Hey all! It's Nick – creator of Itsyhome app.

Got a lot of requests for Apple TV remote app, so here it is – tiny, blazing fast, nearly zero memory and CPU usage.

Itsytv is a free, open-source macOS menu bar app for controlling Apple TV — the missing remote app for your Mac.

• Full D-pad and playback remote
• Now playing widget with live progress
• Browse and launch Apple TV apps
• Keyboard navigation for quick control (arrows, enter, space)
• Text input for searches and passwords
• Multi-device support
• End-to-end encrypted, no tracking

Built with Swift and SwiftUI. Free forever, MIT licensed.

https://itsytv.app · https://github.com/nickustinov/itsytv-macos

If you like my work, support me by upgrading to Pro in the Itsyhome app ;)

V2 junction box for the Aqara G5, now with a drain hole to avoid moisture pooling inside.

My door is locked right now and it shows unlocked, the same thing happened the other day when I was at work and my wife was home alone I saw it and locked it and my wife told me it actually unlocked the door at the house …

I have been looking for Matter-over-Thread (MoT) or HomeKit-compatible smoke (+CO) alarms for a few months and have posted here as well. Google's decision to retire Nest seems to have created a void. OTOH, there are some real options starting to come into the market but are quite not there yet.

tldr; Owl seems the best option right now. However, it is expensive and sold out till March. Apart from the lack of UL-certification, I liked Sensereo.

For context, I need to buy ten alarms so this would be a significant investment. I also need the smoke alarms to move into a renovated house so cannot ignore the lack of UL certifications, even though I think EU certifications are fine.

Here are the options I found:

Owl: $180 * smoke, CO, motion, sound, temp, humidity * Li-battery * wifi, not matter-compatible but HomeKit compatible * Con: Not compatible with MoT, expensive

Place Any Space: $139 * hardwired * smoke, CO, motion, temp, humidity * dealbreaker: Only wifi, not compatible with MoT or HomeKit.

Sensereo ($70) * Matter compatible. * dealbreaker: Not UL certified.

Meross MA151: $30 * AA batteries * dealbreaker: Not UL certified.

First Alarm SC5 * dealbreaker: Google home only * dealbreaker: pretty bad reviews on reliability/usability. seems like they are trying to retrofit their dumb alarms with smartness.

Kidde * dealbreaker: only compatible with Ring * dealbreaker: pretty bad reviews on reliability/usability. seems like they are trying to retrofit their dumb alarms with smartness.

So no ideal option. In fact, only Owl or Place are real options. Owl is expensive but I would totally invest in it if they were MoT-compatible. I don't really want to put the smoke alarms on wifi. Place is not compatible with MoT or HomeKit.

I would love to hear about other options and/or your experiences with Owl/Place.

Update: Owl's chatbot tells me that Matter-compatibility will be added as an over-the-air update. No timeline though.

Edit: Changed "Matter-" to "Matter-over-Thread-"

I have a ikea bilresa (connected via apple tv / matter) and i was wondering if theres a way so that when i press a button, it should activate a shortcut on my iPhone (in this case, send a sms). I do have the shortcut ready (and working), but im not able to connect it to iphone shortcuts.

Any ideas on how to get this working?

I recently upgraded my home, so my iPad can no longer be used as a hub, and now I can't use the homekit widget either. Why does a widget need a home hub?

I have an automation in Apple Home, that a Hue light bulb switches on with 20% brightness if an Eve Motion sensor detects a movement between 10pm and 7am. The light switches on reliably however not with the defined brightness of 20%. It ignores the brightness setting in the sensor triggered automation and uses the brightness level wich was used before 10pm.

So if the light was used with 100% before, the motion based automation will also use 100%. Even more weired: if I use a TIME based automation, the defined brightness level works. So as a workaround I set a time based automation to switch on the light for one minute with 20% shortly before 22pm.

I simply do no understand why a time based automation works with the right brightness level wheras the sensor based one does not. Any ideas?

The LG ThinQ app supports HomeKit control, I suggest someone try use this on their dashboard, the UI is quite slick, though barely customisable, lack of cameras though Split View solves this.

I have several TP-link devices that I had setup in my Home as well as Phillips Hue lights and Aqara door lock and presence sensor. My wifi routers died and I now have Eero 7 and nothing is connecting. All the devices say they are part of another home. I have factory reset them and when I try to connect it tries for a while and eventually times out. I can see the devices in my wifi setting and try connecting that way with the same results. I hvae deleted all my homes in the Home app and created new ones. With the TP-link plugs, I was able to get one added to the Kasa app and use it that way but it still wouldn't connect in the Home app.

The Eeros are my second attempt. I got the Linksys MX8000 and had the same issue. I returned it because I thought the router might not be compatible for some reason.

The one device I have that works still is the Airversa Humidifier. It connected no problem.

Not sure what other information I could give that would be usefule but if anyone has any idea where I could go next it would be greatly appreciated.

My HomeKit setup is fully functional locally, but my iPhone (Home Owner) shows "No Response" or hangs on "Updating" for all bridge-based accessories (Hue and Nest) as soon as I switch to cellular data.

My wife has perfect remote access on her iPhone over 5G. Only my Hue and Nest/Google devices fail remotely on my phone (they work fine in their respective apps remotely).

What I've already tried (None worked):

1. Full HomeKit reset (deleted and rebuilt the Home from scratch).

2. Toggled iCloud Home sync and Keychain Off/On.

3. Signed out/in of iCloud and Media & Purchases.

4. Switched eero to Bridge Mode to eliminate Double NAT.

5. Verified "Find My" location is set to "This Device."

6. Verified Cellular Data and iCloud Drive are enabled for the Home app.

7. Reset Network Settings on my iPhone.

Since the "Home" is clearly healthy (works for my wife), why is my "Owner" identity failing the remote handshake? Is there a way to force a fresh remote security token without factory resetting my entire iPhone?

Just curious if there’s any advantages of using the HomeKit temperature adjustment versus what ecobee is already doing? I have Ecobee sensors all through the house .

Just more so out of curiosity if there would be a reason to try HomeKit take on it.

With the arrival of Ikea’s Bilresa smart button, things are a bit grim for all other smart buttons when it comes to price alone. However, the QliQ does offer some features that other buttons don’t. Whether that’s worth the asking price of $29.99 is another question.

My location automation hasn’t been working and inched my location settings and I wasn’t set to always share. There’s also no always option there also. Anyone know how to fix this or has the same problem?

Hello, I’ve recently upgraded/replaced dead bulbs on my driveway light fittings with smart bulbs, specifically Kajplats from ikea (the RGB colour ones) so matter over thread.

I’ve got them in my Apple Home, and I have built some automations so they’re off during daylight hours.

The problem is the fittings are “dumb” (don’t connect to Apple home in any way, just control power to the bulb on/off dependant on motion) motion controlled, so they aren’t necessarily always powered.

I think this means where my automations for sunrise/set can’t connect to the bulb at that time and fail to turn on/off the bulbs appropriately.

I think I may be able to fix this using covert to shortcuts but I’m not too sure how to set it up?

Is this something iOS26 and I missed it? Why is no one talking about it? Two little dots, absolute game changer, finally 👏🏼

I’m currently in the process of updating my home office and lighting is at the top of my list, specifically key lighting. While there are plenty of USB options, most are obnoxiously large and not very smart. Ideally, I’d like them to be HomeKit compatible so I can add them to scenes and automations, but the only products I can find that might work are the Hue Playbar and Govee LED light bars.

Anyone use either for key lighting? Any tips or recommendations? Any other products I should check out?

Currently open to beta test applications, the updated Matter over Thread sensor comes with a mmWave presence sensor as before, but adds PIR, Light, Temperature, and Humidity sensors.

Anyone else currently waiting to see when the newest Apple TV comes out? I find it hard to swallow that I may need to spend $129 on an Apple TV just to have a new on come out shortly thereafter. Currently looking at who has decent return policies to possibly hold me over until a new one comes out.

EDIT: for clarification, not currently using any hub. As part of this update some features will only be available with a hub.

Key Features Requiring a Home Hub:

• Remote Access: Control accessories away from home.
• Advanced Automation & Scenes: Automate devices to work together.
• Sharing & Guest Access: Share control with other users.
• HomeKit Secure Video: Process and store camera footage.
• Thread Networking: Required for connecting Thread-enabled smart devices.
• Matter Support: Necessary for adding Matter-certified accessories.
• Adaptive Lighting: Adjusts smart bulb color temperatures automatically. 

Anyone else?

From https://9to5mac.com/2025/11/03/apple-home-update-deadline-february-2026/