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Get Siri to control your smart home

While Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home tend to be the first options that spring to mind for anyone setting up their smart home, Apple’s HomeKit is is worth considering if you own an Apple product or two. Already have an iPhone or iPad? It makes sense to go with Apple and its Siri voice assistant for all your connected home gadgets too.

There are a few pros and cons to the system but we use it ourselves for its straightforward integration with Apple gizmos. The smart home platform itself is baked into the phone you already own, so it couldn’t be easier to get started. You can simply add items like smart light bulbs or plugs to your home setup, and include a smart speaker through Apple’s HomePod or a streaming device like the Apple TV. Either of these can act as a “home hub”, enabling you to command and automate your home while you’re away.

The selection of accessories on the market that work with Apple's HomeKit may be a little more limited than Alexa and Google, but as you’ll see from our list, there are more than enough options at a range of prices. And, with this platform, you get a lot of functionality and ease of use to go along with the expected focus on privacy and security (more on that below).

Here are our picks for the best HomeKit devices you can buy in 2022:

We test out all the latest smart devices that work with HomeKit by adding them to our own home framework and setting up integrations and automations. Whether we’re trying doorbells, lights, plugs or security cameras, we use them just like you do and keep track of our experiences during testing. We also thoroughly investigate each category, and our list of the best HomeKit devices below is a mix of our hands-on tests and rigorous research.

Unlike Google and Amazon, Apple currently only sells one smart speaker, having discontinued the bigger HomePod last year. The diminutive HomePod mini may be small but there are a lot of features packed into this smart device. When it comes to audio quality, this produces a room-filling sound that matches its Echo and Nest rivals, and it gives you hands-free Siri access and acts as a hub for your other smart home devices.

• Connections: Connects directly to wifi • Power supply: Mains power • Dimensions: 9.79 x 9.79 x 8.43 cm • Weight: 345 g

It’s a little bulky, comparatively, but this plug won’t obscure neighbouring sockets and gives you loads of data on how much energy you’re using through the outlet. We connected it to an extension cord powering our TV, games console, soundbar and Blu-ray player, and then set it up so that we could monitor energy usage and switch them all off in one go. The whole process is seamless and we had it working in minutes.

• Connections: Connects directly to wifi, requires a HomeKit hub for control while you’re away from home • Power supply: Mains power • Dimensions: ‎7.1 x 7.2 x 7.2 cm • Weight: 158 g

After a cheaper smart plug that’s just as effective? You miss out on the energy monitoring features with the Meross plug but gain a much smaller form factor. It’s just as simple to set up and we use ours to control salt lamps that won’t fit a smart bulb.

• Connections: Connects directly to wifi, requires a HomeKit hub for control while you’re away from home • Power supply: Mains power • Dimensions: 6.2 x 5 x 5.5 cm • Weight: 100 g

Sometimes you have a few devices in the same corner of a room and want to make them all more connected. What you need is a smart power strip. This one has four outlets so that you can control up to four appliances (like a fan, a lamp, a security camera and a wireless charger, for example), four extra USB slots for charging phones and a 1.83-metre long cord so you can put it wherever you like.

• Connections: Connects directly to wifi, requires a HomeKit hub for control while you’re away from home • Power supply: Mains power • Dimensions: 27.94 x 6.1 x 2.79 cm • Weight: 630 g

The Nanoleaf bulb is hands down the best bulb you can buy for HomeKit in 2022. It comes with all the latest connectivity and reliability upgrades, an exceptional 1,100 lumens of brightness, millions of colours, and clever “HomeKit Adaptive Lighting” that adjusts the temperature of your smart lights throughout the day. It’s pretty affordable at £17.99 per bulb, but if you’re on a budget we’d recommend going with the Meross below.

• Connections: Connects directly to wifi, requires a HomeKit hub for control while you’re away from home • Dimensions: 11.1 x 6.1 x 4.4 cm • Weight: 110 g

If you’re looking to set the ambience at home without spending a lot, it’s worth picking up a few of these budget Meross bulbs. They’re much cheaper than rivals and while they lack some of the latest tech for responsiveness, we found them more than speedy enough in our setup. They get bright and can reproduce a wide range of colours too.

• Connections: Connects directly to wifi, requires a HomeKit hub for control while you’re away from home • Dimensions: 11.5 x 6 x 6 cm • Weight: 100 g

One of the most powerful streaming devices around, this is an excellent way to get all your online video services in one place, and showing in the highest quality on your telly. It’s ideal if you’re already on Apple’s systems, as it can connect to your photos, you can cast from your phone, and you’ll have your existing movie and TV shows purchases ready for you too. Beyond this, and like the HomePod above, the Apple TV 4K also acts as a hub or control centre for all your smart devices at home.

• Connections: Connects directly to wifi • Power supply: Mains power • Dimensions: 13.5 x 16.3 x 6.6 cm • Weight: 425 g

The reliable Eve Cam is our top pick for an indoor security monitor that lives within HomeKit. Ideal for your hallway or living room, this works with HomeKit Secure Video, which uses your existing iCloud storage plan to keep recordings each time it notices movement in its field of view. We set it up to watch over our front door, and found it was super quick to deliver motion alerts (it can identify people, animals, vehicles and packages) and we liked how we could set it to look at only a specific zone and integrate into our home automations.

• Connections: Connects directly to wifi, requires a HomeKit hub for control while you’re away from home • Power supply: Mains power • Dimensions: 6 x 6.5 x 12.2 cm • Weight: 48g

When it comes to a video doorbell that keeps an eye on your front door, we think this Netatmo option is best for its HomeKit integration and how you can control it via Siri. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have HomeKit Secure Video like the indoor camera above (Logitech’s Circle View is the only doorbell with it, and it’s not yet available in the UK), so you have to check recorded videos via its app. However, it can use your HomePod as a chime and it streams to your Apple TV too.

• Connections: Connects directly to wifi • Power supply: Connects to existing doorbell wiring • Dimensions: 13.5 x 4.5 x 2.9 cm • Weight: 173 g

Door and window sensors are often a key part of a smart burglar alarm setup, but you could also pick up one of these individual contact sensors to let you know when your front door is open or closed. Ideal if you’re not setting up a full-on security system or live in a smaller flat, we use ours for the peace of mind you get from knowing the door is closed while you’re out. It’s super reliable and fast to send notifications. You can also use it to trigger an automation such as turning on the lights in the hallway when the door opens in the evening.

• Connections: Connects directly to wifi, requires a HomeKit hub for control while you’re away from home • Power supply: Replaceable ER14250 lithium metal battery (included) • Dimensions: 5.2 x 2.4 x 2.3 cm / 1.8 x 1.8 x 0.8 to 2.3 cm • Weight: 15 g

For those that do want a complete home security system that connects to HomeKit, this is the way to go. With the Abode starter kit, you get a motion sensor, a pair of door and window sensors, a hub with a siren, and a keyfob. With a monthly subscription (starting at £7.99) you’ll get more out of it too, including alerts, smart home integrations (with brands like Yale and Philips Hue) and unlimited users. Opt for the top tier plan (£13.99 a month) and you get a 4G backup that’ll keep sending alerts even if your wifi fails.

• Connections: Connects to wifi through its hub, which comes with this kit • Power supply: Mains power and batteries • Dimensions: 19.55 x 14.47 x 4.31 cm (for just the hub) • Weight: 0.77 kg (for just the hub)

Want to get started up with some smart lights without screwing in any new bulbs? Opt for a smart lamp like this that connects straight to your wifi, changes colours, and can fit into your scenes and automations. Meross is known for some of the best affordable HomeKit-compatible devices on the market, and this is no exception. We found it easy to control with the rest of our home, and easy to integrate into our custom scenes for movie nights and waking up in the morning.

• Connections: Connects directly to wifi, requires a HomeKit hub for control while you're away from home • Power supply: Mains power • Dimensions: 9.91 x 9.91 x 19.56 cm • Weight: 450 g

Every smart home platform delivers a similar level of security, with data encrypted and every device for the HomeKit system approved by Apple. While Apple has a reputation for security, it’s safe to say that in 2022, all three major smart home platforms have a similar level of user protection. How exactly does Apple say that it is more secure? Well, its encryption occurs between your connected devices on your home wifi network, rather than in the cloud. This is why you need a HomeKit hub to control devices when you’re away from home, because the hub will encrypt your data before it ever gets sent to Apple’s cloud. This means data won’t be exposed to even Apple employees.

It’s also worth knowing about HomeKit Secure Video (HKSV), which uses your iCloud storage plan to provide a secure view of live streams and recorded clips through compatible security products like video doorbells and home security cameras. HKSV means your recorded video clips aren’t sent to the cloud for analysis, they’re instead analysed by your home hub (whether that’s an iPad, HomePod or Apple TV) and then sent to iCloud. Brands including Eufy, Eve and Netatmo offer cameras that support HKSV.

Because your HomeKit setup runs on your local wifi network, it’s essential that you add a hub if you want to control your devices while you’re out and about. Without one, you can still control all your devices through the Home app, but they won’t respond when you’re not on your personal network. There are just three devices that work as a hub, the now discontinued original HomePod, the HomePod mini, or an Apple TV (3rd generation or later). It has previously been possible to use an iPad as a hub if you left one at home, but this functionality is due to be removed with the upcoming iOS 16 software update.

We’ve included several products that work with HomeKit on our list but it is worth noting that smart home platforms like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home both offer a wider range of compatible devices at the moment. Products that work with HomeKit include smart plugs, bulbs and lighting systems, video doorbells and security kit, sensors, thermostats, routers, locks and more. There aren’t many categories without HomeKit-compatible products, although robot vacuums are still not yet supported by the platform.

It is also worth noting that some of the biggest news in the smart home world is “Matter”, a new connection standard that will mean less worrying about whether products are compatible with your assistant of choice. Matter is being developed by Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung and others. Anything that works on Matter will work across all the platforms involved in the initiative.