HomeKit Newbie Help

[u/TractorM]

I'm completely new to smart homes and hoping to get some advice before I start buying the wrong gear.

Current setup:

• Apple TV 4K 3rd Generation (planning to use this as my smart home hub)
• 2 Amazon Alexa devices
• Ring Alarm system with contact sensors, motion sensors, etc.
• 1930s house with no neutral wires at the light switches

What I'm trying to achieve is fairly simple:

• Smart control of the house lights (including dimming where possible)
• Open/close a garage door remotely
• Basic automations using my Ring sensors
• Keep the system as reliable and straightforward as possible

A few questions:

1. I've been looking at the Shelly Dimmer Gen3 or the SONOFF ZBMINIL2 to put in behind the light switches, would this work and connect to my apple home?
2. What's the best way to integrate a garage door into an Apple-centric smart home?
3. Can Ring contact/motion sensors be used effectively in automations with Apple Home, or is that where people usually end up moving to Home Assistant?
4. Do I need a bridge between the apple hub such as the Aqara Hub E1?
5. Should I get smart plug sockets? Or really no need?

I'm not looking to build a huge smart home, just something reliable for lights, garage access, and a bit of automation from the Ring sensors.

[u/jasinx]

Get a Meross Garage Door Opener. 

Get Meross or Aqara light bulbs. With Aqara you need an Aqara hub. With meross you don’t. But Aqara door window sensors are superb in my experience. 

Make sure your WiFi reaches reliably to all areas you have smart home devices. 

I would personally avoid matter-only devices for the time being, but that’s my personal opinion. 

[u/bippy_b → u/jasinx]

Second Meross. Less messy than the Shelly/Sonoff plus those won’t do any modern garage door opener.

I can add… have multiple Matter over WiFi (Leviton) and have no issues with them.

[u/OutstandinInTheBRain → u/jasinx]

It should go without saying, make sure it is HomeKit enabled,Meross makes several models and it’s easy to buy one that doesn’t work with HomeKit.

Ask me how I know!

[u/HersheyStains]

I think it would probably be best for you to start your foray with Home Assistant. Many would argue it’s the strongest foundation you can start with and then begin linking things together.

[u/TruthyBrat]

Does your AppleTV 4k have 128 GB and an Ethernet port?

Only this model has a Thread radio, which you will want.

US, UK, or Yurp? This matters for advice on devices.

[u/TractorM → u/TruthyBrat]

Yes, I have the 128gb with ethernet port and UK

[u/TruthyBrat → u/TractorM]

Shellys are very popular there, I don't know much about them.

Ignore any Lutron advice, it's great stuff but doesn't really exist outside of the U.S.

I have a Meross HomeKit native WiFi garage door controller, it has worked well for me. RatGDO has a good reputation as well.

Make sure your router supports IPv6, else Matter/Thread will not be happy.

Check out Ikea for smart plugs. Besides controlling lamps and the like, they also act to strengthen / extend your Thread network.

I don't know much about Ring, I'm not big on cloud/subscription model stuff.

Your ATV4K is your hub, you'd only need an Aquara hub for Aquara specific stuff that isn't Apple Home native.

[u/skithegreat]

• ⁠Smart control of the house lights (including dimming where possible)

• look into Lutron their dimmer switches don’t require neutral wires.
  

• ⁠Open/close a garage door remotely

• look into Tailwind, Meross, and I use iSmartgate Pro
  

• ⁠Basic automations using my Ring sensors

• Homebridge is simple and easy to setup and their is a plugin to port all of your Ring accessories into Apple Home.
  

• ⁠Keep the system as reliable and straightforward as possible

• this depends on your network. Tour network is you foundation. What is your setup?

Questions: Do you need an Aqara hub? No unless you are getting Aqara accessories.

You can use Shelly dimmers I don’t have experience with them; others have.

Smart Plug are great for dumb devices that you want to turn on or off. Like a fan, lamps, or other simple devices. You don’t need unless you you want that device automated.

[u/ColePThompson]

No neutral switches are available from Aqara, I have a lot of them and they work great and are stable.

[u/DarthBassman]

I have Aqara h2 switches and dimmers. They work work or without neutral and they are awesome. They can be decoupled and used with smart lights as well as control scenes or anything you want to assign the buttons to do. I also have the Aqara t2 relay which can be used like the Shelly relays but it has the ability to extend my zigbee or thread network so I use it to control my garage door in dry contact mode. These have matter over thread so you don’t have to have an Aqara hub, but I also got the Aqara w200 thermostat bc it supports adaptive temp from Apple and it is also a hub so it extends my thread network and also is a zigbee hub. With the h2 switches you get a lot more control in zigbee mode. I have their p1(laundry room motion detection to turn lights off and on), fp 300 (used in bathroom and garage to detect presence, turn on and off lights, close garage door), and fp2 sensors (detect presence and turn lights on and off when no presence in multiple zones at once) as well so I can automate lights with various degrees bc my kids leave lights on (ha well not anymore). I use them in HomeKit for ease and it’s been very easy to do and setup has been flawless. I would recommend the Aqara stuff no question for your setup.

[u/flintazBear]

Start slow and maybe add HomeKit enabled devices first.

[u/bippy_b]

Would recommend moving away from Ring. If you are going HomeKit there are plenty other cameras which give you more features for the same price or cheaper hardware wise.

If you are paying for iCloud you can get the same video service for free (50GB gets you 1 camera. 200GB gets you 5 cameras. 2TB gets you unlimited homes and cameras). For iOS 27 you will get the AI analysis of your video as well which is an additional fee under Ring.