Imagine a crisp spring Sunday morning, a freshly brewed cup of joe, of course your automation helped, and the sun peaking through the clouds.  You step onto the patio to breathe in some fresh air and greet the day.  You glance at your phone to get the temperature only to suspect that the temperature data being presented seems a bit off.  The data also shows a higher humidity percentage than you feel.  Wouldn’t it be nice to know what the temperature, humidity, and even the air pressure were at your home rather than some rooftop downtown or, in many cases, the nearest airport which usually sits well outside your city?  Wouldn’t it also be useful to not only have this information, but to be able to have other accessories in your home act on these environmental conditions?  Eve Weather is here to help.  By simply placing this little device outside, you can get ultra-localized weather information in seconds and using Apple’s HomeKit, we can control other smart home accessories.  

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Features

• temperature, humidity, and air pressure sensor
• Daily, monthly, and yearly reporting of weather data via Eve for HomeKit app
• Wireless – Bluetooth Low Energy / 3 standard AA batteries

Need to Knows

• IPx3 rating (can handle some rain, but nothing too crazy)
• 1 year battery lifetime
• This device seems to be being phased out in order to make room for the Eve Degree

Pros

Other than its cooler sister Eve Degree which we’ll touch on below, Eve Weather is, as far as I know, the only HomeKit-enabled outdoor weather monitor which gives it a huge advantage.  You have real-time information on the outdoor conditions of wherever you place the device.

Like its indoor cousin, Eve Weather seemingly takes design cues from the white plastic MacBooks from the ‘00s.  It may look a bit dated at this point for some, but it’s a clean design that doesn’t offend and can fit in in most any outdoor living setup.

As with all smart sensors in general, Eve Weather, through HomeKit, gives us the ability to use the data that is picked up by the sensor to control other smart home accessories.  I found this useful to give me a rough idea of the temperature before heading out by setting a light to change different colors based on different temperature thresholds.  I also did this for humidity to let me know about rain, but found it less useful as by the time the sensor could definitively indicate to me that it was raining or had rained, I could simply look outside.

Cons

While the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol that Eve Weather uses to communicate with HomeKit does wonders for saving energy, it definitely lacks range.  If you plan on using this accessory, especially for automations, bear in mind that you’ll probably want to have home hub within about 30 fit of it.

While monitoring barometric pressure locally can give you a pretty good indication of low or high pressure systems which can help decide whether or not to water the plants, the air pressure sensor included in Eve Weather is not exposed in HomeKit.  This is likely a limitation of the HomeKit framework imposed by Apple rather than Eve.  We can, however, monitor pressure readings through the Eve app, but it sure would be nice to set an automation that would trigger your Eve Aqua to water your garden based on high or low pressure systems and humidity.  Get it together Apple.

Eve Degree.  While not necessarily a con, Eve Degree seems to be making Eve Weather go the way of the buffalo.  While I get that new versions with better specs, features, and a paint job are inevitable and do quite like Eve Degree, it might behoove Eve to keep Weather, and the first-gen. Room, around for people who’d like to get in on the HomeKit game, but are reluctant to ante up.  

The App

The Eve for HomeKit app is the standard upon which other HomeKit manufacturers’ apps should be judged and perhaps third-party developers’ apps, as well.  It has a super clean interface, sensor data is presented clearly and the hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly graphs really help you to notice changes in temperatures over time.  As we’ve explored in the past and will do in the future. The Eve for HomeKit app also takes advantage of some automation features of the HomeKit framework that Apple’s own Home app doesn’t.  

I do have one gripe about it though and it’s about how to track down the data related to air pressure.  I suppose it’s not a priority since you can’t really use it for anything except viewing and monitoring changes in air pressure over time, the data is located in only one place.  You can find it by expanding the Eve Weather accessory after finding its room only in the ‘Rooms’ tab of the app.

Final Thoughts

Eve Weather is a great addition to your HomeKit home.  It provides a wealth of detailed, ultra-local weather that can help with your lawn and garden, figuring out allergens and other health conditions, and who doesn’t want to be able to ask Siri what the temperature is on the porch on a hot summer day if only to complain about it.  I do think it has a decent battery life considering how often it pulls information for its sensors to be able to populate its various metrics.  It sure beats its indoor counterpart, the 1st gen. Eve Room, in this category.  I cannot confirm this, but Eve seems to be phasing the Weather out of its product line.  Though it continues to be supported, it and the aforementioned Eve Room v1 are not really mentioned on the updated website, instead opting for the shinier Eve Room v2 and Degree, though you can usually find the Weather at significantly discounted rates if you look hard enough.

I’m just not so sure how useful this is in terms of a HomeKit gadget.  Sure, having a light display a  certain color once a temperature or humidity threshold is met is great; and maybe you can use it to control a fan or humidifier/dehumidifier in a greenhouse, but I don’t see this being all that useful for most people.  It would, however, be significantly more appealing with the addition of being able to control accessories based on air pressure.  Again, this is probably not an Eve thing, but rather something Apple needs to sort out, but still.   Taking all of these things into consideration if you pick one of these up, you won’t be disappointed.

Do you have any ideas for using outdoor environment data for automations? What other weather data do you think would be useful. Let us know in the comments or on social media @myhomekithome.

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Links & Resources

Learn more about Eve full range of HomeKit-enabled products at https://www.evehome.com

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