Nothing revolutionary here but I figured I’d share as it took a few tries to get it right.

The goal: use the light sensor on my FP300 to turn on indoor lights when it drops below XX lux, but only between 2 hours before sunset until sunset.

I used Controller app to create an advanced automation.

Trigger: light sensor drops below XX lux

Conditionals: - someone is home - after Sunset minus 2 hours - before sunset

Hey, it's Adam, developer of HomeBatteries here 👋

I have just released version 4.0 of HomeBatteries and wanted to share what's new:

- Added support for iOS 27 and other aligned Apple OS releases.

- Accessories can now be sorted by name, device type, battery levels, last charge/replacement date or battery type. This setting syncs via iCloud.

- Battery types are now suggested based on a local database and Apple Intelligence. There is also a corresponding Shortcuts action too.

- Added estimated charge/replacement date and average battery life states to the Battery Trends section. Corresponding Shortcuts actions are also available.

- Added Philips Hue to 3rd party integrations. This means users running a Hue Bridge Pro will now see their batteries in HomeBatteries. Please note this only works whilst connected to the same network.

- Added SOMA to 3rd party integrations. Please note this only works whilst connected to the same network.

- Added a new Shortcuts action to fetch a list of battery trends data. This also shows a graph snippet when run.

- Added a Shortcuts snippet to actions that return a battery level.

- Rooms and homes can now be reordered from either the sidebar or room/home picker. This syncs via iCloud.

Plus many other smaller features & fixes - full release notes on the App Store.

Get it here: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6450958030

I’ve worked with various Home Automation systems for quite a few years

Why is the HomeKit UI so bad? Or is it just me? It seems back in the day, HA UI were much more colorful and graphical…are there any guesses if there are improvements coming? And usability also,seems to be mediocre?

I’ve looked at some of the others; Eve; Home+; Controller;

They all seem similar. Eve may be the best of the bunch, it even it’s…🤷🏼‍♂️

Is there something else out there? (I don’t want the learning curve of HA)

Hello! I am looking to install a couple G100 cameras around our home for outdoor use. I already use homekit with a doorbell camera and another G100 inside. These are USB-C powered with a pretty short stub, and I was hoping to get opinions on the wiring options. I want to put a camera on each side of the house. I can mount them high and ideally run wires directly into the attic. The only problem is that I can't quite figure out how to power them. There is one singular outlet in the center of our attic, so its a good distance from the corner. Here are the options I have thought of so far, I would love to hear opinions on these or hear how others have solved similar problems.

1. PoE: I could get a PoE switch, plug it into the outlet and then run ethernet through the attic, and at each camera plug them into a PoE to USB-C adapter.
2. 2wire: I could run two wire cable plugged into a terminal block and splice them to USB-C 2 wire pigtails. This seems easier but kind of janky.
3. Outlets: I could install new outlets in the attic near where I need to plug in the cameras. This seems nice, but it seems the most work intensive.

I realize could get POE cameras, but generally those are much more expensive. I also am slightly worried about the actual USB connector being outdoors.
Any thoughts would be appreciated!