CES HomeKit gear, HomePod Shortcuts, and more on HomeKit Insider

HomeKit Insider: A new AppleInsider podcast

We preview some of the devices launching this year at CES, go in-depth with HomePod shortcuts, and answer listener questions on the latest episode of HomeKit Insider.

CES 2021 is here, and there's a swath of HomeKit news coming from it already. We talk about the key new products, the price drops of what CES is announcing for this year.

Chief among those products is a whole slew of Wi-Fi 6e routers from Linksys, TP-Link, and Netgear. These are all great devices to power your smart home. Plus, we're now seeing global availability of Belkin's Wi-Fi Wemo Smart Plug. And Lutron announced a new outdoor smart plug, while OneLife showed off a Siri-enabled air purifier. The list goes on, which is great to see.

Of course, announcements are one thing, but actual product availability is another. We talk about when you can expect to see these new devices. It can be a long time, too — as we found when we just now got the Netatmo Video Doorbell a year after its announcement at CES 2020.

Speaking of HomeKit products we already have, this week also we follow up a reader suggestion to do with grouping together HomePods. It's still the case that you can only achieve a stereo pairing with two HomePods or two HomePods mini. However, with creative use of Shortcuts, you can get the same music coming out of every HomePod device you own — and we tell you how.