Starling Home Hub: Connecting Nest and HomeKit
The Starling Smart Home Hub is an amazing product. Just to give you an idea as a smart homeowner with a bunch of Nest products, I seriously love the Starling Home Hub. It is a great investment for you if you too have a lot of Nest Products. But of course, it is best to research before purchasing, which is why I will be explaining everything about the Starling Smart Home Hub to you!
Let’s go!!
What is Starling Home Hub?
The Starling Smart Home Hub is an amazing device designed to integrate all Nest devices with Apple HomeKit. The Starling Hub allows you to monitor and control your Nest smart devices through the Home app and with Siri. By creating a Starling home, you can have a unified smart home experience.
What the Starling Home hub does is connect all Nest devices to Apple HomeKit, basically bridging the gap between HomeKit and Nest devices. As of now, Starling Home Hub only connects Nest to HomeKit, but they are planning to broaden their services for all Google devices and are planning on launching it in 2024.
What Devices are Supported by Starling Home Hub?
All Google Nest and Apple Home devices are supported by Starling Home hub. As I mentioned earlier, Staling has announced that they will also launch compatibility for all Google devices as well.
According to my personal experience and the Starling Home Hub Reddit review thread, the Google Nest doorbell and their cameras work great. While I only have a few Nest devices according to Reddit review all Nest devices work flawlessly with Starling Home Hub.
If you want to add any device to Apple HomeKit, you can use other bridges such as the ATH bridge or the Athom Homey Pro Bridge. It is advantageous because Apple HomeKit has amazing features that ensures a smooth experience. The Home Assistant also acts out similar features but it is not limited to one brand.
Why Choose Starling Home Hub?
Pros
- The Starling Home Hub is designed to be user-friendly with a straightforward setup process.
- Specifically integrates Nest and Google smart home products with Apple HomeKit (creates a “Starling Nest HomeKit / Starling HomeKit”).
- Offers amazing support and regular updates for compatibility with new devices and HomeKit features.
- Provides stable and consistent performance as a dedicated hardware device.
Cons
- Primarily focuses on Google Nest products, with limited versatility for other brands only compatible for a Starling Nest HomeKit integration.
How to Add Any Other Smart Device to Apple HomeKit?
You can add any other smart device such as SwitchBot Devices or even ESPHome Devices to Apple HomeKit through AddtoHomeKit, this way you can add any smart home device to Apple HomeKit. You can add Roborock to HomeKit or even add Shelly devices to Apple HomeKit!
AddtoHomeKit is a software solution, a web based solution. This solution provides you with thousands of HomeBridge plugins that will allow you to add any device to Apple HomeKit. You can add any device to Apple HomeKit with HOOBs and HomeBridge as well.
Starling Home Hub VS HomeBridge
| Feature | Starling Home Hub | HomeBridge |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | Starling Home Hub is designed to be user-friendly and easy to set up. | Homebridge can be complex to set up, especially for non-technical users. |
| Device Compatibility | Specifically integrates Google Nest products with Apple HomeKit. | Supports a wide range of smart home devices through community plugins. |
| Support | Offers dedicated support and regular updates. | Relies on community support and forums for troubleshooting and updates. |
| Hardware Requirements | Comes as a dedicated hardware device. | Can run on inexpensive hardware like a Raspberry Pi. |
| Customization | Limited to the features provided by the hardware and software. | Highly customizable with a variety of plugins and configurations. |
| Cost | Requires an upfront investment for the hardware. | Free to use; minimal cost for hardware setup like a Raspberry Pi. |
| Stability | Provides stable and consistent performance as a dedicated device. | Stability depends on the quality of the setup and hardware used. |
| User Community | Smaller, more focused user base. | Large and active community contributing plugins and support. |
| User Cases | Ideal for users with Google Nest products who want simple HomeKit integration. | Suitable for tech-savvy users looking for a customizable smart home setup. |
Conclusion
I think that it is great that the Starling Hub has launched as it will be great for Nest home automation. Be excited for the Google device launch as well. If you have many Nest devices, check it out and have smoother home automation with Starling. Hope this article was helpful for you!
FAQ
You can connect to the Starling Nest Home Hub by using any convenient outlet with the supplied power adapter and cable.
You don’t need to! Starling periodically updates their firmware for better reliability and newer features, which they later automatically download to your Starling Google Nest Hub when the device is idle, usually around midnight. The hub checks for updates when it is idle and downloads the updates automatically to make sure that the device is up to date.
It has an Ethernet port, a microSD card slot and a microUSB port for power.
All you have to do is connect Starling Home Hub to your router and plug in the power. Then you must use the Starling iOS app to pair your Starling Nest Hub with Apple Home and that’s it!
Yes! You will need to use external software such as Enomek or purchase a Starling Nest hub to do so. All Nest devices including the Google Nest Camera and even the Google Nest Doorbell will work with HomeKit with these solutions!
The Starling Home Hub is designed only for Google Nest Smart home devices.
