Apple ID - no iCloud ?

[SauRoNZA]

For me the connecting flights have always been the most disconcerting. Being able to "see" the bag was in the right place was good enough.

That said, the directional finder was pretty cool. On one flight it was strong enough for me to locate the bag inside the hold from inside the cabin. If the plane had wifi I probably could have tracked it's progress for the entire trip.

Only reason I haven't got AirTags is because I couldn't think of a use case for it, but you've just changed that now so will consider them before my next trip.

My only gripe with the AirTag is that only one person can track a tag. As far as I'm concerned that's plain dumb on Apple's part.

Can't see it under Devices in Find My? I see every device for every family member.

 

[greg0205]

As a hardcore Apple user and one with HomePods let me save you some trouble.

HomeKit is great as a "frontend" for your Smart Home....but much like Alexa it's quite terrible at being the central hub of a Smart Home as it lacks simple logic and basic things that make life really hard and unnecessary...which could change at any moment with a little effort from Apple and things like Thread coming along but we aren't quite there yet.

However unlike Alexa on the flip side HomeKit is actually very open and easy to connect to, so just adding a simple Bridge to the HomeKit opens a massive door to getting anything support by HomeKit natively into it from a third party source.

Enter Home Assistant which let's you connect anything and everything to it and then you can simply "forward" it into HomeKit and use that as the front end control mechanism which includes Siri and HomePods etc obviously.

The only problem is you need an Apple TV or HomePod to make it work in the first place, or an iPad but that doesn't help if you run around with it.

I have 50+ devices in HomeKit of which only 2 are official HomeKit products and one of them is the most unreliable piece of kak at that.

I think we're more or less on the same page... The reason I'm looking at Philips right now has everything to do with their Hue bridge, the lights are secondary.

 

[bwana]

Can't see it under Devices in Find My? I see every device for every family member.

They're listed under "Items" not "Devices" on Find My and can't be shared. So, for example, if you wanted to put one on a wandering dog your family couldn't help track it down.

 

[greg0205]

Yeah just buy directly from Apple and use MyUS.

Cost me around R1800 each landed and about two weeks round trip.

USD is probably a bit worse now though but you'll still get it for half what the locals charge.

Budget for some high wattage USB-C adaptors (or just get Apple ones) because that US converter plug nonsense is painful.

Exactly, 'tho I've been getting mine from the UK, and now I have a collection of UK 20w power adaptors I'll never use.

 

[SauRoNZA]

I think we're more or less on the same page... The reason I'm look at Philips right now has everything to do with their Hue bridge, the lights are secondary.

So much like the Hue Bridge, Home Assistant just adds it's own Bridge (a software one of course) in HomeKit.

Philips Hue is generally quite overrated and there are many more better and cheaper options.

Zigbee is good though, but loads of other options.

 

[Spizz]

They're listed under "Items" not "Devices" on Find My and can't be shared. So, for example, if you wanted to put one on a wandering dog your family couldn't help track it down.

I concur. Funny thing is though, I got a message a few days ago about my wife's airtag on her key bunch. I dismissed it without thinking and then thought 'hang on'.

Looking now on Find Me, only my two are showing, wife and sons not.

 

[Spizz]

So much like the Hue Bridge, Home Assistant just adds it's own Bridge (a software one of course) in HomeKit.

Philips Hue is generally quite overrated and there are many more better and cheaper options.

Zigbee is good though, but loads of other options.

Hue works great for me. I've got 4 bulbs but they are super expensive. The Xiaomi's I bought stopped working and became eratic.

 

[bwana]

I concur. Funny thing is though, I got a message a few days ago about my wife's airtag on her key bunch. I dismissed it without thinking and then thought 'hang on'.

Looking now on Find Me, only my two are showing, wife and sons not.

They will alert you when someone else's airtag is in close proximity but they aren't.

It's supposed to prevent people from using them to stalk/track people without their knowledge.

 

[Spizz]

For me the connecting flights have always been the most disconcerting. Being able to "see" the bag was in the right place was good enough.

That said, the directional finder was pretty cool. On one flight it was strong enough for me to locate the bag inside the hold from inside the cabin. If the plane had wifi I probably could have tracked it's progress for the entire trip.

My only gripe with the AirTag is that only one person can track a tag. As far as I'm concerned that's plain dumb on Apple's part.

Yep, it was fun following the luggage but for sure it has a real purpose as I could have done with the tag several times in the past after leaving the airport without luggage. Essential piece of kit for me now and I put one in my carry on as well.

 

[Spizz]

They will alert you when someone else's airtag is in close proximity but they aren't.

It's supposed to prevent people from using them to stalk/track people without their knowledge.

Ah, that makes sense. Thinking about it now, her keys were in her car and I was driving it.

 

[Spizz]

Exactly, 'tho I've been getting mine from the UK, and now I have a collection of UK 20w power adaptors I'll never use.

I've got so much UK kit in my house I had an electrician put in some UK sockets about the house

 

[greg0205]

So much like the Hue Bridge, Home Assistant just adds it's own Bridge (a software one of course) in HomeKit.

Philips Hue is generally quite overrated and there are many more better and cheaper options.

Zigbee is good though, but loads of other options.

This evening's homework... Thanks SauRoNZA.

 

[Nimz]

Do you still have to flash Tasmota for the HA / Homekit bridge to work?

 

[SauRoNZA]

Do you still have to flash Tasmota for the HA / Homekit bridge to work?

That depends entirely on the device.

If you meant Sonoff, no there is a direct integration in HA for those.

Tasmota still better, but depends on your needs.

 

[SauRoNZA]

This evening's homework... Thanks SauRoNZA.

View attachment 1366251

You’ll need a Pi or 24/7 on hardware that can run Docker or some such to get started.

 

[Nimz]

That depends entirely on the device.

If you meant Sonoff, no there is a direct integration in HA for those.

Tasmota still better, but depends on your needs.

Yeah, Sonoff.

That's great news since I can't be bothered flashing each module.

 

[bwana]

Yep, it was fun following the luggage but for sure it has a real purpose as I could have done with the tag several times in the past after leaving the airport without luggage. Essential piece of kit for me now and I put one in my carry on as well.

I toss my keys in my carry-on when I travel so one tag kills two birds.

They're R499 (1899 for four) at Cellucity right now so maybe I'll order a few more...

 

[Nimz]

Avo has them cheaper - my 4 pack just got delivered now.

I toss my keys in my carry-on when I travel so one tag kills two birds.

They're R499 (1899 for four) at Cellucity right now so maybe I'll order a few more...

 

[bwana]

Avo has them cheaper - my 4 pack just got delivered now.

Avo?

EDIT: Nedbank?

 

[Nimz]

Edgars has the single pack cheap as well