If you are a Home Assistant user and would like to take nearly any Home Assistant action when ANY Apple iOS Focus Mode (even Sleep) is turned on or off, this post is for you. In iOS 18 and earlier all focus modes except Sleep can use built-in personal automations...
Matter over Thread (MoT) is a recent addition to the smart home ecosystem. Unlike more established protocols such as ZigBee and Z-Wave, MoT is still in its early stages and may present some challenges. This post will outline several key areas to consider for maintaining optimal Thread network stability:Matter Multi-Admin...
Thanks to kickstarter a few weeks ago I got my Aqara U200 Matter over Thread smart lock with Apple Homekey support. I've been waiting a long time for a smart lock to support the full feature set that I wanted. The primary features I wanted were Matter over Thread (not Wi-Fi...
One of the most common automations that people use probably use Home Assistant for is lighting. Several months ago I stumbled on an amazing collection of Home Assistant blueprints by community member Blacky (Craig Black). They do more with light automation than I ever thought possible. The best part is that...
Back in October of 2023 I purchased a number of Smartwings Thread and Matter enabled shades. This post is a long term review of the six shades I've had in two different rooms. I have three roller style blackout shades in my bedroom, and three zebra style in my office. I've had...
For Home Assistant users that want hyper local weather information, the 2023 ECOWITT Wittboy Weather Station GW2001, with Wittboy Wi-Fi Hub is an excellent choice. Unlike a traditional weather station that you might be thinking of, the Ecowitt Wittboy is solid state with no moving parts. If you are using...
When building a smart home based on Matter it is critical that you get networking gear with working IPv6 multicast support. This post covers how to configure both IGMP (IPv4) and MLD (IPv6) snooping for Netgear M4300 Pro AV fully managed switches. If you have TP-Link Jetstream switches, check out...
When building a smart home based on Matter it is critical that you get networking gear with working IPv6 multicast support. This post covers how to configure both IGMP (IPv4) and MLD (IPv6) snooping for TP-Link Jetstream (business class) managed switches. Finding a switch with working IPv6 multicast support is easier...
In this final installment of my smart home deep dive on Matter and Thread, I cover a ton of practical advice on how to set yourself up for success with Matter. Even if you aren't using Home Assistant and are entirely into Apple Home, Google Home, etc. the last section...
This is the second installment of the Smart Home Matter and Thread deep dive series. In this post we deep dive into IPv6 routing, and how the Home Assistant Matter controller does failover at the network level between two Apple TVs. I'll also show you how this fails with HAOS...