When you finally start looking at home automation, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of technology, platforms, protocols, and marketing hype. The goal is to make sure that you spend money on equipment that will work together and continue to be supported in the future.
As of January 2021, there are three major platforms – Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit. There are probably hundreds of manufacturers who support some combination of these platforms. Personally, I use HomeKit with equipment from probably a dozen manufacturers.
There are several factors to consider when choosing your platform. For me the biggest two are privacy & security. This is why I chose HomeKit over Alexa or Google Home.
Privacy – The idea of a live mic in my house really creeps me out, so I won’t have a smart speaker in the house. All my apple devices are configured so I have to press a button to wake Siri. Additionally, the business models of both Amazon and Google are based on monetizing my personal data, either by selling products directly to me or selling ads placed in front of me. Apple’s business model is based on selling me hardware and services.
Security – Believe it or not, each and every one of those smart devices has a tiny computer aboard, with a WiFi chip. They are also each connected to the internet. Many of the internet attacks in the past few years have been run from armies of smart devices hacked into becoming bot-nets. One of the requirements for HomeKit devices is that they must use a unique password in order to prevent them from being hijacked this way.
Another factor to consider is your existing hardware. Nest is owned by Google. If you’ve already invested in Nest hardware, you can’t directly connect the Nest equipment to a HomeKit system. There are some bridges you can use, but it seems a bit kludgy to use a third-party system to get the security system to talk to the rest of the house. Some, but not all Nest devices can be currently connected to Alexa.
Whichever platform you use, you need a hub which never leaves the house. The hub is the brains of the operation which allows for automations and remote control when you’re not on the local WiFi.
Once you’ve settled on a platform, you may need to deal with different protocols. Protocols are the languages that the devices use to speak to each other. Some devices use bog standard Bluetooth or WiFi to communicate. The Hue lights from Philips and IKEA Smart home products use a protocol called Zigbee, so I have a Hue hub plugged into my wireless router. The Hue hub relays messages between the Hue lights and the WiFi devices which I use to control the house.
One of the benefits of Zigbee over WiFi for smart home purposes is that each Zigbee device becomes a node on a mesh network. While all your WiFi devices are connected just to the wireless access point, the Zigbee devices connect to each neighbor. Each new device makes the network more robust, up to a point. Too many devices on the network, and traffic starts to bog down. According to the folks at Philips, you can connect 50 devices to each hub.
Another one is Sonos. If you have multiple Sonos speakers on your network, they create their own SonosNet in order to keep the music in sync.
Zigbee and SonosNet are only two of many different network protocols that are used in the smart home space. Others include Z-Wave, Thread, and 6LoWPAN, among others. For the most part, you only need to worry about this if a device you’re looking at requires a hub.
Your smart home hub may support several protocols directly. The Apple HomePod Mini has Thread built in, but the full sized one doesn’t. Some Amazon Alexa speakers, but not all, have a built in Hue hub.
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