After years as an Apple-only smart home company, Eve is finally turning to the dark other side and launch an Android application. At the IFA tech show, the company announced that its suite of smart home products — which includes smart plugs, smart light strips, smart switches and smart sensors — will get its own Android app in late 2022. Eve products will also become compatible. with other smart home systems including Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Samsung SmartThings.
This giant change (which we saw coming at CES, but still has to be seen to be believed) is largely due to the upcoming Matter smart home standard. Primer of matter purpose is to make more devices work with more platforms, removing the confusion and chaos that dominates today’s smart home.
When Matter arrives this fall, Eve’s products should work with any Matter-enabled ecosystem without the need for a cloud-to-cloud connection. Amazon, Google and Samsung have all committed to making their platforms compatible with Matter. These platforms’ reliance on the cloud had previously prevented Eve from working with them, with the company preferring to stick with a system that processed all device data locally – Apple’s Homekit.
Since Matter’s announcement, Eve has been working on transitioning all of its relevant smart home products from Bluetooth-only to adding Thread radios – Thread is one of Matter’s core protocols. The company says its Thread-enabled devices will start receiving free over-the-air firmware updates of the standard, making them compatible with those other platforms.
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This week, Eve also announced the Eve Light Switch with Thread for North America ($49.95), upgrading one of its latest Bluetooth-only products. The Eve Flare portable light is the only device she still sells that only works via Bluetooth.
The third generation of the Eve Light Switch is a smart light switch (but not a dimmer) that can control standard LED lights, allowing you to pair your lights with motion sensors, set them on schedules, or dim them. program lighting scenes. Unlike its predecessor, which was a single-pole switch, the third-generation model is compatible with three-way switches – where two switches control one light. It requires a neutral wire and should be available in October.
Alongside the light switch, Eve announced new versions of its Eve Motion Blinds smart blinds, with Venetian blind motors (Europe only) and Honeycomb blinds joining its existing Roller blind motor. Blinds are custom ordered from companies such as SelectBlinds and come with Eve’s Thread compatible motors inside. An Eve Shutter Switch is also hitting the European market in December. The £99.95 switch will work on Thread and can replace a recessed roller shutter switch.
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Eve also announced a white model of its Eve Outdoor Cam ($249.95) coming in December. The black version is my Apple HomeKit pick for best smart floodlight camera. Eve’s cameras work over Wi-Fi, and since smart security cameras aren’t part of Matter yet, they’ll likely continue to work only with Apple Home’s HomeKit secure video service.
So while Eve’s cameras remain on Apple, for now, the rest of its smart home products will soon be celebrating on Android too. A smart home company launching an Android app might seem like a minor one, but this one is almost like Apple announcing that its Apple Watch will work with Android – so Eve has been linked to Apple. This is one of those signs that we need this point towards the matter actually happening. With fall fast approaching (yes, it’s September), it’s high time to expect solid evidence that Matter is all we’ve been led to believe it can be. .