Eve, a smart home device maker based in Germany and now part of ABB, has joined the Works with Home Assistant program. This move means that a wide range of Eve products are now certified to work directly with Home Assistant, an open-source smart home platform. Eve has built a reputation for making smart home products that focus on privacy and local control, and they have been active in promoting the Matter standard, which is an open protocol designed to let smart home devices communicate locally instead of relying on cloud services.
Matter is a standard that helps smart home devices from different brands work together. It supports local connections over common networks like Ethernet and Wi-Fi, and also through Thread. Thread is a type of wireless technology that is useful for low-powered devices and helps keep your Wi-Fi from getting overloaded by too many smart home connections. All the Eve devices certified today work with Matter over Thread. This means these products can connect to Home Assistant either through a device like the Connect ZBT-1 or through a Thread Border Router that might already be in use in another smart home system.
Eve’s approach to privacy is straightforward. The company does not use a cloud system, does not require users to register their devices, and does not track user data. This way, all information about how the devices are used stays within the home and is not sent to external servers. Local intelligence means Eve devices can communicate directly with each other and with Home Assistant without needing an internet connection for normal use.
Eve is not just using the Matter standard; its team is also involved in the development of Matter and works closely with the Connectivity Standards Alliance. The company even licenses its technology to other manufacturers. For example, Motionblinds, another Home Assistant partner, uses Eve’s technology in its motors, showing the “Powered by Eve” label on their certified devices.
Works with Home Assistant certification is different from other programs because it requires in-house testing to make sure devices work right out of the box. Companies that join also promise to give long-term support for their products and provide updates when needed. This program is run by the Open Home Foundation, and its work is supported by Home Assistant Cloud subscribers.
The list of Eve devices now certified for Matter-over-Thread with Home Assistant includes several products for home automation and energy management. These are the Eve Door & Window sensor, Eve Energy Outlet, Eve Energy Outdoor, Eve Energy, Eve Light Switch for the U.S. and Canada, Eve Dimmer Switch, Eve Motion sensor, Eve Custom Smart Blinds, Eve MotionBlinds Upgrade Kit, Eve Thermo for temperature control, and Eve Weather for weather monitoring. For more information about Eve and its products, you can visit the company’s website here.
