HomeKit has many benefits to a home, but can often handle mounting products on the wall, over the door, or even when replacing a doorbell. However, there are many HomeKit projects that will work well in an apartment or house that you rent. Read on to find the best HomeKit products for homes and rentals.
HomeKit Weekly is a series that focuses on smart home accessories, tips and tricks on automation, and everything related to Apple's smart home framework.
August Smart Lock
An important advantage of the August Smart Lock is that you do not have to replace the outer part of the bolt. In an apartment complex, you can replace the inside of your castle with an August castle while the outside looks normal so your property manager doesn't get upset. If you move, it will take ten minutes to uninstall and replace the old latch. The August Smart Lock is one of my favorite HomeKit enabled devices.
If you've ever struggled to find your keys while carrying bags of groceries, you'll love the August Smart Lock's automatic unlocking feature. When you walk to the door it will automatically open for you to enter and re-lock a few minutes later. With its easy installation and dismantling, it's a perfect HomeKit product for homes. For more information on the benefits of August Smart Lock, check out my in-depth review.
eufy indoor camera
Outdoor cameras are not that convenient for apartments and rentals because you have to drill holes in the outside of the house. An excellent option for cameras would be to use one of eufy's indoor cameras aimed at your doors. Both it and the pan and tilt camera now support HomeKit Secure Video, so you can use your iCloud storage to store your recordings. Both cameras also support recording on an SD card. They plug into a standard AC power supply and can sit on a side table or bookcase, making them great HomeKit cameras for an apartment.
VOCOlinc outlet adapter
If you already have appliances that you want to enable HomeKit support with, check out the VOCOlinc socket adapters. With this product you can make a coffee pot “intelligent”, a lamp that can be controlled with a Homekit, or really anything that you want to control from your phone.
Sonos surround sound
If you want to create a “media room” without installing speakers in the ceiling, a Sonos system is an easy way to improve your audio quality without drilling holes. Start with something like the Sonos Beam and pair it with two Sonos SL speakers. With AirPlay 2 support, you can integrate it right into your Apple ecosystem and listen to Apple Music or Apple Podcasts.
Residence security system
I have been using Residence for my security system for six months. The installation would be ideal for a rental property or apartment. The iota base station doubles as a motion sensor and camera. The door sensors can be installed with glue so that they can be removed when moving. They can be fully controlled either via the stay app or the home app. I wrote an extensive review earlier this year. The base station can be operated via WLAN and has battery backup. Coupled with professional surveillance, it has LTE redundancy for monitoring when your internet goes down. It can be installed in minutes and uninstalled in minutes.
Pack the HomeKit for Apartments
As with any HomeKit home, you'll want to add an Apple TV or HomePod to remotely access your HomeKit setup. One of these devices acts as a HomeKit hub. Do you live in an apartment or a rental house and use HomeKit? What are some of your favorite ways to automate HomeKit?
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