HomeKit Nest HomeKit Support

[DNichter]

I have a Nest Thermometer and I am hoping that they will bring HomeKit support it with the release of iOS 11.3. I spoke with a Nest rep and she said that they are planning for a release of HomeKit support "soon" due to high demand from the Nest community. Now I am taking this with a grain of salt, but has anyone else heard this as well? Also, is there another way to get HomeKit support for Nest products aside from coming from Nest directly? I had heard of a bridge or whatever, but know nothing about it or how hard it is.

Thanks

 

[BillGates1969]

Hello

I, and a lot of people on here use HomeBridge:

https://github.com/nfarina/homebridge

It looks scarier than it is and works really well. It brings not only Nest, but things like Wemo, TPLink, Sonoff, MQTT etc to HomeKit. I run mine off a Raspberry Pi - very simple to set up and very robust.

Give it a go, there are plenty on here that can help if you get stuck.

 

[bigjnyc]

probably not going to happen natively since google owns nest. They've been saying coming soon for a long time now. It's just like amazon said they will continue plans to add Ring doorbell to homekit after they bought them.... I'm sure that's another that's going to forever be "coming soon"

 

[DNichter]

probably not going to happen natively since google owns nest. They've been saying coming soon for a long time now. It's just like amazon said they will continue plans to add Ring doorbell to homekit after they bought them.... I'm sure that's another that's going to forever be "coming soon"

It’s frustrating because it doesn’t make a ton of sense to keep it out. All you are doing is limiting your available market. I think it does come at some point, but you could certainly be right.
[doublepost=1523121601][/doublepost]

Hello

I, and a lot of people on here use HomeBridge:

https://github.com/nfarina/homebridge

It looks scarier than it is and works really well. It brings not only Nest, but things like Wemo, TPLink, Sonoff, MQTT etc to HomeKit. I run mine off a Raspberry Pi - very simple to set up and very robust.

Give it a go, there are plenty on here that can help if you get stuck.

Thanks! I haven’t done a ton of research on this, but it seems a bit daunting at first look. I will review further and see if it makes sense. Probably more work than reward for what you end up with. I may just wait until HomeKit support is added or switch to an Ecobee and sell mine.

 

[BillGates1969]

Thanks! I haven’t done a ton of research on this, but it seems a bit daunting at first look. I will review further and see if it makes sense. Probably more work than reward for what you end up with. I may just wait until HomeKit support is added or switch to an Ecobee and sell mine.

it does look daunting, but is relatively easy to set up. £30 Raspberry Pi and SD card is all that is needed and probably an hour to set up. It is well documented on the web, and as I say it brings other stuff into HomeKit that you wouldn't normally have (TPLink, Belkin WeMo, Netatmo Weather, Sonoff, Xiaomi, Yeelight, Ikea lights etc).

Once installed it just stays working and I have had mine for well over a year with no issues.

 

[maflynn]

It’s frustrating because it doesn’t make a ton of sense to keep it out

Businesses do this all the time, Amazon doesn't sell nest products. Apple doesn't provide native support to Spotify. Google and Apple are competitors on a number of levels so while I can understand the angst, its more of a business decision to not drive business to iOS.

 

[DNichter]

it does look daunting, but is relatively easy to set up. £30 Raspberry Pi and SD card is all that is needed and probably an hour to set up. It is well documented on the web, and as I say it brings other stuff into HomeKit that you wouldn't normally have (TPLink, Belkin WeMo, Netatmo Weather, Sonoff, Xiaomi, Yeelight, Ikea lights etc).

Once installed it just stays working and I have had mine for well over a year with no issues.

I am going to give it a shot, any suggesting on the Pi? Are there different brands, etc? I know nothing haha.
[doublepost=1523362830][/doublepost]

Businesses do this all the time, Amazon doesn't sell nest products. Apple doesn't provide native support to Spotify. Google and Apple are competitors on a number of levels so while I can understand the angst, its more of a business decision to not drive business to iOS.

Yea I understand that, just think it's ultimately a dumb move. From what I have seen, it actually drives business away from their product.

 

[Weaselboy]

I am going to give it a shot, any suggesting on the Pi? Are there different brands, etc? I know nothing haha.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LWVVMUI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'm late to the party, but I'm also using Homebridge with a Pi like @BillGates1969 described and it works quite well. Once you get it setup, the devices just show up in the Home app and work like any other Homekit device.

I bought the Pi kit linked above from Amazon that includes everything you need.

 

[DNichter]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LWVVMUI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'm late to the party, but I'm also using Homebridge with a Pi like @BillGates1969 described and it works quite well. Once you get it setup, the devices just show up in the Home app and work like any other Homekit device.

I bought the Pi kit linked above from Amazon that includes everything you need.

So you buy this, set it up, and essentially add HomeBridge software to it and it acts as a hub for all devices?

 

[Weaselboy]

So you buy this, set it up, and essentially add HomeBridge software to it and it acts as a hub for all devices?

Yes.... that is the basics of it. Once you install Homebridge you scan this QR code (see my screenshot) with your phone and that adds the Homebridge server to your Home app. Then you install Homebridge plugins to add devices to the Homebridge server. As you add device plugins, those devices just show up in the Home app on their own.

The only issue is you need to have a plugin for the device. You can see all the plugins here.

https://www.npmjs.com/search?q=keywords:homebridge-plugin

 

[DNichter]

Yes.... that is the basics of it. Once you install Homebridge you scan this QR code (see my screenshot) with your phone and that adds the Homebridge server to your Home app. Then you install Homebridge plugins to add devices to the Homebridge server. As you add device plugins, those devices just show up in the Home app on their own.

The only issue is you need to have a plugin for the device. You can see all the plugins here.

https://www.npmjs.com/search?q=keywords:homebridge-plugin

View attachment 757679

Awesome, really appreciate the help. I am sure I can figure it out with your guidance, but I just have zero experience in this area.

Edit: One last thing, I don't own a traditional computer. I only have an iPad and iPhone. Do you feel this will be a challenge to get set up?

 

[Weaselboy]

Edit: One last thing, I don't own a traditional computer. I only have an iPad and iPhone. Do you feel this will be a challenge to get set up?

Hmm... I think it could be done, but honestly I believe it would be a real hassle, particularly if this is new to you.

What you could do is install an SSH app on the iPad, then login to the Pi from that app and setup the Pi and Homebridge that way... but I think it would be painful for a newb.

Once you got it all configured I don't think it would be too bad to administer over SSH on an iPad, but I think the initial setup would be rough.

Maybe we can get @BillGates1969 input here also.

 

[DNichter]

Hmm... I think it could be done, but honestly I believe it would be a real hassle, particularly if this is new to you.

What you could do is install an SSH app on the iPad, then login to the Pi from that app and setup the Pi and Homebridge that way... but I think it would be painful for a newb.

Once you got it all configured I don't think it would be too bad to administer over SSH on an iPad, but I think the initial setup would be rough.

Maybe we can get @BillGates1969 input here also.

I would certainly give it a try, but I can borrow another computer worst case. Really appreciate the help so far.

 

[BillGates1969]

Hmm... I think it could be done, but honestly I believe it would be a real hassle, particularly if this is new to you.

What you could do is install an SSH app on the iPad, then login to the Pi from that app and setup the Pi and Homebridge that way... but I think it would be painful for a newb.

Once you got it all configured I don't think it would be too bad to administer over SSH on an iPad, but I think the initial setup would be rough.

Maybe we can get @BillGates1969 input here also.

Yep, once you have SSH access to the Pi, you can do it all from a terminal from an iPad - I use an app called terminus of the iPad. It is easier on a mac or PC, but still doable.

BTW @Weaselboy where did you get that status page for HomeBridge? I use a Node Red dashboard for all my Pis and network stuff, but that is quite cool.

 

[DNichter]

Yep, once you have SSH access to the Pi, you can do it all from a terminal from an iPad - I use an app called terminus of the iPad. It is easier on a mac or PC, but still doable.

BTW @Weaselboy where did you get that status page for HomeBridge? I use a Node Red dashboard for all my Pis and network stuff, but that is quite cool.

Awesome, I will check out that app.

 

[BillGates1969]

Awesome, I will check out that app.

The important thing on the Pi is that when you copy the image over to the SD card (you will need a computer for that bit) is to just drop a file called 'ssh' onto the root of the card. This will enable SSH access to the Pi when it boots for the first time as it is disabled by default. You can also drop a file to configure the Wi-Fi, let me know if you are going this way and I will post an example for you to see - or PM me and we'll go through it.

 

[Weaselboy]

BTW @Weaselboy where did you get that status page for HomeBridge? I use a Node Red dashboard for all my Pis and network stuff, but that is quite cool.

When I setup Homebridge for the first time a couple weeks ago it included this plugin that gave me that admin page I showed at http://192.168.1.201:8080 (use your own Pi's IP of course). You can use that same page to manage plugins and the config file... so everything can be done without the command line if you want.

I have not tried it, but I'm thinking this may also work using Safari from an iPad.

https://www.npmjs.com/package/homebridge-config-ui-x
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but I can borrow another computer worst case.

If you can, that would be the way to go. There is an app called Etcher that makes setup very easy.

https://etcher.io

 

[BillGates1969]

When I setup Homebridge for the first time a couple weeks ago it included this plugin that gave me that admin page I showed at http://192.168.1.201:8080 (use your own Pi's IP of course). You can use that same page to manage plugins and the config file... so everything can be done without the command line if you want.

I have not tried it, but I'm thinking this may also work using Safari from an iPad.

https://www.npmjs.com/package/homebridge-config-ui-x
[doublepost=1523374506][/doublepost]
If you can, that would be the way to go. There is an app called Etcher that makes setup very easy.

https://etcher.io

+1 on Etcher. Use it all the time.

 

[Jamie0003]

Homebridge sounds great, and I really want to expand my HomeKit stuff. A question I do have; is there a way of getting hue bulbs to work without having the hue bridge? I have all the hardware, but where my router is situated (In my hallway) the extra hardware takes up way too much space, and would love to have a better solution. It's a huge mess of wires currently.

 

[Weaselboy]

A question I do have; is there a way of getting hue bulbs to work without having the hue bridge?

Nope... you have to use the bridge. I wish they would make a wifi model for the reason you mentioned.

 

[Jamie0003]

Nope... you have to use the bridge. I wish they would make a wifi model for the reason you mentioned.

That's a shame. Yeah, I also don't like having to use bridges in general as it just means more complications, points of failure and extra hardware cluttering up the place.

 

[cynics]

There is about 1400 dollars in Nest products I would order right now if they offered quality HomeKit support.

If there affiliation with Google is the reason for not supporting HomeKit the people in charge need their heads checked.

Aside from going the Pi route my options are to wait for one of their competitors to offer a HomeKit option instead of giving Nest (and maybe Google to some extent) a lot of money plus a subscription to their cloud. Cutting off the nose to spite the face defined.

There IQ cam ticks all the boxes except HomeKit which is currently one of my most important.

Sorry this wasn’t helpful for this thread just venting.

 

[DNichter]

Alright so I am looking for some help here. I installed Homebridge on my QNAP NAS last night and it is showing up in my Home.app no problem. Now I am getting stuck adding the Nest Plugin. I don't know anything about SSH'ing or using a terminal or anything like that. Is there any easy way to get the plugin working? It is set up using a container on my NAS. Any guidance or ideas are appreciated. I have all of the keys and codes needed from Nest.
[doublepost=1523622247][/doublepost]This is what it looks like below. I can hit one of the buttons below and it brings up a terminal for the container, but I think I need to do some editing of the "config" file. I have a set of files set up with the homebridge, but none of it looks familiar. I clearly have no idea haha.

 

[willydimes]

Alright so I am looking for some help here. I installed Homebridge on my QNAP NAS last night and it is showing up in my Home.app no problem. Now I am getting stuck adding the Nest Plugin. I don't know anything about SSH'ing or using a terminal or anything like that. Is there any easy way to get the plugin working? It is set up using a container on my NAS. Any guidance or ideas are appreciated. I have all of the keys and codes needed from Nest.
[doublepost=1523622247][/doublepost]This is what it looks like below. I can hit one of the buttons below and it brings up a terminal for the container, but I think I need to do some editing of the "config" file. I have a set of files set up with the homebridge, but none of it looks familiar. I clearly have no idea haha.

View attachment 758122

How to connect incompatible accessories to HomeKit using Homebridge | iMore

I used this to set up a tp link and a sensibo. There are two parts, installing the plug in and then editing the configuration profile to include the accessory.

 

[DNichter]

How to connect incompatible accessories to HomeKit using Homebridge | iMore

I used this to set up a tp link and a sensibo. There are two parts, installing the plug in and then editing the configuration profile to include the accessory.

Thanks for this. I actually went a different route and bought a Pi, that I set up last night. I was using the Homebridge app on iOS to get it going, but running into issues there. I need to do more research on my end for getting the Pi working.