1Home Digest October '26: Apple Home, Alexa & Open Source
October was the month Apple walked into the living room, Amazon redrew the house as a 3D map, and Home Assistant decided it wanted a new name. Add a €15 IKEA radiator thermostat and a big UniFi release, and the smart home had plenty to talk about. Let's get into it...
Apple Home Collection Is Here
On October 13, Apple introduced Apple Home Collection: cameras, thermostats, temperature sensors, a video doorbell and a door lock, made together with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric. Setup starts with one tap on an iPhone, and everything runs through the Apple Home app, with no separate app or account.
Apple has worked with third-party accessories for years through Matter and Works with Apple Home. This time it has helped shape the products themselves.
Apple's Camera Sees Everything and Keeps Nothing
Apple's first home camera is reportedly built around a surprising idea: no video recording at all. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, it uses AI to understand who is in the room and what is happening, then passes that on to the home instead of handing you a library of footage.
That could mean lights switching off in an empty room or music following the person who just walked in. It could also mean no replay after a break-in, and that is a trade-off worth thinking about.
IKEA's First Smart Radiator Thermostat Costs €15
Meet the Liljebagge: a Matter-over-Thread radiator thermostat that IKEA has listed for just €15. It runs on two AA batteries that should last around 18 months, and adjusts in 0.5 °C steps from the device or the IKEA Home app.
For Matter you will need a Thread border router, and for the IKEA route the Dirigera hub. So far it only appears on IKEA's Swedish site, so international availability is still open.
Home Assistant: "Big Tech Ruined the Cloud, So We're Out"
Home Assistant is renaming its Cloud service to Home Assistant Link, and the cloud disappears from the logo too. The features stay the same, but the message is clear: local control by default, open standards, and no basic features locked behind a server.
Founder Paulus Schoutsen also talked about a simpler successor to the Green hub next year, and about AI helping to tame the platform's famous complexity.
Read the interview on The Verge
HACS Moves Into Home Assistant Core
Community integrations are about to get a lot easier to reach. HACS, the community store, is becoming a built-in Marketplace in Settings, so there is no separate install before you can add a custom integration, card or theme.
Existing installations should migrate automatically, and Home Assistant Core 2026.11 is the intended release. The content stays community-made, and Home Assistant does not test or support it.
UniFi Network 11 Becomes Matter-Aware
Ubiquiti calls UniFi Network 11 its most impactful release yet. It brings 30% more device capacity, live traffic visibility, SLA-based SD-WAN routing and WiFi as a backup internet connection.
The part we noticed: for the first time, UniFi is Matter-aware, so the network can see how connected smart home devices fit into it. Note that zone-based firewall is the only option from this version on, so it is worth planning the update.
See the UniFi Network 11 announcement
Alexa Gets a 3D Map of Your Home
Amazon's new Alexa Home Map is an interactive 3D model of your home. You scan the interior with an iPhone's LiDAR, place your devices where they actually sit, and the map shows lights glowing in their real colours and speakers with music notes floating above them.
It starts rolling out in preview later this year on iOS, with Android expected in early 2027. A nice answer to the question "which lamp was number thirteen again?"
That's October done.
Thanks for reading along, see you next month!