Onvis Smart Motion Sensor SMS2

The Onvis Smart Motion Sensor SMS2 is four sensors in one battery-powered body. Alongside motion detection it reports temperature, humidity, and whether the room is light or dark, so a single accessory can drive automations that would otherwise need three.

The light sensor is the one people underrate. It is what lets you write the automation everyone actually wants: turn the hall light on when somebody passes and it is dark, rather than every time somebody passes.

What works in Apple Home

• Report motion, temperature, humidity and light level as separate accessories.
• Trigger scenes and automations, and be read by Siri.
• Report its own battery level.

Connectivity

Thread is the reason to prefer this over an older Bluetooth sensor. Bluetooth accessories talk to one hub and get slower and less reliable the further away they sit. Thread accessories form a mesh, where every mains-powered Thread device passes messages along, so a sensor at the far end of the house responds as quickly as one in the hall.

You need a Thread border router for it: a HomePod mini, a HomePod (2nd generation) or an Apple TV 4K.

Before you buy

Two AAA batteries run it for roughly a year in normal use.

Scheduled detection lets you switch the motion sensing off during set hours, which stops a hallway sensor waking the house at night while leaving the temperature and humidity readings running.

Specifications