Hi, my name is @[email protected] and I am a HomeKit user.
My draw to HomeKit is the ecosystem, and its ease of use for me and for my kids (we are all iOS users).
I have been reading about the differences between both Home Assistant (HA) and HomeKit (HK), and I do like the idea of having more control over everything, and exponentially more devices available to me through HA.
In fact, what inspired my research is to look for an alternative to myQ for my garage door opener. And while I have found ratgdo that can do everything myQ can do, and more, it’s my basic understanding that HK support is not as great as HA.
I do understand that to use HA, I will need something to use as a dedicated hub; I have a few Pis running in my house already that I could easily make into a dedicated hub. So that’s not an issue.
I am also tech savvy, but I do not wish to spend all of my waking hours tweaking things. More importantly, I want to know if my kids can easily use HA devices without them having to be tech savvy.
Can HA be set up in a way that my kids can just point and click using apps on their devices? Can anybody help show me (screenshots, videos) what that might look like?
Thank you in advance.
Never touched HK but a buddy of mine uses it only. AFAIK HK compatibility is expensive compared to cheap HA integrations. Even hardware not specifically for HA can be integrated like Tuya products with “local Tuya” so the availability is huge compared to HK. Getting into HA takes a bit time but it’s worth it.
There is an HA app on android and iOS where you can create widgets for all kind off stuff ranging from switches over sensors to scenes and automations. Or you can create multiple dashboards for each kid with their own layout.
It’s at least worth a try.