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Switchbot Unveils Universal Remote With Matter Support
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For Matter support, you will need either the company’s Hub 2 or Hub Mini with Matter. It can control IR devices, Switchbot’s own Bluetooth devices, as well as third-party Matter devices.
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“It can also integrate with SwitchBot devices like the Bot, Plug Mini, Curtain, and Ceiling Light, as well as Apple TV and Amazon’s Fire TV (these last two options are apparently coming in a later update).”
Yeah, I’ll wait until this “later update” actually exists before considering buying one.
As someone who’s been burned by unmet promises of features “coming soon” or “later this year” (I’m looking at you, Level Lock Thread support 😑), I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment. And I’m pretty tired of companies announcing features months or years before the it’s actually made available.
Yeppp. Remember when Ring said they were adding HomeKit support “soon”?
Still waiting for my Yale system to support HomeKit, 5 years in…
Still waiting on HomeKit for my Big Ass Fans….
My favorite is when these companies actually present on stage at an event, like WWDC or a hardware release, saying how excited they are to support the latest Apple HW / SW “later this year”, and then they go radio silent about it for a year or two.
I’m glad people are starting to remember and make purchasing decisions based on what a device does NOW and not get fooled by sales and marketing.
I read that as Butt Plug Mini.
I mean it would be great to have a remote for that too!
buttplugio/awesome-buttplug
Yeah. I waited for thread support on wemo stage too long to believe in such promises.
Why do companies insist you use their hub? Why can’t it have thread support natively?
My only thought is data collection..
I think lock-in is also part of it
Because the remote only has Bluetooth and IR. Connects to hub with Bluetooth and then you get to control other matter devices.
Both are inferior to thread
that doesn’t actually answer the question, which at its core includes the question “why doesn’t this device have its own thread radio?”
Battery life I’m sure is one
In this case, the IR is learnt by the hub and then transferred to the remote.
Could this replace a harmony remote?
Haven’t found anything that comes close.
Check out the Cantana Haptique, whose release is imminent. Lots of videos on YouTube of it in action:
https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/18/24181245/cantata-haptique-rs90-rs90x-universal-remote-smart-home-controller
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cantata/haptique-rs90-a-true-universal-remote-controller
Kinda looks like smart integration is not great
In what way? To me it looks to have better “smart integration” than any other universal remote that came before it. So much compatibility, even Home Assistant! They just announced that Matter support coming in January. What do you think it’s lacking?
The Sofabaton X1 replaced it for me. It obviously depends on what you're trying to control though.
I also bought an Unfolded Circle Remote Two which is promising, but was really expensive and still a work in progress. It does integrate with Home Assistant though so that increases its capabilities a lot. I think the Remote 3 version is coming out fairly soon.
A long stick usually replaces a harmony remote so probably.
Wonder how this compares to the upcoming remote 3
How do I get my hub mini to support matter? Is there a specific hardware required?
Only the new model that came out recently with the Smart Lock Pro has Matter support. If you have that model, it’s available as an update in the settings section.
I have a long history of using universal remote controls including the Philips Pronto, Logitech Harmony, etc.
I bought the SwitchBot universal remote control and I found it a total disappointment. Its database is very limited, it requires a hub to learn IR codes, etc.
The Sofabaton U1/U2 is similarly priced and more sophisticated.
It is unfortunate that the Pronto and Harmony were discontinued.
I hate SwitchBot’s hubs because everything is internet based. Why does someone in Japan need to know if I want to turn on a light??
SwitchBot are a Chinese company.
I posted about this in the Switchbot subreddit as I actually have the Remote which is still in its pre-release phase (there’s an update slated for July). Here’s the post where there is an ongoing discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/TrySwitchBot/s/DsWXse7E13.
I also think it’s important for folks to understand what Switchbot is before jumping on this as a Logitech Harmony replacement (and I note that SwitchBot remote is NOT an RF remote which was something Harmony had that others do not, as I understand it).
Logitech Harmony was an incredibly robust, polished set of products that hasn’t been replicated since (and there are other remotes on the market that sell for a lot more that still can’t replace Harmony).
Switchbot has a bunch of quirky products, and a reputation for attracting tech tinkerers…but they’ve been delivering on their Matter products and have come a long way in improving their app and retrofit devices in ways that larger companies have not.
I think the fine print is super important when ANY company pushes items with words like “Matter” or “Hub” or “Universal” since these all require follow-up questions since they are vague or overly broad.
I’d look for things like: Matter-Over-WHAT? Which ecosystems are supported and to what extent? What devices are supported? What are the limits to this device? When “hub” is used with reference to Matter or thread: are we talking about a controller, border router, bridge?
I wonder if it will work to it fullest via Bluetooth and Home Assistant
I bought one and a Hub 2 (needed an excuse lol). I have silly little Logi Pop buttons (not even the homekit enabled version) controlling most stuff so we'll see how well it works.
You must have been dabbling in smart home stuff for a while - those Logi Pop buttons go way back!
For the DIYers out there - perhaps check out HomeThing - which works off an esp32 / espHome (and could integrate via HomeKit using an intermediate like HomeAssistant)
https://homething.io
Unfortunately, the article doesn't say anything about Homekit integration. Would be awesome to integrate it into Homekit to make IR devices controlable with Siri.
As it supports Matter via one of their hubs, with Apple Home being Matter compatible, this allows it to control other Matter devices. This is from the SwitchBot press release;
“Through Matter, in addition to SwitchBot products, other smart home brands under Matter can also be remotely controlled through Matter, such as Philips Hue lights, IKEA curtains, and more, creating a completely seamless smart home experience.”
It’s possible the remote itself isn’t exposed to HomeKit, however.
Wouldn’t this only work if you happened to leave the remote pointing at the device.
I believe the hub is the thing actually sending the IR blast, so it should still work without line of sight as long as the hub has line of sight.
That would be a terrible way of doing it and I hope it's not how it works. You'd need a hub in every room. Hopefully the remote sends the IR blast and the hub just connects devices other than IR to the remote via Bluetooth.
The best way would probably be to choose which device sends the blast by adding the appliance to whichever one you want to send the blast. Then you should be able to add those appliance to the universal remote. We’ll see I guess.
Wait, only IR? No RF? Gross. Companies that still use IR instead of RF are a serious pet-peeve of mine. If this did RF it would open up the door to so many other things in my house that aren't smart out of the box (like ceiling fans, box fans, lights, etc). I mean, I know you can get something like a BroadLink, but that's a whole other device to effectively act as a middle man. Plus I'd need one in every room - where as if the remote did it I could just point and click, job done.
Also, the Switchbot remote only controls the AppleTV over IR and not bluetooth, like the actual ATV remote uses? Or am I reading that wrong?
I worked for an AV company for about 4 years. Our “engineers” would refuse to utilize IP control for compatible devices. We would have to splice IR and hot glue emitters on the $3000+ equipment. I think those same kinda people run these companies. Get with the times. Universal control should mean universal control
To be fair, I don't think IP should be the only way. There should be some sort of a more "analog" (if you will) backup. But that backup should never, ever be IR. It should be RF. IR should've died in the 90s. I have no idea why it's still used by manufacturers. IR is not even cheaper, from an electrical engineering perspective or from a software development perspective.
I completely agree. IP can be a little more involved as well but RF is quick and simple. Should have replaced IR years ago
With you all the way. It's bonkers that IP is not the most prevalent standard. No one can convince me that manufacturers can't afford an ESP32 chip (the on-topic manufacturers, that is). If I had to guess, this Switchbot remote probably already has an ESP32 on the board.
From a support standpoint, it makes sense. A client spending $30k for their system just wants it to work. The company I worked for would only implement ip control if we did the network too.
RF is pretty much a custom job every time. IR is standardized with only about 3 major variations and carefully tracked codes across all manufacturers. RF has none of that. Totally untenable for universal remote apps or devices to try to bake that cake. The Way is IP control and only the best apps and devices do it worth a damn. Which this is not.
I hate using codes with universal remotes. I've had three rather expensive ones. It's so messy and inaccurate using codes. Capture is the only way to go, IMO. Same could work with RF. Especially because devices with RF remotes usually only have two or three buttons/functions.
Large percentage of IR devices are mostly unlearnable. About 15%. This most common is a format called RC5. You might get a good learn, but it will be an unreliable code for multiple reasons including that the code changes each use. The reason universal remote apps and devices have such codes is they were generated by a formula not as a static code and not learned. RF has similar issues in a much larger context because the formats are all non standard.
I know the hub 2 can be programmed to control IR devices, so I guess it would make sense if you could use the hub as an IR emitter from the remote?
I'm not sure what you mean. IR is terrible and should never be part of any product ever. There is literally only disadvantages to IR over RF.
At this point remotes like this are the same as the dedicated AI devices like Humane. The moment you get one, you realize this is a feature on your phone not a product. People didn’t want another hand held device when apps do all of this and much more. Could be useful for point solutions like turning on specific room lights. But Lutron Pico is a better form factor and architecture for that.
People want dedicated remotes for their TVs and not have to app hop on a phone.
Of course you don’t app hop. Universal remote is an app category with hundreds of options from very low end crap to very high end control systems. I don’t know why someone would want to time travel back to physical remotes when apps are so much more capable.
“Apps”
I want one app if I’m going to use an app. Plus handheld remotes are nearly dummy proof. If I have guests, I don’t want to make them download an app…
I can honestly say I’ve never been to a house that doesn’t have at least one remote.
People don’t want to mess around with apps on their phone. They just want to pick a remote up from the table in front of them.
Sure and in a room like that you might dedicate an old iPhone or iPad for that purpose. Will run much better with modern apps and be far more maintainable over time than this time travel device.
You have to charge those devices like at least every 2 days. A remote that sits there and works and lasts for like 4-5 months between charges is far better.
You would certainly keep such a device on a charger (just like this OP device). One of many other benefits is that the devices are constantly updated and cycled and have many other uses. Whereas this device doesn’t.
…but people don’t do that. They don’t want to do that. There’s a reason remotes are still (and will remain) incredibly popular in every household, and it’s because of their ease of use.
Pick up, press pause. Not pick up, hold at the right angle to unlock, swipe over and find/open the right app, let it load, go to the correct remote…