Black Friday is a great time to start your smart home journey or spread HomeKit to even more places inside your home.
Black Friday is almost upon us, and you know what that means — tons of sales on everything under the sun, including HomeKit accessories. If you are interested in joining in on the smart home fun with your first accessories, or if you want to expand your connected empire, Black Friday is the absolute best time of the year to save. This year, we have already seen massive discounts on smart plugs, light bulbs, and more at various retailers, and it is only going to get better once Black Friday arrives, so if you want to save, now is the time!
Start with savings
If you are just starting, Black Friday is an excellent time to jump in with deals available for the HomeKit essentials: smart plugs and lighting. Smart plugs are hands-down, the easiest way to start, with their simple plug and play nature that makes appliances and devices instantly, well, smart. On Black Friday, you should be able to score HomeKit plugs for as little as $10 each through multi-packs and with single units from brands like Meross.
Another simple way to get started is HomeKit light bulbs, which screw right into lamps and fixtures the same way as traditional bulbs. We suggest going with the Philips Hue line of lighting as it plays nicely with HomeKit and all of the other smart voice assistants, and it has an expansive ecosystem of accessories. During Black Friday, we often see starter kits that include multiple light bulbs, remotes, and the critical Philips Hue Hub available at the lowest prices of the year.
Of course, if you already have your HomeKit home established, Black Friday deals on smart plugs and light bulbs give you the ability to expand even further. In some cases, prices may be so low that it can be cheaper to pick up another starter kit over additional accessories.
Plug and play
Meross Smart Plug Mini
Make anything smart
The Meross Smart Plug Mini makes it easy to make any appliance or device HomeKit-enabled. Just plug it in, scan the HomeKit code, and you are ready to begin your smart home journey.
Expand your empire
Philiips Hue White and Color Ambiance Smart Bulbs (3-Pack)
See the savings
Best Buy's Philips Hue Black Friday deal gives you three white and color light bulbs at a significant discount. Expand your existing lighting system for less, or start with Bluetooth only controls with this multi-pack.
Stock up on security
If you have already begun deploying HomeKit accessories around the home, Black Friday is also one of the best times to stock up on additional devices. HomeKit contact sensors, and cameras, while great, only cover specific areas or rooms in and around the home, which doesn't make them a fool-proof method for home security.
For doors and windows, HomeKit contact sensor options are already limited, and at the standard retail price, can add up quickly, especially if you have a larger home and want to cover every entry point. On Black Friday, we expect to see discounts that can shave up to 25% off sensors like the Eve Door and Window, meaning you can essentially get one for free if you are buying in bulk.
The same goes for HomeKit cameras, as they are only useful for the area they overlook. HomeKit cameras are typically the most expensive accessory category, but brands like eufy Security are known for having some of the best sales on Black Friday, so this may be the time to pick up more. Recent sales have dropped eufy's Indoor Cam 2K to around $30, and the Indoor Cam Pan 2K down to $40, so we expect to see the same on Black Friday.
Open and shut
Eve Door and Window
$40 at Amazon$40 at Best Buy$40 at Apple
Stock up!
If you want to secure multiple windows and doors in your home, then Black Friday is the best opportunity to do so for less. The HomeKit essential, Eve Door and Window, is fast, reliable, and will gain Thread capabilities later this year.
Keep an eye out
eufy Indoor Cam 2K
$40 at Amazon$40 at Walmart$40 at Newegg
Affordable security
eufy's HomeKit-enabled Indoor Cam 2K keeps an eye on the home with 2K high definition visuals, two-way audio, and more. HomeKit Secure Video support allows it to take advantage of the latest iOS 14 features.
Opportunity knocks
Black Friday is also the one time of year that brings prices down on some aspirational HomeKit accessories. Nanoleaf's line of smart light panels are almost certainly a lock for Black Friday, with starter sets usually seeing discounts between $20-$50 on the big day and expansion sets seeing similar savings. In fact, the Nanoleaf Shapes Hexagons are already at their lowest price with sale at Best Buy.
Another prime example is the VOCOlinc PureFlow Smart WiFi Air Purifier, which we found to be definitely worth the long wait in our review earlier this year. VOCOlinc is currently offering a 20% discount on it to celebrate Black Friday, knocking $80 off the high price tag. Other expensive HomeKit accessories that have seen massive discounts on Black Friday include HomeKit ceiling fans, HomeKit sprinkler controllers, and HomeKit door locks.
While we don't anticipate any deals on the newly released HomePod mini, Black Friday is usually kind to the original HomePod. The OG HomePod has hit its lowest price levels ever on Black Friday with $100 discounts bringing it down to $199 — a steal for the smart speaker. In addition to high quality, the HomePod acts as a HomeKit hub enabling remote connections to all of your accessories, and it continues to add features like Stereo Pairing, Home Theater Mode, and an Intercom over time.
Light it up
Nanoleaf Shapes Hexagons
Creative and colorful
Nanoleaf's light panels are always on sale for Black Friday, with discounts already available for the Shapes Hexagons series. These colorful panels sport millions of colors, and a new connector allows them to integrate with other shapes.
The one and only
VOCOlinc PureFlow Smart Air Purifier
Clear the air
The VOCOlinc PureFlow is the only HomeKit air purifier available, and while great, it is quite expensive. If you are in the market, be sure to take advantage of the Black Friday promotion to score significant savings.
Where to save
Let's face it, the HomeKit accessory market is much smaller when compared to alternatives like Amazon's Alexa, so there are only a few places where you can purchase products. The best selection and prices will be through Amazon due to the sheer amount of items that the retailer lists, and it also happens to be the only place where you can find some of the smaller brands, so start there first.
If Amazon isn't your preferred destination, then Best Buy is an excellent alternative for HomeKit accessories. Best Buy usually matches Amazon's biggest sales, and with local pickup, you may be to score some without paying for shipping. Best Buy stocks the larger HomeKit brands like Philips Hue, Wemo, Eve, and August, often putting starter kits on sale for the lowest prices of the season during Black Friday and is also a great place to check out deals on HomeKit-enabled TVs.
Other retailers to look around at on Black Friday are Walmart, Target, and Newegg. You should be able to find deals on smart plugs and light bulbs at the general retailers, and some of the smaller brands also sell their products directly on Newegg. One retailer to avoid on Black Friday is Apple, as the tech giant doesn't participate in the madness, so don't bother wasting your time looking for HomeKit accessories there.
Why you shouldn't pick up HomeKit accessories on Black Friday
Even though we love HomeKit, smart home accessories are more of luxury, nice to have items. While HomeKit accessories may be more affordable than ever on Black Friday, you shouldn't go crazy and buy them all just because they are on sale. As HomeKit matures, we have seen plenty of new brands, like Meross pop-up, that bring retail prices down to more reasonable levels on smart home staples.
The tech inside of HomeKit accessories is always evolving, so any devices you pick up today may be replaced by faster and more reliable options later. One example of this is the recent introduction of Thread wireless connectivity into HomeKit products like Nanoleaf's new A19 Light Bulb and Lightstrip, as well as Apple's HomePod mini.
Thread is a local area network technology that provides a remarkable improvement over Bluetooth and is much easier to use than Wi-Fi. We see Thread as a game-changer for the smart home and expect to see widespread adoption over the next year, so stocking up on older tech may leave you questioning your purchases.
HomeKit and beyond
As always, we will be bringing you the best HomeKit accessory deals before, during, and after Black Friday, so keep it locked to iMore for our recommendations. Also, be sure to check out our guide to the best Apple Black Friday deals, and if you want even more savings, head on over to our Black Friday deal roundup that covers just about everything.
Save money and stock up on HomeKit accessories this Black Friday! posted first on http://bestpricesmartphones.blogspot.com
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