While not as widespread as Google Home or Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit remains one of the most popular smart home ecosystems of 2023. The software plays well with iOS devices, and several other gadgets such as smart lights, smart locks, thermostats, and cameras can be controlled using the fancy technology. If you’re looking to build your smart home around Apple’s ecosystem, here are the best HomeKit devices available today.
Locks
HomeKit doesn’t have the largest selection of smart locks, but that doesn’t really matter when you have something as well-rounded as the Aqara Smart Lock U100. Not only does it offer full HomeKit support, but you’ll even gain access to Apple home keys -- allowing you to unlock your door with your iPhone or Apple Watch. There’s also the standard keypad for entering a passcode, along with a fingerprint sensor that can store several dozen fingerprints (so your whole family can enter the home without worrying about forgetting their password or smartphone).
Can’t cook? That’s not an excuse anymore.
A new partnership between virtual culinary assistant app SideChef and Chef’d, a subscription-free meal-kit marketplace, has given home cooks (and non-cooks) everywhere an “integrated tool that conveniently delivers pre-portioned ingredients to their door,” and teaches them how to use them to prepare a delicious meal. SideChef will help you make use of your just-delivered ingredients with its “tech-forward cooking guidance,” which includes hands-free voice commands, built-in timers, step-by-step photos, and how-to videos that pertain to all skill levels.
With more than 200 recipes from celebrity chefs like Dominique Crenn, Fabio Viviani, Adam Richman, Alex Guarnaschelli, and Robert Irvine, and staple cooking resources that comes from Good Housekeeping, Women’s Health, and The James Beard Foundation, anyone should be able to create a stellar meal. Starting at just $6 per serving, meal kits are being distributed across the nation in as little as a single business day, and are available to feed parties of up to four.
Whether you’re craving Adam Richman’s chicken tortilla soup with guacamole wontons, Simon Majumdar’s creamy chicken korma with cilantro rice and naan, or spice rubbed salmon with basmati rice pilaf and broccolini courtesy of Alex Guarnaschelli, you can have it all in your kitchen. Because even if you’re not a professional chef, you should be able to eat (and cook) like one.
SideChef is available for free on both iOS and Android devices, and claims to have already catalyzed the “creation of over 1 million meals [and] cooking sessions in home kitchens around the world.” And now that it’s working with Chef’d, which lets its customers buy meal kits without worrying about subscription or membership fees, it looks like even more meals are on the horizon.
So don’t plan on going out this weekend — you won’t need a chef to cook for you when you’ve got two other “Chefs” on your side.