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I too have noticed a serious decline in the software reliability of my smart-home devices that went away after replacing them with newer models. I don't know if the software support for older models gradually winds down and atrophies or if some component starts to degrade causing things like wireless signal degradation (which would definitely result in poor connections and high latency). Does anyone have some insight here? I'm sure we have people from the IoT space here.

Same thing here. I dumped Alexa stuff 4ish years ago for Google Home devices and its become somewhat of a let down. They really don't seem to have anything new while Amazon keeps releasing new displays/speakers.

My Nest Hub Max will only show the camera in the old Nest app while it never loads in the Google Home app.

I'm thinking I may have to try something else in the near future.

I have a mixed Google/Apple smart home environment. I don't know how fast Nest was before, but I find it slow-but-not-unusable nowadays, still useful enough that I wish Apple would introduce a HomePod with a screen. That said, I also wish Google would finally kill Nest and just go forward with Google Home, since it's a pain to have to remember which one configures some of my devices and which does the rest.

Apple needs hardware partners to more deeply invest in HomeKit, particularly in the camera space. It's coming along but still feels behind. A compatible camera (or one bridged to HomeKit) will show up on the AppleTV pretty quickly. The official HomeKit devices I have work consistently and well, and the ones I bridge in with HomeBridge work most of the time without intervention. It is super cool to ask Siri to open the garage door when I'm walking the dog and it's cold out. I would say it's viable, if not improving all the time.

> Apple needs hardware partners to more deeply invest in HomeKit

I think Apple themselves need to invest in it more. It's so basic as to be almost unusable.

I have a supercomputer in the form of Apple TV just idling there, and the best HomeKit can barely do is perhaps turn lights on at a certain time, and then complain that it couldn't reach Apple TV.

I dont have any cameras but have about 7 Google home items for years and have had no issues. I many use them for assistant which runs circles around competition and routines such as turning off/on lights when it senses I'm home or have left. If assistant is a main use for you I wouldn't switch.

We have the original HomePod. The sound quality really has been great and would be even better with stereo pairing. Even HomePod minis with stereo pairing feel very immersive. We got minis for the kids rooms because those were the only ones with privacy controls I was ok with.

We also extensively use HomeKit for all our smart home devices and a huge reason was the privacy, vs Ring and Google.

So the video doorbell we have is entirely local and so sarhad worked really well (logitech). And I like how it’s end to end encrypted so nobody gets access to our video feeds. Plus the chime is the HomePod itself.

As usual though, Siri sucks. Just… sucks. so that’s always the weakest link.

I played with a cheap wifi camera vs an actual wired (network) cctv camera. The difference is night and day, even just viewing the stream in VLC. Speed, stability etc. "Consumer" stuff just feels underpowered and little more than a toy.

I hope matter brings a better landscape for all this stuff - but then I have been sitting on my hands waiting for years as the next version of everything is just 12 months away.

Matter might be the thing you've been waiting for.

I only have 3 light switches in my apartment, but I made sure they had Matter support.

Matter is certainly taking its time coming into existence!

You're right.

The switches I bought with Matter support are from Eve. Previously the Eve devices have only been supported through their own app on iOS, and that was the only reason to be able to read the kWh usage.

I hope the Matter support will let me access it from my other devices.

My fear of mission out is being overridden by my fear of buying the obsolete technology at an inflated price a week before they start making the good version that actually works!

I'm holding out to see if Matter fills the gaps I see in Apple Home. I have too many devices that are not supported in Apple Home. Many of which are not easily replaced, such as an appliance.