What You Need to Know to Start an Apple HomeKit Smart Home

Here is how to get your HomeKit smart home started, how to setup a HomePod mini and using it with the Home app. I also cover how to pick HomeKit devices, controlling your devices, creating scenes and automations. Even if you are an Android user, you can setup a HomePod mini and run your smart home from an iPad. After this video, you will be on your way to starting your Apple smart home. There are a lot more great HomeKit devices from Nanoleaf, Aqara, Meross and others.

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CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
00:31 What You Need
00:54 HomePod mini Setup
03:08 Using the Home app
06:46 Picking Smart Devices
09:04 Adding Devices
14:30 Controlling Devices
15:13 Creating a Scene
17:30 Writing Automations

#HomePodMini #HomeKit #Apple #SmartHome #CraigsTechTalk

[mikebedford]

Excellent video! For those of us just starting out it can be quite confusing and your video simplifies things to give you confidence. Thanks heaps and keep them coming

[Mbakwems]

Glad to have found ur channel. We r an apply family. Upgraded all lights to everything Philip Hues and using their app to control things. Now I can utilize this video to get going with my HomeKit. Thx 🙏

[javtimestwo]

Fantastic video. There are many novices out there who are intimidating by the tech but are also very invested in the Apple ecosystem. How you showed the ease of setting up and starting the HomeKit is refreshing. Keep up the great work 👏🏽

[BenjaminCutting]

My HomePod mini is on route and I’m a few weeks away from moving into my new flat - this is all gonna come in so handy. Thank you!

[myHomeKithome]

Oh man what a great video, Craig! If I had it to do all over again, I would definitely start with either an Apple TV 4K or HomePod mini, some Thread devices, and a very good Zigbee Hub. This really makes me think!

[pug_]

My first HomeKit related purchase was a HomePod Mini, followed by a couple of Nanoleaf Essentials bulbs. I’ve recently got a second Mini for another room. I’m loving Thread because the walls in my house are too thick to be Bluetooth friendly, and the Wi-Fi’s not fibre so would struggle with a lot of connected devices.

[chrisdeverill]

Excellent video and knowledge..Craig is the best

[dennisjulius_]

I’m relatively new to the smart home space, so if you actually wanted to start afresh with your smart home setups then that’ll be a great tutorial for me and other people that are starting from scratch.

[grahamrussell]

If you want to publish into HomeKit home assistant can put a lot of items into that echo system, I run this way as the return home automations are much faster.

[HisShadowX]

Yeah, I’m thinking of switching over myself. I have two Google home nest maxes with a ring camera and at this point HomeKit works just so well.

[mikejackson]

Great video! I am currently switching from Alexa to Apple Home. Still learning and searching for all the videos I can on how to and what to do. Learning that most of my current switches and plugs are not compatible with Apple Home so doing a lot of research on what I should buy and what I should stay away from. I have the HomePod Mini (2) and the Apple TV to start, now need to build the system. I am leaving some of the switches because they control lights that are on a set schedule, so that will save some money 😅.

[RobertoOrtis]

Hello Craig, excellent content! I just found about you yesterday and immediately subscribed to your channel.

I am about to convert my dumb home into an smart one and decided to go the homekit route. I have one question, i want to buy a 2021 Samsung tv, can i control it with hoobs bridge and does hoobs work with thread? I am a bit confused there. Or should I buy a tv that supports homekit natively?

[dennisjulius_]

“If you’re an android user” and then indirectly tells you that your android is useless in this situation 😂

[georgebrodie]

Craig just finished watching your video about how to setup your home with the Apple home hub and software. I see that you have to scan the QR code on each item so than I guess if I want to add my ring security system I have to scan every sensor and cameras or could I scan just the base station and would it recognize all my sensors and cameras attached to the base station. And I guess the most important question is this would work with ring. Thanks for your help.

[HylianHero]

I'm moving houses right now and starting a smart home completely from scratch. I'm really considering switching everything over from Alexa to Homekit because of all the nice features it has.

[scottyd]

I have just bought an Apple TV and got to thinking that, hey Apple do good products, wouldn’t it be good to switch from our 6 Google Home Speakers to Apple, since the Google devices have given me so much pain and frustration over the years. We had our outside light switches connected so that might prove difficult to bring over to Apple, but we could keep one Google device, no big deal. Hey thanks for the video. You sold me!

[forangelok]

Hi Craig!!! Had to do it had to go it!!! I want a smart home…so I got an HomePod mini to start !!!
my husband is a Siri and smart home hater hater! Had an echo but he never wanted me to set it up!!!
He is scared that we could be spyed in some way!!! He puts Wi-Fi off every night… so I have a big battle waiting for me!
But as soon as he sees what the HomePod mini can do especially the intercom function I’m sure he will change idea… I hope! We have a teen in the house so we yell all the time… or when we are out and he is at home he never answers his phone .. do the interphone will be a good help!!! Worth every dollar even if we used it just for that 😂😂😂😂… we’ll have iPhones…

[misstubbie]

Little by little I have faded out almost all my Meross products and replaced them either with Philips Hue or Lutron dimmers. I’m much happier. Yes those are more expensive but worth it. The constant disconnecting issues of the Meross gave me enough headaches. My three Meross smart plugs are now three very nice paper weights. How I’ve been wanting to try Aqara but the brand doesn’t ship to my country 🥺 I’ve found a few devices on my local Amazon but at double the US price. Crazy. Im now at my 4th HomePod mini. I love them but they do have some occasional issues like “I have problems connecting to the internet” stuff. They work fine 95% of the time.

[DuckingAround]

Really good video. Anyway I can integrate my Ring cameras into home ?

[mikebedford]

Hi Craig I’m a new user and only have a few nano leaf globes at this stage. We are about to move to a new house and so I will disconnect and reconnect the globes. I read somewhere that this can be a problem as you need to re-scan etc? Is there anything I need to be careful of? Thanks again and keep up the great work it’s really informative and helpful