Homey Pro review: Great power but check device support – Stacey on IoT
Following the launch of the $69 Homey Bridge, the $399 Homey Pro is now available in the US Stacey reviewed the less expensive Bridge model back in March, and reported that she felt very good about the product. The more expensive Pro model removes most of the subscription fees and limitations found in Bridge. It also adds optional ethernet connectivity for an additional $29 and the promise of future support for Matter, including Matter over Thread.
Depending on the devices you have in your smart home, I see great potential in Homey Pro, but not for me. I will explain why shortly. First, let’s cover the basics.
Homey Pro is the most powerful version of the original Homey Pro of 2019 with what it says is 3.5 times more CPU performance. The Pro also has double the storage and memory (8 GB and 2 GB, respectively) than the Bridge. And there’s a good reason for that upgrade: Unlike Homey Bridge, which focuses more on the cloud, Homey Pro uses as much local control as possible in your smart home.
That’s good from a privacy perspective. It also means that Homey Pro works when the internet goes out. You can still manage your devices and automate them as long as they don’t rely on the cloud.
From a features perspective, both models do the same thing effectively. You can add or manage devices and set defaults, and both have very similar radios. On the US model, there’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, infrared, Zigbee, and Z-Wave.
The more expensive Pro adds a Thread radio – 833MHz for older devices – and exceeds the Homey Bridge’s limit of five connected devices. With the low-cost Bridge it costs $2.99 per month to add more devices. The only subscription available in the Pro model is a $1.99 $0.99 monthly fee for on-demand cloud backups.
I found the Homey Pro setup process easy, as did Stacey with the Homey Bridge. I powered up the Pro device with the included USB-C cable and charger, downloaded the Homey app to my phone, and answered a few basic questions. I really like how the Homey app asks how your home is set up, specifically how many floors you have and which rooms are on which floor. I think this is a time saver compared to how most smart home apps and services work.
Once I connected the Homey Pro to my home wireless network (the Pro has both 2.4 and 5 GHz Wi-Fi), I started adding devices. Or rather, I he tried to. Homey says it supports over 50,000 devices, and on the surface, that sounds good. However, I was only able to get it to support about half of the devices in my smart home.
I was able to add my Lutron Caseta switches, Philips Hue bulbs, and Sonos speakers, for example. But Homey failed because of my Schlage door lock, Ecobee Thermostat, Nanoleaf bulb and light strip, Govee electric kettle, Wyze cameras, Eve Home devices, Logitech video doorbell, and all my smart plugs. I can forgive Homey for smart plugs since most of the home ones are Matter-certified and Matter support is not yet in Homey Pro, although it is expected later this year. (Update: A representative from Homey reached out to us to say that if the Matter device works with WiFi, we should be able to add it. All my Matter devices use Thread, which explains, for example, why my smart plugs don’t work.)
Other devices? Although most of the brands I own appear in the Homey app, some devices I own from those brands are not.
Take Nanoleaf, for example. All of the Nanoleaf lights that don’t build normally appear; Triangles, triangles, and lines are there. The usual Nanoleaf bulb and smart lights, though? No. Again, that would be a problem for Matter, since they support the new standard. But even the old Nanoleaf Essentials aren’t available in the Homey app. The same goes for my Meross Garage Door opener.
My Schlage Encode Wi-Fi lock appears in the Homey app. Unfortunately, when I follow the process of adding a lock and sign in with my Schlage credentials, Homey Bridge says, “No devices found.” I went ahead with our Govee Wi-Fi kettle, but instead of saying “no devices found,” the Govee integration returned an error message.
My one non-Matter smart plug is the Cync by GE product. There is no integration of that product line at Homey yet. And although Ecobee is a supported Homey product, the only compatible devices in the app are Ecobee 3 Lite and Ecobee Room Sensor. I have an Ecobee Thermostat Premium and a new sensor, so it’s not going to the Homey Pro there, either. Note that I have long since moved away from most Zigbee and all Z-Wave devices. If you have these, you might have better luck with the Pro.
I will reiterate that these specific integration challenges are based on my home devices. And I get that. However, I have to be aware of what works and what doesn’t so that you can make an informed purchasing decision based on the devices in your home. I looked on the Homey website to see a list of product combinations but couldn’t find it. (Update: The integration is available under this link, titled “Apps”) So your best bet is to download the free Homey app and scan your devices before considering a Bridge or Pro purchase. And I have to point out that my supported devices responded almost instantly when controlling them with Homey.
It’s also worth mentioning that you can build your own Homey Pro integration. Through the product’s web interface you can find an API key and a simple example of how to write your own code using JavaScript and Node.js. For developers out there, I strongly suspect that Homey Pro is built as a Node.js server.
As noted on the API key support page, however, these are for “hobbyists and developers building integrations.” I like the offer, but most average consumers won’t use this functionality or even notice it.
Having said all that, let’s get to the good news. The Homey app, used to control and view devices, is great. It looks more modern than many competing apps and features both basic and advanced features. I like how easy it is to add devices to rooms or floors, for example, although I wish this could be done during device assembly. I had to go back into the settings of each device to assign the room.
I also appreciate the intuitive controls for each device. And I really like smart home energy usage, which can be viewed in almost real time and historically.
I say “average” because you have to manually enter the water used by each device to get this feature. It takes more effort during the setup process, but I think it’s better than no power management. And Homey Pro adjusts power consumption based on light output, too. When I dimmed some lights to 50%, the estimated power consumption numbers show half the power draw. You can view power data in the app or on the web. If you choose the last option, you can also view local temperatures, barometric pressures, and humidity, which is nice. (Update: A Homey representative tells us that if the device can report actual electricity usage, Homey will display and use that data.)
For automation or processes, Homey uses something called Flows. Given their capabilities, they remind me more of the Home Assistant automation and less of the standard processes from Amazon, Apple, Google, and the like.
Flow takes the form of IFTTT but use a “When…and…then” approach instead of “If this happens, do that”. Homey also allows complex logic with “other” states, and Flows can cause other Flows. I set up a few Flows and they worked flawlessly. I created my Flows in the Homey app but you can get more complex ones using the advanced mode in the Homey web interface. From there, you can also view or control your devices, just like you can on a mobile app.
Overall, I see potential in a local smart home hub that has all the radio you could want in a smart home device like the Homey Pro. The market has shifted away from such devices as smart home services become cloud-based. I love that we have a new hub with the capabilities found in Homey Pro. I also like the overall user experience with the app for both initial setup and device additions and room management.
What’s stopping me from buying my Homey Pro should be obvious, though. For $399, I can only use the device with half of my current connected devices. Will that change for the better over time? Maybe, but there are no guarantees. For now, I’ll stick to my low-cost Home Assistant setup where almost all of my devices work.
You? The idea of a local, privacy-focused smart home hub may be appealing. And if so, Homey Pro could be the right choice. Just make sure the devices you have, or plan to have, in your smart home are supported first.
Updated 8/16/2023 at 11am ET with some clarifications and corrections based on communications with Homey representatives.
