Air Conditioners and Heaters

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If you have an air conditioner and you want it in Apple Home, you almost certainly do not need a new air conditioner. You need a controller: a small box that sits in the room and fires infrared commands at the unit, exactly as the handset does. Any air conditioner or air-to-air heat pump with an infrared remote can join Apple Home this way, including split systems, window units, portable units, and machines far too old to have ever heard of HomeKit.

That is the single most useful thing on this page, and it is why the controllers come first.

Controllers: make the air conditioner you own smart

Netatmo Smart AC Controller

The Netatmo Smart AC Controller is the one to look at first. It learns your existing remote and gives Apple Home the things the handset does — power, mode, target temperature — so the air conditioner joins scenes and automations and can be turned off from a train.

Note before you order: the Amazon UK listing for this is a two-pack. That is good value for a house with two split units and the wrong purchase for one room.

Check price on Amazon UK

tado° Smart AC Control

The tado° Smart Control for ACs does the same job, and it is the one to choose if you already run tado° for your heating — the app, the account and the geofencing are shared rather than being a second system to manage.

Check price on Amazon UK

Sensibo Air

The Sensibo Air is the third well-known option and the one enthusiasts tend to prefer, but be careful buying it: Amazon UK’s results for the name are dominated by the older Sensibo Sky and by three-packs of the Air. Those are different purchases. Check the model and the quantity on the listing rather than trusting the search result, which is why we have not linked one here.

Aqara Air Conditioning Companion P3

The Aqara Air Conditioning Companion P3 is the controller people search for by name, and it is not sold through Amazon UK — the listings under that name are unrelated accessories. It is an Aqara ecosystem product; buy it from an Aqara dealer.

Air conditioners and heat pumps themselves

The units in this category are, with few exceptions, not sold in Britain. The HERAN Smart Air Conditioner is Taiwanese, the COLMO TURING is Chinese, and the GE Window Air Conditioner is an American window unit of a kind that does not fit a British sash window and is not sold here.

They are listed because the directory is a record of what supports Apple Home worldwide, not a UK shopping list. If you are in the UK and want cooling, the realistic path is a portable or split unit chosen on its merits plus one of the controllers above.

Heaters

Electric panel heaters: the Intuis range

Intuis sells smart panel heaters under four names — NOIROT, AIRELEC, APPLIMO and CAMPA — which are the same company’s brands for different markets. They are French, they are sold through electrical wholesalers rather than Amazon, and they are the serious answer for a room with no wet radiator: an electric panel heater that Apple Home can schedule per room.

De’Longhi MDH

The De’Longhi MDH Multi Dynamic Heater is the portable, plug-in end of the same idea. Not currently listed on Amazon UK under this name.

What to check before you buy

That your air conditioner has an infrared remote. This is the whole requirement for a controller. If the unit is operated by a wired wall panel with no handset, an IR controller cannot drive it and you need the manufacturer’s own module instead.

Line of sight. The controller has to see the unit. It is a small box that wants a shelf or a wall bracket pointing at the air conditioner, not a spot behind the sofa. Think about where it will go and whether there is a socket there.

That it cannot know the unit’s real state. Infrared is one-way. The controller sends a command and assumes it worked; if somebody uses the handset, Apple Home can be out of step until the next command. The better controllers mitigate this with their own temperature sensor. It is a limitation of the approach rather than a fault, and it is worth knowing before you are surprised by it.

Heating as well as cooling. Most modern split systems are heat pumps and run in reverse in winter, which is by a distance the cheapest heating in a poorly-heated room. Check the controller exposes the heating mode to Apple Home and not only cooling.

Running cost, for electric heaters. A 2 kW panel heater is a 2 kW panel heater whether or not it has HomeKit. Smart control saves money by heating rooms only when they are used — the schedule is the saving, not the technology.

A home hub. Schedules, automations and control from outside the house need a HomePod or an Apple TV at home.

The full list of HomeKit-compatible air conditioners, heat pumps, heaters and AC controllers in the directory is below.