This is Issue #63 of the Smart Homes School weekly newsletter, free smart home news for professionals and enthusiasts, every Wednesday. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox first.
Hi, hope all is well. All good at the O’Driscoll smart home, and I’m just back from a mini Interrail trip in Europe that worked out really well. Now, on the smart home front, this week has a proper trade flavour: the first Aliro locks you can actually buy, an AI rulebook written with installers in mind, a Control4 update that fixes a classic shading complaint, and a Hue update that squeezes more out of switches already on the wall.
Aliro Locks Are Finally Here, and One Unlocks as You Walk Up
ULTRALOQ has launched three new smart locks, and they are the first real chance most of us have had to put Aliro in front of a client. Aliro is the Connectivity Standards Alliance’s open digital key standard, the same people behind Matter, and it lets a homeowner tap a key stored in Apple Wallet or Samsung Wallet rather than opening a brand-specific app. The Bolt Pro deadbolt ($269.99) and the Latch 5 Pro lever lock ($249.99) both support it, alongside fingerprint, PIN, app and (on the Bolt Pro) a physical key.
The headline act is the Bolt Mission ($299.99). It combines Bluetooth discovery with ultra-wideband and radar presence sensing, so it knows the precise distance and direction of your approach and unlocks hands-free as you reach the door. 9to5Mac describes it as the first UWB smart lock for Apple Home. All three are Matter-certified, work with Apple Home, Google Home and Alexa, and are on sale now from ULTRALOQ and Amazon, with Home Depot stocking them from October.
Why It Matters
- Aliro is no longer a spec on paper. Expect clients to ask for wallet-key entry that works across Apple and Samsung phones without a brand-specific app.
- UWB measures distance and direction, not just proximity. That is what finally makes auto-unlock reliable enough to recommend with a straight face.
- Matter certification means broad ecosystem support, but check the client’s Thread border router situation before you quote.
Read the full story at GearBrain
Josh.ai Writes the Smart Home’s First AI Rulebook
Josh.ai has published what it believes is the first AI Code of Conduct for the smart home: twelve rules built around a “Home Authority Stack”. The key idea is a clean split between intelligence (the AI working out what you want) and authority (the control system that actually operates devices). AI never switches anything on its own, every request is validated by the control layer, and actions should be explainable, predictable and reversible.
CEO Alex Capecelatro summed it up neatly: the intelligence in a home must always answer to the people who live there. The code is voluntary, and Josh.ai is inviting platform makers, manufacturers, installers and homeowners to adopt and refine it.
Why It Matters
- With Google Home and Sonos both opening up to outside AI agents this month, you now have a ready-made way to explain to clients who is really in charge of their home.
- It makes a useful reference for your own proposals and handover documents when AI features are part of the install.
Hunter Douglas PowerView Gets a Proper Control4 Interface
Hunter Douglas and Cinegration Development have released an enhanced WebUI for PowerView on Control4. Homeowners can control individual shades, run PowerView Scenes and Rooms, and see live shade positions without leaving Control4, in a layout that mirrors the PowerView app they already know.
Why It Matters
- It is free for Control4 dealers and bundled with the PowerView driver suite on drivercentral.io, so it suits existing projects as well as new ones.
- “Why do I need two apps for my blinds?” is a classic service call. This one is now fixed with a driver update.
Every Button on Your Hue Switches Just Got More Useful
Philips Hue app 6.1.0 brings a small change with a big practical payoff: every button on every Hue switch now supports the same set of actions. The two middle buttons on the Dimmer Switch, which used to be reserved for dimming, can now trigger scenes, run press-and-hold actions and more.
Why It Matters
- More functions from switches clients already own means fewer extra controls on the wall.
- A good excuse to revisit button layouts on existing installs and offer a quick reconfiguration visit.
Worth Reading This Week
- ADT+ Learns Your Household’s Routine: ADT+ now flags unusual activity after learning 14 days of patterns from door, window, lock, garage and Z-Wave lighting events. No video or audio is used, and it is free for ADT+ customers with a V5 base or newer. A good example of useful AI that does not need a camera.
- Apple’s Home Display Could Land in October: Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman now says Apple’s smart home display could be unveiled as soon as October, in tabletop and wall-mounted versions running a new Siri-centred OS. If you work in Apple homes, start thinking about where a wall-mount unit would sit.
- Nest Doorbells Have Picked Up an American Accent: A Google Home bug has Gemini announcing Nest Doorbell visitors in an American accent whatever language is set, with reports from France, the Netherlands and the UK. Google says a fix is coming. Handy to know before a client rings you about it.
- Crestron Home OS 4.12 Adds Multiview: Several video sources can now share one screen in picture-in-picture or quad layouts, all set up in Configure Pro with no custom programming. It also adds support for Cameo Dual Dimmers and the 80 Series 15-inch touch screens.
- Airties Moves Home Security Into the Router: Airties has added malicious site blocking, content filtering and AI-driven threat detection to its ISP platform, including protection against emerging agentic AI risks. A sign of where network-level protection for device-heavy homes is heading.
- SwitchBot’s Tiny K11+ Pro Doubles Its Suction: A $400 robot vacuum under 10 inches wide with 12,000Pa suction, a 90-day self-emptying dock and Matter support. A neat option for apartments and rental units where space is tight.
- 5 New Gadgets for the Darker Evenings: A tidy round-up of autumn launches including Aqara’s Permanent Outdoor Lights H1, Reolink’s dual-lens OMVI 2i Ultra camera and the modular Sensereo Airo air-quality monitor. Good inspiration for seasonal upsells.
- Smart Thermostat Market Tipped for 14% Annual Growth: A new market report forecasts the thermostat sector growing 14% a year through 2033, driven by smart home adoption, efficiency regulation and connected HVAC. Useful context if climate control is not yet part of your offer.
- Free Halloween Scenes for Hue: iConnectHue 5.18 adds twelve Halloween scene templates plus support for the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 4K. A fun, low-effort way to show clients what their lighting can do this month.
- Smart Locks: Your Essential Guide: Our own guide to choosing and fitting smart locks, a good refresher to go with this week’s Aliro news. Worth sharing with clients weighing up their first smart lock.
About Smart Homes School Weekly
Smart Homes School Weekly is published every Wednesday by Gerard O’Driscoll from Ireland. It covers smart home technology, AI and automation news for professionals, consultants, installers and serious enthusiasts. Browse the full archive here.