Eve Systems has been making HomeKit accessories since the launch of HomeKit, and the company has produced a variety of weather-monitoring devices. Eve Weather, introduced earlier this year, is Eve’s new weather sensor, and it’s ideal for monitoring the temperature and weather conditions outside your home.
Like the 2018 Eve Degree in Eve Weather design, a square shape measures just over two inches by two inches, with a depth of just over half an inch. It is palm-sized, small and can be carried wherever you may need it. There’s also a wall mount if you prefer to mount it indoors or outdoors, but I just found it sitting on a table.
A large black and white display on the front of Eve Weather displays current temperature, humidity and weather trends, so you can see the weather information you need at a glance. The weather trend feature lets you know the upcoming weather in the next 12 hours by analyzing the barometric pressure changes.
You can, of course, see the weather immediately through the window, but it can be useful to have a general idea of the weather that is coming. Speaking of trends, all the weather data Eve Weather collects can be viewed in the accompanying Eve app, so you can see temperature, humidity and barometric pressure over time.
Weather data can be viewed by hour, day, week and month, and there is an option to view raw data collected by sensors. The Eve app is also useful for quick temperature or humidity readings when the sensor is outside, though you can also use Siri or the Home app.
You can ask Siri to tell you the temperature or humidity, or look it up in the Home app, but for all the data over time, you’ll need to use the more comprehensive Eve app. You can also use the Eve app for your other HomeKit products, and it’s long been one of my favorite apps for controlling HomeKit devices.
Eve Weather has an IPX3 weather resistance rating, which means it can withstand sprayed water. It should hold up well to rain and moisture, but it’s probably a good idea to keep it somewhere out of the rain where it won’t get wet because IPX3 isn’t the strongest water resistance rating. Indoors, the small display is fine, but sometimes difficult to read depending on the outdoor location. The screen is glossy and washes out even in sunlight, so your best bet is to have the app look at the temperature when it’s in a sunny location.
The Eve Weather has a CR2450 replaceable battery that’s supposed to last about a year, so it won’t need much maintenance other than a battery change every 12 months or so.
I’ve tested Eve Weather indoors and outdoors and from what I can tell the temperature/humidity readings are accurate. I have a few devices that measure temperature and humidity in my office like a Dyson air purifier, and the Eve Weather is always a degree or more off the temperature reading on my Dyson. I also have a temperature/humidity sensor that I use specifically for plants and it also lines up with the eve readings I’m seeing.
As with any HomeKit product, setting up the Eve Weather is a matter of scanning the HomeKit QR code in the Home app or the Eve app. Eve Weather is a Bluetooth device, so it doesn’t need to connect to a WiFi network, and like other Eve products, it has support for the Thread Mesh Networking Protocol and is a minimally threaded device.
Thread is designed to make smart homes more reliable by improving the connections and distances over which things are able to communicate with the network. With Thread, Eve Weather is able to better communicate with a smart home setup and it saves battery life. If you have a Thread device like the HomePod Mini, you’ll benefit from Eve Weather’s Thread capabilities.
Eve Weather is ideal for monitoring weather conditions in your specific area, making it useful for keeping an eye on plants or seeing how your microclimate compares to local weather reports. Eve Weather is considered an always-on sensor so it can’t be used in automation to trigger when certain temperatures are met, nor can it be added to scenes, but you can create rules using the Eve app (rules available here not the Home app).
With rules, you can set other HomeKit products to activate when the temperature detected by Eve Weather reaches a certain threshold. Both humidity and temperature can be a rule condition for controlling other ‘HomeKit’ products. For example, you can turn on lights indoors when the temperature reaches a certain point or trigger a humidifier in an outdoor greenhouse when the humidity is too low.
With an outdoor Eve Weather setup there may be a limited number of scenarios for setting up triggers based on temperature and humidity, but it exists for those who need it.
For the most part, the ‘HomeKit’ functionality is primarily useful for checking the outside temperature when you’re indoors or outdoors, although over-time data collection has some benefits for those who want to keep tabs on their homes. You can also use Eve Weather as an indoor temperature sensor if you want, although many have this functionality built into other smart home devices and accessories like thermostats for home use.
bottom line
If you want an outdoor weather monitoring solution that can be accessed anytime indoors or when you’re out and about (when paired with a home hub like a HomePod or iPad), Eve Weather is worth checking out.
It’s more expensive than outdoor temperature monitors you can get that don’t have smart connectivity, but being able to keep an eye on the weather from anywhere and the weather tracking features over time will make the cost worth it for some.
How to buy
Eve Weather can be purchased from Amazon for $70.
