SwitchBotHub 2 (2nd Gen), Work as a WiFi Thermometer Hygrometer, IR Remote Control, Smart Remote and Light Sensor, Link SwitchBot to Wi-Fi (Support 2.4GHz), Compatible with Alexa&Google Assistant

I have had this HUB 2 in use for close to a year. It was extremely easy to setup and worked flawlessly until a firmware update prevented Alexa from sending voice commands I was used to using, to it to change the temperature. I contacted technical support and Bamboo offered exceptional customer service. She provided the instructions to resolve the issue but I did not implement them as instructed. I misread them. So the ticket remained open and I was contacted by Joyce soon afterwards. Upon re-reading the instructions, the proverbial light went off and the Alexa commands were accepted correctly. So an excellent product and stellar customer service. I just need to learn to read a little better.

There's was a lot of buzz last year about the HomeKit compatible infrared blaster the Nature Remo Nano. It looks like a great product but unfortunately it is only for the Japanese market. The Switchbot Hub 2, however, beat it to the American market! And I have to say it's great! The update to change the IR blaster over to Matter was seamless and easy. The blaster works like a charm too!If there is anything to nit-pick about, I'd say that the Switchbot's phone app simply doesn't have very many pre-programmed templates to control various devices. Not that they are necessary. The Switchbot's ability to learn IR codes and button from current remote controls is fantastic and easy. As long as you have the remote, Switchbot can learn it! For all the devices I wanted to control, I ended up just creating my own templates using the "Others" category under "IR Appliances". Works great!A note note Apple TV users. Although Switchbot support will tell you it's impossible to control an Apple TV with Switchbot, that's just not true. It controls it fine. ALL Apple TVs can be controlled using IR signals from IR remote controls. You don't even have to mess with settings in the Apple TV. It just works out of the box. The hurdle to overcome, however, is to get a IR remote control for the Apple TV. Only a bluetooth remote comes with the Apple TV 4 and later, not an IR remote. Apple TVs gen 1-3 had IR remotes. You can still buy these older model remotes and Switchbot can learn them just fine, but the gen 4 and later Apple TVs added a new Home button which is not on the older remotes. The new Home button is how you put the Apple TV 4s and later to sleep. Luckily, there are many cheap ($10) 3rd party IR remote controls for the Apple TV 4 and later that have the new Home button. Just buy one of those, and you can use it to teach Switchbot how to control your Apple TV.Switchbot uses Siri Shortcuts to allow Siri to control an Apple TV. Would be nice if it had built in support for Siri, but using Siri Shortcuts works fine. Amazon's Alexa voice assistant can also control the Apple TV with Switchbot. So best of both worlds!I highly recommend Switchbot if you want to use it with Apple's HomeKit. It's not like we have much of a choice in any case. As far as I could tell, Switchbot is currently the ONLY smart home IR blaster in the American market that is compatible with HomeKit. But at least you know it works, and works well! :)

Apple HomeKit Matter devices work great and easy to install. Unfortunately, the Switchbot Smart Lock does not natively support HomeKit. This hub acts as a "bridge". So once I finally updated firmware, and did the Matter install via the Switchbot app and then holding the two buttons so the display turns off, it was ready to add the Hub 2 to HomeKit via the Home app on the iPhone. After that was done. Make sure you ADD the sub devices (the smart lock) to the Hub 2 and then the lock will appear in the Home app. Works great. Now you can have the light turns on automatically when you unlock the door. Nifty!

The Hub 2 is the perfect addition to any smart home especially if you want Matter support or want to integrate SwitchBot devices into Apple Home. The screen auto adjusts brightness in relation to the brightness in the room, and has two customizable buttons that you can add via Matter into your home, and has temperature and humidity sensors. The main reason I got the Hub 2 is to pair the Universal Remote. I can now control my TV, Sound System, Apple TV, lights, air purifier. I love it, it makes controlling IR and smart devices in your home super easy. It works great controlling my SwitchBot Curtain 3 too.

This sensor hub and the other meters are super solid. At first, in the app, it was difficult to scroll through the history, but they improved it. They have been putting out firmware updates, too, to make everything more stable. And it integrates with HomeKit. There are no required subscriptions. Being able to see the history was super helpful in understanding what was causing some issues with sleep in a room that wasn't as well regulated as it should be. If something external happens to my this hub or the indoor / outdoor meters or I need more for some reason, it would be an easy decision to invest in more of these.

FYI, with latest firmware, they removed the ability to toggle on/off cloud services for the hydrometer sensors.I have thus wifi hub but would frequently take my hydrometer sensors too far away from my wifi (hub) thus I would turn off cloud services for the individual sensor(s) and rely on Bluetooth connection and would still be able to get All actual data readings because the sensors would rely on Bluetooth to connect to your phone (app) if you aren't near the hub or a place where your wifi (so a hub would be useless) wouldn't reach.So after firmware update, there is no cloud services option to turn it off so my sensors do not read any data to my phone. A huge FLAW. I bought these for this purpose. Now this system is useless for me since it's ability dropped down to 50% effectiveness.

Great plug and play basically, easy to set up and configure.