Starling Home Hub Now Integrates More Nest Devices Into HomeKit
California-based Starling, released their Starling Home Hub that works with Nest products, but will soon allow another of your Nest products to be exposed to Apple HomeKit via the latest update. With the latest update to their hub, the Starling Home Hub will link your Nest x Yale Lock into the Apple HomeKit ecosystem, by connecting Starling Home Hub to your Internet router. You can already also control your other Nest devices using Siri, the Apple Home app or any HomeKit-compatible app on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch.
According to Starling, the list of compatible devices in the Nest range include all models of Nest Thermostat, as well as the Nest Temperature Sensor, Nest Protect, Nest Cam Indoor/Outdoor/IQ, Nest Hello, Google Nest Hub Max and now the Nest × Yale Lock. The company do state that when you add these devices via their hub, the Home app will present the ‘This accessory is not HomeKit certified’. So essentially it would seem that the Starling Hub is a HomeBridge device on a Raspberry Pi (Nano Pi), specifically set to work with Nest products. Whilst this isn’t exactly a surprise, given that Nest products are part of Google’s own line of smart home range, it does allow people that already have a suite of Nest devices to add them to HomeKit as well as keep them tied to their Google Nest/Home/Assistant setup.
The company also mention the Nest Hello, the popular video doorbell. Whilst this device is competitively priced, at around US$200, if you were hoping to get a cheap HomeKit compatible doorbell this way, you still have to factor in the Starling Hub, at US$89, which brings the price to around the US$290-300 price point. Still not bad, but with the possibility of the Netatmo Doorbell rumoured to be retailing at around the same price, it may be prudent to buy something that is officially HomeKit compatible, unless you already have one of the Hello Doorbells course.
You can find more info on the Starling Hub at their website – starlinghome.io
Credit to Reddit user u/AC3xOFxSPADES for posting this on the HomeKit sub
https://www.starlinghome.io?wix-vod-video-id=5c727baae98a45c5a826be1b6274afe8&wix-vod-comp-id=comp-k2l44654
