felt the whole process was somewhat fraudulent.

However the opener does work and since I now don't need to use their app and just Siri instead (which requires no camera) I'll probably hang onto it and find some other use for the camera. I'm hoping to find a Homebridge plug-in that will work with it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back