I own one of these and it works great. I am using it to run a Nest Doorbell and Nest Learning Thermostat. I have full control and they look totally native in the Apple Home App. Starling are keeping the unit constantly updated in the background but let you know when they have loaded a new bit of firmware. I am very pleased with it so far.
@@flightgearHD That’s right… nest products appear in the home app and allow you to control them from the app or by voice using Siri. 👍🏻 Thanks for checking out our video - Carl
A follow up video showing it with the latest updates etc would be great! I'm trying to make my home all Homekit, but must admit I have always loved Nest products. The design and features are first class, probably down to former Apple engineers who created the company before Google bought them! I am tempted to get a Nest thermostat, so this would be a must!
Looks like just what I’ve been looking for. But I’m struggling to figure out how this actually works. So the hub is HomeKit compatible. And all your Google/Nest devices feed in through the hub? Is there any concern that Apple might stop this in the future?
Hi @Joao Araujo Thankyou very much.. Glad it was helpful! No you can’t see camera history on the home app, you have to continue to use the Nest app for that. From the home app you can see live footage and talk using 2 way audio - Carl
Hi, new to Homekit etc, had a few Googler items but switched over completely. I bought a Starling hub to trigger items in Automation from my Nest Protect (smoke and/or CO2), works fine (in test) but only seem to be able to switch lights on (eg bright red), but would also like to have my phone "speak" to me (loud and repeatedly) and Ping my phone, but don't seem to able to trigger that.... any ideas would be appreciated, thanks!
Hi Sean, we are on the latest versions of TvOS and the starling and it takes around 5 seconds from press to appear on the TV. The HomePod chime is less than 1 second from button press to chime. Hope that helps, thanks for checking out our video 👍🏻
Hello! I have a question regarding the doorbell notification on your Apple TV! Does this feature work while using a NEST Hello video Doorbell, with the latest TVOS? Thank you for your time! Great video! 😍
@@tmbrgndy wow, fast response! Thank you~ That sounds great! This has me genuinely excited~ Another question I have, which admittedly, could be a topic for another video altogether - How would you compare the Starling to something like the ‘hoobs’ system? Thank you again for your time!
@Mii You are welcome, I try and respond to everyone as soon as I can! The Starling is great and if anything, is better since we made this video as software updates have made it faster and more compatible. I’ve look into hoobs and it seems really powerful, I guess the best comparison would be that hoobs needs lots of manual setup and configuration but starling is almost plug and play so depends how “hands-on” you want to be. Glad you are enjoying the content, please feel free to subscribe if you haven’t already as we are working on lots more to come 😋
Got it yesterday and it works well. That said, on someone else's phone in my household (who is linked to my Home account as a resident but not as me (owner), the cameras and thermostats show up but not the data. No connection on either and no temps or ability to control anything. I have enable as many permissions as possible, even adding their accounts to my apple tv's as other users...still no work-y. I have an email into Starling to see why but waiting on that. So, for those of you who have separate icloud accounts and might be guests/residents in other Home accounts, you might have issues. Or do you? Interested to see if anyone else has run into this...
Hi @Geoff Barnes I’m not sure as have switched to HomePod minis now so using airplay to steam audio but will do some research and let you know what I can find 👍🏻
Great video. Question re: using automations for scheduling. I have 2 Nest battery cameras and the wired Nest doorbell. Google Home does not allow scheduling of cameras, only home and away routines (which is very limited and counterintuitive - e.g., I would like the camera to be active while I'm sleeping at night, however it will be deactivated as my phone is at home, if I use Google's home and away setup). Does Apple HomeKit allow you to set specific schedules for these Google/Nest products, once integrated into HomeKit with Starling Home Hub? Any info would be helpful. I've spent the better part of a day researching how to set this up!
Hi Kevin, the only automations I’m seeing within the home app are relating to sensors e.g if detects this then do that (a notification for example). I’m not seeing anything relating to time of day but then my cameras are wired and not battery. I’ll have a deeper look and if I find anything useful, I’ll report back - Best regards, Carl
I don’t believe so, the problem with the battery cams is they are no 24/7 recording. I assume to save battery life. If you wire it, that will be different.
I have a Nest thermostat, smoke detectors and multiple cameras. I have not migrated my Nest account to Google . Is doing so necessary to use starling? Thanks!
Hi @jonathan Porter… Thanks for your kind comment, it really helps! Absolutely, door bell presses come out of both of the HomePod Mini’s that we have 👍🏻
On the Apple TV when I go to my home app I can see my cameras and doorbell, but I can’t see my Philip hue lights anymore? Any help would be very much appreciate.
@adamcclark we did exactly this a few months ago and added a new nest camera in the back garden and it was detected instantly in the home app. We didn’t need to do anything outside of the standard nest camera installation steps! Thank you for watching and for your question - Carl 👍🏻
Hi @Paul Weakley thanks for checking out the channel and the positive feedback, it really helps a lot. From what I can find out, Starling is compatible with any Apple TV that can run tvOS 14 but that is only models made since 2015 so I don’t think it will work.
Hi @jonathan, the starling is connected via Ethernet cable and does need to be on the same network as the devices you want to connect to. Thanks for watching.
Thanks Danny, good to hear it’s useful... We paid £24.50 import fees in December as it was a Christmas present so may be a little more due because of brexit. I can’t use it for our hot water but that’s because I don’t think our boiler installer was the most clued up on nest at the time! I would say (but don’t quote me!) that I can’t see why this wouldnt work with a hot water system as long as that supports nest. The starling will simply see it as another on/off switch that you can interact with.
@@tmbrgndy thank you for the reply. I’ll look further in to the hot water situation, even Google haven’t included the functionality in their Google Home app, it’s only available via the Nest app or on the thermostat itself.
I have the nest secure alarm system. Can I activate that via the HomeKit watch app? Also, do you still leave nest notifications on so you can get package detection? Can you specify what notification you get on the HomeKit?
Hi Brandon, sadly the Nest secure system is not available here in the U.K. so cannot say either way. I’m quite jealous that you have the system, is it good?! Here’s hoping Google and Nest see this and make it available over here!
@Brandon R I currently still have nest notifications on as well for package and face detection. HomeKit gives you person, movement and doorbell presses but not “familiar face”.
@@tmbrgndy are you sure you can’t bring in the familiar face names? Modern Day tech has a video from 11 months ago that showed the identified face names coming over and being announced through the HomePod (with the persons name)
Very interesting @Andrew Johnson I will play with the settings and see what’s what as I’d hate to be missing out on that and would love to remove use of the Nest app entirely! Thanks for watching 👍🏻
@@tmbrgndy I just bought a Starling Hub yesterday based on the news of air play working with nest speakers/displays. They are supposedly also looking to bring HKSV to Nest cameras (not sure how they would do a workaround) which would be fantastic!
When you were setting it up it said nest or google, what if you have both? I have two nest cameras, 4 smoke detectors and one thermostat. I also have the need google nest door bell that sets up in the google app not the best app like all the other ones. Can I link them all?
Hi Danny, I would have thought you can add them all. We have 2 nest cameras, 2 smoke detectors and a nest doorbell. The doorbell is the only one that we purchased after they were rebranded to Google nest rather than just nest and they all added fine. I think you will have to use Google account these days as Google were pushing everyone with nest accounts to migrate when I set this up and that was a while ago so would be surprised if they haven’t deprecated nest only accounts by now… Hope this helps and thanks for watching 👍🏻
We have only used it to integrate nest into our HomeKit setup and from looking at the current starling website, I can’t see any mention of other smart home integrations right now but I would keep an eye for any announcements they may make in the future as they do seem to develop quickly.
@@tmbrgndy Great video - you just talk kinda fast with minimal breaks - I so I had to rewatch a few sections. But thanks for your content and continue to strive for improvement.
Hi, does this setup affect recording event videos in the Google Home app? I have the Nest Cam Wired 2nd Gen and want to view the live stream in Apple Home app, but still want the camera to work fully in the Google Home app. Thanks
This product was so easy to setup. No need to replace 3 thermostats and three cameras!! Great video. Thank you
Thankyou for the feedback and for checking out our video! It really means a lot.
Glad you are enjoying the Starling 👍🏻
Simply fantastic walkthrough and explanations of the entire setup process and usage cases. Thank you!
Thanks so much @Trey Reedy we are really glad you enjoyed it.
Slowly starting to work on some more content and this has really helped! :)
Excellent and informative video many thanks
This was really helpful -thank you!
Thankyou @Ben Park that means a lot. 👍🏻
Great and helpful video, thanks.
I own one of these and it works great. I am using it to run a Nest Doorbell and Nest Learning Thermostat. I have full control and they look totally native in the Apple Home App. Starling are keeping the unit constantly updated in the background but let you know when they have loaded a new bit of firmware. I am very pleased with it so far.
Glad you are happy with yours @James Thomson… It’s a great solution.
Thanks for your comment.
From what I understand, this bridge lets you use nest products as if they had HomeKit support?
@@flightgearHD That’s right… nest products appear in the home app and allow you to control them from the app or by voice using Siri. 👍🏻
Thanks for checking out our video - Carl
A follow up video showing it with the latest updates etc would be great! I'm trying to make my home all Homekit, but must admit I have always loved Nest products. The design and features are first class, probably down to former Apple engineers who created the company before Google bought them! I am tempted to get a Nest thermostat, so this would be a must!
Hi Spencer… Great idea and thanks for the feedback.
We are just working on plans for season 2 for next year so will see what I can do for you 👍🏻
Fun fact. I worked with the sister of the guy that created Drop Cam… yes, we worked at Apple 😂
Thanks for the video . It was very useful. 👍
You are very welcome Rajan!
Very helpful. Cheers
Awesome. My Starling Hub is on its way. 🙂
Awesome... Hope you enjoy it 👍🏻
How did it go?
Does the Starling Home show the hot water switch within the Nest thermostat? If so, I may even buy it as 'Homebridge Google Nest SDM' doesn't seem to!
Looks like just what I’ve been looking for. But I’m struggling to figure out how this actually works. So the hub is HomeKit compatible. And all your Google/Nest devices feed in through the hub? Is there any concern that Apple might stop this in the future?
Nice review ! Just wondering if you can see the history of the cameras on the home app on the iPhone. Thanks
Hi @Joao Araujo Thankyou very much.. Glad it was helpful!
No you can’t see camera history on the home app, you have to continue to use the Nest app for that.
From the home app you can see live footage and talk using 2 way audio - Carl
Hi, new to Homekit etc, had a few Googler items but switched over completely. I bought a Starling hub to trigger items in Automation from my Nest Protect (smoke and/or CO2), works fine (in test) but only seem to be able to switch lights on (eg bright red), but would also like to have my phone "speak" to me (loud and repeatedly) and Ping my phone, but don't seem to able to trigger that.... any ideas would be appreciated, thanks!
yes nice quick connect ...BUD not certified for apple home app...and when send to europe they supply american power plug
We’re you able to add the google home displays ? Or google max displays ?
Is het possible to get doorbellen notifications through the HomePod. Its a thing i like about the nest hub.
Nice video, quick question, what is the time from when the doorbell is pressed until HomeKit alert appears?
Hi Sean, we are on the latest versions of TvOS and the starling and it takes around 5 seconds from press to appear on the TV.
The HomePod chime is less than 1 second from button press to chime.
Hope that helps, thanks for checking out our video 👍🏻
Hello!
I have a question regarding the doorbell notification on your Apple TV!
Does this feature work while using a NEST Hello video Doorbell, with the latest TVOS?
Thank you for your time!
Great video! 😍
Thanks @Mii
I can confirm that the latest TVos 15 is working with doorbell alerts and Picture in Picture video! 👍🏻
@@tmbrgndy wow, fast response! Thank you~
That sounds great! This has me genuinely excited~
Another question I have, which admittedly, could be a topic for another video altogether - How would you compare the Starling to something like the ‘hoobs’ system?
Thank you again for your time!
@Mii You are welcome, I try and respond to everyone as soon as I can!
The Starling is great and if anything, is better since we made this video as software updates have made it faster and more compatible.
I’ve look into hoobs and it seems really powerful, I guess the best comparison would be that hoobs needs lots of manual setup and configuration but starling is almost plug and play so depends how “hands-on” you want to be.
Glad you are enjoying the content, please feel free to subscribe if you haven’t already as we are working on lots more to come 😋
Got it yesterday and it works well. That said, on someone else's phone in my household (who is linked to my Home account as a resident but not as me (owner), the cameras and thermostats show up but not the data. No connection on either and no temps or ability to control anything. I have enable as many permissions as possible, even adding their accounts to my apple tv's as other users...still no work-y. I have an email into Starling to see why but waiting on that. So, for those of you who have separate icloud accounts and might be guests/residents in other Home accounts, you might have issues. Or do you? Interested to see if anyone else has run into this...
Can you stream audio to a speaker group or just to individual speakers? I have 7 nest minis so I’m curious how that works.
Thanks!
Hi @Geoff Barnes I’m not sure as have switched to HomePod minis now so using airplay to steam audio but will do some research and let you know what I can find 👍🏻
Great video. Question re: using automations for scheduling. I have 2 Nest battery cameras and the wired Nest doorbell. Google Home does not allow scheduling of cameras, only home and away routines (which is very limited and counterintuitive - e.g., I would like the camera to be active while I'm sleeping at night, however it will be deactivated as my phone is at home, if I use Google's home and away setup). Does Apple HomeKit allow you to set specific schedules for these Google/Nest products, once integrated into HomeKit with Starling Home Hub? Any info would be helpful. I've spent the better part of a day researching how to set this up!
Hi Kevin, the only automations I’m seeing within the home app are relating to sensors e.g if detects this then do that (a notification for example). I’m not seeing anything relating to time of day but then my cameras are wired and not battery.
I’ll have a deeper look and if I find anything useful, I’ll report back - Best regards, Carl
I don’t believe so, the problem with the battery cams is they are no 24/7 recording. I assume to save battery life. If you wire it, that will be different.
I have a Nest thermostat, smoke detectors and multiple cameras. I have not migrated my Nest account to Google . Is doing so necessary to use starling? Thanks!
When the door bell rings does it come through the HomePod? Great video
Hi @jonathan Porter… Thanks for your kind comment, it really helps!
Absolutely, door bell presses come out of both of the HomePod Mini’s that we have 👍🏻
On the Apple TV when I go to my home app I can see my cameras and doorbell, but I can’t see my Philip hue lights anymore? Any help would be very much appreciate.
Great job! 👏🏻 what happens if after setup you need to add a new Nest Google camera?
@adamcclark we did exactly this a few months ago and added a new nest camera in the back garden and it was detected instantly in the home app.
We didn’t need to do anything outside of the standard nest camera installation steps!
Thank you for watching and for your question - Carl 👍🏻
I’ve read you need a step down converter to use this efficiently in the UK, is yours fine without it?
Hi @Alex no step down required, works like a charm!
Thanks for checking out our videos 👍🏻
Hi Great Video Thanks, I only have the 2nd generation Apple TV Model No.A1378 (2010) will it still work with that ?
Hi @Paul Weakley thanks for checking out the channel and the positive feedback, it really helps a lot.
From what I can find out, Starling is compatible with any Apple TV that can run tvOS 14 but that is only models made since 2015 so I don’t think it will work.
@@tmbrgndy ok thanks for your reply/info, I have now ordered a Starling Hub anyway and try to run it from my iPad with iOS 14.7.1 for now
Good luck 👍🏻
Can you now control the nest thermostat from your apple watch?
Hi @Ian Cruickshanks... You absolutely can and it’s great.
I have put a short story on our Instagram in case you want to see it in action!
@tmbrgndy
Does the starling hub need to be on the same wifi as the other nest devices?
Hi @jonathan, the starling is connected via Ethernet cable and does need to be on the same network as the devices you want to connect to.
Thanks for watching.
Is there a way to assign the nest thermostat to a particular room's temperature sensor using homekit?
Hi Nick, Unfortunately I’m not sure as the room sensors are not readily available in the UK so not able to test but thanks for watching.
Thanks for this, it’s a great video! How much were the import fees and can you turn on the hot water from the Home App or with Siri?
Thanks Danny, good to hear it’s useful... We paid £24.50 import fees in December as it was a Christmas present so may be a little more due because of brexit.
I can’t use it for our hot water but that’s because I don’t think our boiler installer was the most clued up on nest at the time!
I would say (but don’t quote me!) that I can’t see why this wouldnt work with a hot water system as long as that supports nest. The starling will simply see it as another on/off switch that you can interact with.
@@tmbrgndy thank you for the reply. I’ll look further in to the hot water situation, even Google haven’t included the functionality in their Google Home app, it’s only available via the Nest app or on the thermostat itself.
I have the nest secure alarm system. Can I activate that via the HomeKit watch app?
Also, do you still leave nest notifications on so you can get package detection? Can you specify what notification you get on the HomeKit?
Hi Brandon, sadly the Nest secure system is not available here in the U.K. so cannot say either way.
I’m quite jealous that you have the system, is it good?!
Here’s hoping Google and Nest see this and make it available over here!
@Brandon R I currently still have nest notifications on as well for package and face detection.
HomeKit gives you person, movement and doorbell presses but not “familiar face”.
@@tmbrgndy are you sure you can’t bring in the familiar face names? Modern Day tech has a video from 11 months ago that showed the identified face names coming over and being announced through the HomePod (with the persons name)
Very interesting @Andrew Johnson
I will play with the settings and see what’s what as I’d hate to be missing out on that and would love to remove use of the Nest app entirely!
Thanks for watching 👍🏻
@@tmbrgndy I just bought a Starling Hub yesterday based on the news of air play working with nest speakers/displays. They are supposedly also looking to bring HKSV to Nest cameras (not sure how they would do a workaround) which would be fantastic!
When you were setting it up it said nest or google, what if you have both? I have two nest cameras, 4 smoke detectors and one thermostat. I also have the need google nest door bell that sets up in the google app not the best app like all the other ones. Can I link them all?
Hi Danny, I would have thought you can add them all. We have 2 nest cameras, 2 smoke detectors and a nest doorbell.
The doorbell is the only one that we purchased after they were rebranded to Google nest rather than just nest and they all added fine.
I think you will have to use Google account these days as Google were pushing everyone with nest accounts to migrate when I set this up and that was a while ago so would be surprised if they haven’t deprecated nest only accounts by now… Hope this helps and thanks for watching 👍🏻
@@tmbrgndy I ordered it! I can’t wait to try it.
Does this work with non nest products like lights etc?
We have only used it to integrate nest into our HomeKit setup and from looking at the current starling website, I can’t see any mention of other smart home integrations right now but I would keep an eye for any announcements they may make in the future as they do seem to develop quickly.
If I have lights set up with google home, will those lights also show up in HomeKit?
Hi Zac, which lights do you mean?
@@tmbrgndy I have lights connected to google home through nabu casa. Would they show up on HomeKit with this ?
Struggling to understand a tiny bit.
Which bits are you struggling with?
@@tmbrgndy I think it's the accent/mic for me. I was watching at 2.5x.
@@tmbrgndy Great video - you just talk kinda fast with minimal breaks - I so I had to rewatch a few sections. But thanks for your content and continue to strive for improvement.
Hi, does this setup affect recording event videos in the Google Home app? I have the Nest Cam Wired 2nd Gen and want to view the live stream in Apple Home app, but still want the camera to work fully in the Google Home app. Thanks
enunciate.