Starling Home Hub - Connect Your Nest Thermostat, Protect, Cameras, Speakers, Secure, Lock to Apple HomeKit, AirPlay and Siri

I have an evolving "Smart Home" that I would say is at the upper end of the "Easy Plug N' Play" end of the spectrum. I have devices from Google Nest, Amazon, TP-Link, Philips Hue, LIFX, Nanoleaf, Arlo, Insteon, Wemo, and of course, my Primary ecosystem of Apple. I never thought i could have the non-homekit compatible devices ever integrate into one manageable interface on my phone or iPad short of going to a major setup using Homeassistant and Node-Red (which I'm doing now for fun).Until I saw this Device reviewed on YouTube.I bought it, Shook my head at the size...about the size of 2 packs of playing cards stacked...plugged it into my network, and followed well-documented instructions to configure it through my web browser.5 minutes later, my Home app on my iPad begins populating with my Nest cameras (even doorbell), thermostat, and the myriad other non-homekit devices I have. I was dumb-struck—pretty much perfect integration.Now when my Nest doorbell rings, the picture pops up on my AppleTV. So I can view all my cameras and the status of my sprinklers all in one place.For a beginner or someone who just desires to have devices that don't support homekit to "just work" with their Apple environment, i cannot recommend this enough. It actually motivated me to take the next steps in home automation.

This is a really good product and would have gotten 5 stars. However, if you authenticate with Google for your Nest products, be prepared for a bit of a science project. What I discovered is that you cannot use the Safari browser to connect and configure the product which, of course, most of the Apple world uses. You need to use Chrome (or Firefox) on a Mac and install a plug-in. Their instructions for installing the Chrome plug-in are worthless, and in frustration, I was ready to return the product. Then I decided to give it a day and try googling instructions on Chrome plug-ins. Finally, I was able to get it installed. Once that was done the rest was easy and I really like the product. Just fix your lousy instructions!

I literally opened the box from the mail, plugged It into the back of my home router, turned on my computer and it set itself up. All I did was find myself pressing the enter key as we went through each room while itself set up. The most difficult part (and it was incredibly easy) of the whole process was verifying the location of each nest device.A completely seamless process. My nest cameras, thermostat, smoke alarms, doorbell, everything works with HomeKit now and works with all of my Apple equipment.Worth every penny! You should charge more for this.

We mostly got this neat little device to solve one simple problem: we’re a HomeKit home except for our Nest doorbell, and when somebody rings the doorbell we want to hear it on our Apple devices when we’re outside. This little — and I mean really little — box does the trick! Setup was slightly tricky because it wouldn’t work on my iPad, but using Chrome on a Mac (as suggested by the install process) worked and went smoothly. Note that you will need an available Ethernet port on your router or switch, but it comes with a cable. Within a few minutes our security cameras/doorbell were showing up in the Home app, and now we get doorbell notifications on our iDevices everywhere. Yay!

The new google home app forced use is terrible, and not allowing their new camera to use the Nest app (which is great) is a poor business move on Googles part. So this kicked off the migration and consolidation to HomeKit, I have the cameras and didn't want to have to buy new hardware - this makes it easy to migrate over to the Apple HomeKit App using Nest Cameras.

Firstly: if you are thinking about it... just buy it! It works perfectly!Now: I've run Homebridge (software for bridging non-Homekit accessories to Homekit) myself on a Raspberry Pi - and it is a pain to setup and keep running. Starling takes all of the effort out of it - it just WORKS. Like, perfectly.It recognized my Nest Thermostat, Google Home Hub Max cameras (2x), and Nest Hello doorbell and added them all to Homekit effortlessly. Everything works - I can utilize any of the cameras or thermostat in Homekit automations and the Doorbell even pops up on my Apple TVs when someone rings it and I'm watching a show. It's like magic!Cannot recommend this enough. Buy it!

If you live in the Apple-verse, and are into HomeKit but have some Google devices such as the Nest thermostat, and outdoor camera they will not work with HomeKit. This device will bridge your Nest devices with HomeKit allowing them to play together. Allowing the Nest devises to work within your Home App. Very small and almost a plug-n-play device you should have no issue setting it up. Highly recommend it.

Ridiculously simple to set up, it "just works." You need to be online to connect it to your Apple Home network, but once you configure it, it just works. I can ask Siri what the temperature is indoors, and get a response from my Google Nest. I can see video from my security camera. Cool.