I've written countless articles about the Starling Home Hub, but the device continues to improve, with no subscription required for continuous updates. Earlier this summer, it added AirPlay to Google Nest speakers, and I've been using it almost daily ever since. A new update is available today that supports the latest Nest cameras for HomeKit.
Our sister site 9to5Google analyzed one of the new Nest rooms and said:
The issues involved come from other interactions, especially with some of the more advanced features and settings. The Google organization in the Home app feels sloppy and is an issue that affects everything in the app. In the Nest Cam (battery) settings, you'll find generic device information at the top, followed by notifications. In this section you can change which notifications you receive, even with the ability to adjust the notifications according to the type of movement in the frame. The battery tab is also quite simple, with a simple percentage of the amount of juice in the battery and a switch to save battery.
For those in the Apple ecosystem, avoiding Google Home altogether would be a welcome option. Unfortunately, a major change from Nest 2021 cameras is that they don't allow you to access them from the previous Nest web portal, so there's no easy way to access them from your laptop. In addition, even if you liked the Google Home app, it can't control Nest Secure, so if you're all in Nest, you'll end up using two separate apps.
Although it was possible to recreate most of the features in the Starling Home Hub for free using Homebridge, it is currently not possible to add Nest 2021 rooms to Homebridge.
With the new Starling Home Hub firmware, you can now add these cameras to the HomeKit so you can create automations, monitor from the Home app, and access all of your devices, including Apple TV. For example, you can easily create an automation that, when one of the new battery-powered Nest cameras detects motion, turns on a HomeKit-compatible light.
If you already have the device, go to http://setup.starlinghome.io on your local network to start the upgrade or buy one directly from the developer for a one-time price of $ 89.
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