The long-awaited HomePod Mini bridges a strange gap between smart speakers, costing $99 like the Nest Audio and Amazon Echo, but in a small package like the cheaper Nest Mini and Echo Dot.

This smaller, more affordable Apple smart speaker sounds great. Siri is on board for HomeKit control and general voice assistance. The HomePod Mini can serve as the output for your Apple TV, and you can pair two HomePod Minis for stereo. Features like Intercom and Handoff make living with the Mini a little bit more fun.

In short, if you like Apple, you’re going to love this smart speaker. If you’re already living with an iPhone, Apple TV or original HomePod, the Mini makes sense as your next small smart speaker.

You’ve got lots of interesting options if you’re in the market for a smart thermostatincluding a couple of thermostats that support Siri control via Apple’s HomeKit. Of these, we like Ecobee’s thermostats the best. At $250, the Ecobee4 thermostat is the newest, but it really only adds in a built-in Amazon Alexa speaker to the experience. That’s not the biggest draw if you’re anchoring your smart home to Apple HomeKit and centering it on Siri for voice control.

That’s why I think it’s a smarter move to stick with one of Ecobee’s previous-generation, less expensive thermostats. They all work just as well with Apple HomeKit and they support Ecobee’s nifty temperature sensors, too. The Ecobee3 thermostat is listed as sold out on the Ecobee website, but the Ecobee3 Lite thermostat is still available. That’s the right price for HomeKit-compatible climate control.

Yale is a legacy brand that has been making locks for over 180 years, and it has used that experience in the Yale Asure Lock 2. Looking anything but dated this touchscreen, fingerprint sensor-packed smart lock is an excellent choice for your Apple HomeKit setup.

It comes loaded with smart features like Auto-unlock, unlimited passes to share with family and friends, app control and more. While it isn’t a budget pick, Yale wraps all the smart and secure features in three different finishes to match any decor.

As a trusted lock maker, Yale is a direct partner of Airbnb. This means that managing access is smooth and simple to use if you are an Airbnb host or are visiting a property with this smart lock.

Eufy’s Indoor Cam 2K is one of the first products to work with HomeKit Secure Video. Secure Video is Apple’s suite of security camera features in the Home app. At around $50, the Eufy Indoor Cam 2K is affordable and comes with several useful features like optional local storage and motion detection zones.

The Eufy Indoor Cam 2K is a solid competitor to other low-priced indoor models like the Wyze Cam Indoor and the Blink Mini. Its 2K video recording in particular separates it from those competing models.

Smart switches are another good option if you’re looking to automate the lights in your home — particularly for spots where a single switch controls several bulbs at once. You’ve got several options that work with HomeKit, but our favorite by far is the Lutron Caseta In-Wall Dimmer Switch.

Why Lutron? For starters, Lutron’s been in the business of dimmer switches for decades, and it’s a smart home stalwart, too. Its switches have a good set of features and work with everything, they support three-way setups and they look appropriately distinctive without being gaudy. Along with a wide variety of light switches, the Caseta platform also offers specialty switches for things like ceiling fans and Sonos speakers. All of it communicates with the Lutron Bridge using Lutron’s proprietary Clear Connect wireless standard, which is one of the speediest and most reliable standards we’ve tested at the CNET Smart Home.

That’s a long-winded way of saying these are really, really good smart light switches.

It’s counterintuitive, maybe, but Philips Hue is best when you skip the colors and focus on the Hue White bulbs, which put out smart, dimmable light at a yellowy 2,700 K. That’s because the best thing about Hue bulbs isn’t the colors at all, but rather, the strength of their best-in-class platform, which works with everything, pairs extremely well with Apple HomeKit and comes packed with useful features.

To take advantage, you’ll need to get a Philips Hue starter kit that comes with the essential Hue Bridge — and the two-bulb Hue White starter kit, is an affordable way in. And yes, you can always add color-changing bulbs to your HomeKit setup later.

In late 2020, Nanoleaf launched the latest set of novelty wall panels: Nanoleaf Shapes – Hexagons. These six-sided LED light panels are sold in a seven-panel starter kit for $150, though they’re currently on sale for $135 for the holidays

With vivid colors, easier mounting, a great design, and the same impressive list of features and integrations as its predecessors — including the excellent, music-syncing rhythm mode, touch sensitivity, and voice control via Alexa, Siri or Google Assistant — the latest Hexagons are the best Nanoleaf has to offer.

If you’re putting together a high-tech game room, dorm room or decorating a kids room, then Nanoleaf’s color-changing wall panels will be right for you. But outside of that, the flashy lights are perhaps a bit too futuresque for most households.

At $40, the Eve Energy smart plug isn’t the most affordable, but it offers seamless integration with Apple’s HomeKit with useful insights into the energy usage of devices plugged into it.

While Eve was once a HomeKit-only smart device brand, the company opened the doors to other platforms like Google Home and Amazon Alexa compatibility via Matter. It fits inside the frame of most wall outlets and has a physical button built into the LED indicator light.

The Eve app is clean and simple to navigate. Setting up timers and schedules for the smart plug is a cinch. This smart plug’s space-saving design and solid HomeKit compatibility make it easy to recommend to users in Apple’s ecosystem.