If you like using Google and Apple smart home products, you need to be using the Starling Home Hub. In my original review, I noted that it was a streamlined and turnkey way to add all of your Nest and Google Home products to HomeKit. Over the past two and a half years, the team behind the product has continued to release updates to make the product even better. Today, version 12.0 of the firmware adds support for the new Nest doorbell that includes continuous recording.
Once you unbox the Starling Home Hub, you plug it into power and an open router/switch port (no Wi-Fi), you go to setup.starlinghome.io on any browser that’s on the name network to get started. Starling Home Hub works with Nest accounts and Google accounts that manage Nest products. It even works with two-factor authentication for Google accounts as well. In the two years I’ve used the product, I’ve never had an issue with connectivity. If you already have the device, you’ll update the firmware from this section.
Starling Home Hub’s 12.0 firmware update adds complete support for the new Nest doorbell, including HomeKit Secure Video, which means with the Nest doorbell, you get full event history in the Apple’s Home app, along with rich notifications and HomeKit Activity Zones. This upgrade doesn’t change what you can do with Google’s Home app as well. They work great right along side each other.
The team at Starling Home Hub is quite impressed with the Nest doorbell and HomeKit so far. They included this note in the email to their customers.
We have been testing the new doorbell since we first got our hands on it, and we actually think it’s one of the best video doorbells we’ve ever seen for responsiveness and image quality, both day and night, thanks to Google’s embedded image processing – despite the fact the camera sensor itself is only HD resolution.
Starling Home Hub is available for a one-time fee of $99 without a subscription cost. It works with all Google Home products. With Starling Home Hub, you can connect all Nest Cam, Doorbell, Thermostat, Protect, Secure, and Nest × Yale Lock products to HomeKit and Siri. It also allows you to steam audio from any Apple device over AirPlay to Nest Audio, Mini, or Google Nest Hub. If you’re looking for an option for the new Nest Doorbell and HomeKit, Starling Home Hub is about the most streamlined option available.
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