Apple Reportedly Working on 'Small Sensor for Managing Home Security'

We need Airport routers more than security!

We need Airport routers more than security!

For better or worse, Ubiquitis's small home solutions range ARE the new Airport range.

As a huge Apple guy, this is something about which I can't get super excited. And the reason? Ikea.

Yes, Ikea.

Earlier this year, they announced a handful of Matter-based accessories that pair up brilliantly with any Apple device that serves as a Thread router (my Apple TV and HomePods among them). So among the sensors, you have:


* MYGGSPRAY, an IP67-certified motion sensor;
* MYGGBETT a door/window contact sensor;
* TIMMERFLOTTE, a temperature/humidity sensor;
* ALPSTUGA, an air quality sensor; and
* my favourite of the bunch (and I think everyone else's favourite, since it's been sold out for months), KLIPPBOK, a water leak sensor.

I have all of these except ALPSTUGA. So far, I've got TIMMERFLOTTE monitoring a notoriously crafty room, and I've set up the KLIPPBOK near my water heater, and it will send a critical alert to all of my linked devices if it detects a leak. Heck, when I tested it with a bit of moisture on my finger, it beeped like crazy; I think it'll know about a leak before the floor even does. I'm going to put one MYGGBET on my patio door and another on my living room window, and have them set up so that if I leave either one open, say while grilling or just wanting to get some fresh air circulating, it'll pause my Ecobee thermostat and not cool the neighbourhood. Once my backyard is no longer icy or muddy (so, in southern Ontario…May?), I'll mount the MYGGSPRAY in an inconspicuous area and have it turn on the light over the back door if it detects motion at night.

But the real killer feature? All of these are dirt cheap, considering I don't need to also purchase a hub; my Apple TV and HomePods handle this perfectly. For $65, I got five sensors that can help me automate the other smart devices in the home; if Apple comes up with something, there's a good chance one sensor would be about $65. Once Ikea has more of the KLIPPBOKs in stock, I'll be making a return trip to get more.

I understand the worries about someone hacking into this and spying on your house. But, Apple will know about that, and Apple is really the only company that seems to think hard about privacy concerns. If this really had a camera, from the description it sounds like it's meant to identify the person in frame, not necessarily as a full blown security camera. That can be done inside the home network, on whatever device is handling that (AppleTV for example), and not necessarily need to transmit anything to the outside world. That would be in line with how Apple has done security stuff in the past, and work as support for the HomePad so it might know where people are in the house and what to do for them in any particular room.

A truly interactive house will need that kind of setup if you want to do things like have your AI agent "follow" you through the house without picking up an iPad and carrying it around. It's the kind of technology that shows up in sci-fi (think of Jarvis in Ironman, to work as he did required this kind of setup). I don't think any company could pull this off right now besides Apple, and for Apple to do it they would have to reach out with creative muscles that we haven't really seen for a while...this is a really complex concept to take on, but the pieces are largely there now to make it happen.

I do have to say that I'm looking forward to an Apple solution that could integrate everything smartly, I've cobbled together some stuff but it's not nearly as useful as I'd like and in no way integrated to do things that would make it more than a support system around the house. We're going to find out sometime this year what they are planning, and if they can pull it off and make an AI agent with the capability to do something this sophisticated...Siri really remains the problem with what they want to do, they need to solve that to make any of the rest of this happen (and it's not clear to me that the LLM version of AI really has the capability to do all these things, much less well and cohesively).

No thanks - I don't understand people wanting internet connected cameras inside of their house watching and listening to their every move.

agreed i only have outdoors cameras with the exception of one that i only use when i need to see my dogs

No thanks - I don't understand people wanting internet connected cameras inside of their house watching and listening to their every move.