Netatmo Weather Station Gets Apple HomeKit Support

Netatmo has announced that its Weather Station has been updated with Apple HomeKit support.

The company's Smart Home Weather Stations have had a MFi chip since their launch and support authentication by hardware; however, Weather Stations manufactured prior to October 2016 will not support HomeKit. This is due to insufficient flash memory and an overheating problem caused by the constant Wi-Fi connection needed for HomeKit.

In October 2016, Netatmo added more flash memory and moved the temperature and humidity sensors away from the Wi-Fi chip to limit the impact of heat on these measurements. So, if you've purchased your Weather Station within the last three years, you will get HomeKit support.


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What can you do with the Smart Home Weather Station thanks to the compatibility with Apple HomeKit?
Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa or Google Home clearly defined the categories of ‘Thermostat’, ‘Camera’ and ‘Light’. The Weather Station is unique in the world of the Smart Home and smart objects in general. A category of Smart Home Weather Stations does not exist. Apple HomeKit considers the Weather Station as an aggregation of multiple monitors, each represented by a service (for example, the ‘humidity’ service).

You can therefore check the indoor and outdoor humidity and temperature, indoor CO2 level, indoor air quality and also the battery level for each module via your Home app. Data from the Additional Indoor Modules, placed in the other rooms, is also displayed in the Home app. Data for your bathroom, bedroom, kitchen or cellar can therefore be viewed via the Home app. Data concerning noise, atmospheric pressure, wind and rain are not currently displayed in the Home app. Apple allows us to declare customised services but these are not visible in the Home app (for example, the ‘noise’ service).

You can ask Siri for the measurements displayed in the Home app. You just need to say: “Hey Siri, what’s the temperature on the balcony?” or “Hey Siri, what’s the CO2 level in the living room?” to get information about your environment using your voice.

You can use the automations available with HomeKit in the Home app to trigger a scenario if CO2 is detected or if the air quality becomes poor. If the CO2 level becomes too high, your Apple HomeKit compatible lights will switch on to alert you. Air quality is a more general notion. It takes into account temperature, humidity and air quality. For example, your Apple HomeKit compatible plugs will switch on the device they are connected to. The Home app does not currently allow you to create automations related to temperature and humidity because these services are not recognised as triggers.

This new compatibility allows the Station’s role to change from informant to actor. It goes from being a Smart Home Weather Station that gives you key information about the precise conditions of your environment in real time to being the heart of your smart home’s ecosystem. The Station’s multitude of measurements make it a key product for triggering automations based on your environment. Today, 5 sets of data from the Station can be used for these purposes. We hope that future updates of the Home app will allow the full potential of the Weather Station measurements to be used and we will do whatever is necessary for you to benefit from this.
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You can purchase the Netatmo Weather Station for $179.99 at the link below! Click here for more details on HomeKit compatibility.

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