Small update for Homey Pro – Ambient

Homey Pro mini: Introduction

Homey is one of (if not the) best smart home automation platform out there, and it’s gotten even better since LG invested in parent company, Athom BV If there’s one problem, it’s that the barrier to entry for the full experience with Homey Pro, is high; to today with the Homey Pro mini.

A slimmed-down version of the Homey Pro, the mini gives you all the essential features you need, and enough power to tackle your average home, all at a very low price. For many people, this is the smart home hub you can buy.

Design, installation and support of the protocol

My ​original Homey Pro review goes into the main details of what the app can do, and the main way the app stays the same as the Homey Pro mini. The difference lies in the underlying specifications and supported protocols.

The Homey Pro mini has a 1.5GHz processor and 1GB of RAM. That’s the same processor used by the Pro, but half the RAM of the original and one quarter of the RAM of the 2026 Pro model.

That limits the number of apps you can use: between 20 and 25 on the mini, 60 on the original Pro and more than 100 on the new Pro. However, for most homes, the mini limit is more than enough.

The second difference is in radios. With Homey Pro mini there is support for Thread, Zigbee and Matter; you don’t get Z-Wave, Bluetooth, 433MHz or IR support. And, these are the most abandoned things in your middle-class home that you won’t miss.

If you want these deals, you can add Homey Bridge to the mix. Surprisingly, Homey Pro mini and Homey Bridge are still cheaper than Homey Pro.

From the outside, the Homey Pro mini looks like just another smart home hub. Unlike the cylindrical Homey Pro, the mini is square with rounded edges.

On the back is a USB-C power port, and an Ethernet port, which the larger Pro lacks (though you can add Ethernet with an optional adapter). The flip side is that the Pro has built-in Wi-Fi, while the mini doesn’t, so it’s wired or nothing.

For me, that’s not a problem. I prefer to use Ethernet on my hubs, as I think it makes them more reliable, and I have a cabinet in my house with an Ethernet switch, built for all my smart home gear.

At the bottom, there are a few anchors that can be installed, so you can place the mini on the wall.

Adding Homey Pro mini is easy with the app. Once found and added, the Homey app walks you through creating a home, complete with the rooms you have.

If you wanted to use Homey Pro mini and Homey Pro together, the HomeyLink app allows you to see all the devices under one interface, with a few small limitations on the types of automation you can create.

Features and functionality

I last reviewed Homey a few years ago, and those years have been kind to the platform. It used to be limited in device support, but this has improved rapidly. And, unlike SmartThings, the changes came without silencing the system down.

The story support has seen great development, with direct control of a growing number of devices. For older devices there is still cloud-based management, with a growing number of supported companies.

Overall device compatibility is excellent, whether through official integrations or social apps. For example, previously, I could only add Ring Alarm sensors via Z-Wave; now, official Ring integration includes cameras and doorbells, and thanks to the Ring Security community app, I can connect my Ring Base Station through the cloud. This allows me to control my alarm through Homey or use it as an automatic trigger.

Story support makes it easy to add devices like my Aqara Valve Controller T1; connecting by adding the M200 hub was straightforward. My Tado X devices are also easily integrated with Homey.

Homey offers more features than other platforms. Unlike HomeKit, which sometimes only offers basic triggers, Homey allows me to use the Tado X devices to set automatic on/off, temperature, humidity, and scheduled conditions. For example, I can start Flow (default field name) if the temperature is above 18°C ​​for 20 minutes.

With the ‘Also’ option, it is possible to trigger the Flow based on multiple inputs, creating a more granular control. For example, with the Fiabaro motion sensor, I can turn on my Hue lights only when motion is detected; the light level is below the set level; and it is between sunrise and sunset. Meaning, turn on the lights when I’m around and it just gets dark during the day.

There is also an option to do different things depending on the input. For example, when my office door locks, I can close the curtains and turn off the smart plug; however, I can also turn on the garden lights but only after sunset, so that I can see my way through the garden and back to the house.

All of this makes Homey uniquely flexible and more powerful than any other major brand home platform.