Homey Pro 2026 Review – Trusted Reviews

Introduction

One of the most powerful home automation systems, Homey has expanded its reach to hit smaller homes with the Homey Pro Mini, and revamped its high-end offering with the Homey Pro 2026 hub that I have been using for the past few weeks.

Effectively, the same product as the Homey Pro 2023 but with more memory, the new hub is ideal for those with more devices or the need to run more Flows. Should you upgrade or start with this hub if you’re new to the system? Read my full review to find out.

Design, installation and protocol support

• Wi-Fi built in, Ethernet via adaptor
• Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread and Matter support

Externally, the Homey Pro 2026 is identical to the Homey Pro Early 2023, which feels like a missed opportunity. Although the round hub looks great (well, as nice as a smart home bridge can get), it still doesn’t have integrated Ethernet and only has dual-band Wi-Fi 5 built in.

Ethernet is built into the cheaper Homey Pro mini (though it doesn’t have Wi-Fi), but you’ll need a separate adaptor for a wired connection. I think Ethernet makes much more sense for a device like this, as it’s more reliable, which is what you need if you’re going to trust your home automation to a single device.

In that regard, the Ethernet adaptor is an essential purchase. If you do get one, just remember to follow the instructions and plug it in the right way: the Ethernet adaptor plugs into the power adaptor via its integrated USB-C cable, then you use the Homey Pro’s USB-C cable to connect the hub.

It’s worth connecting the Homey Pro 2026 to Wi-Fi anyway. The Ethernet connection is preferred, but should it drop out, Wi-Fi will take over.

Protocol support for the Pro 2026 is the same as for the Pro Early 2023, with Z-Wave, Zigbee, Thread, Matter, 433MHz and Infrared all supported. In other words, you can connect anything to this hub.

In comparison, the Homey Pro mini doesn’t have Z-Wave, Infrared or 433MHz support, although you can add these with the addition of a Homey Bridge. 

The main difference between the Homey Pro 2026 and the 2023 version is memory: the new version has 4GB, compared to the 2GB on the older hub. Both have the same 1.5GHz quad-core processor.

More memory means that you can run more apps: more than 100 here, vs 60 on the old one. If you’re approaching that limit on the old Pro, then it’s worth upgrading to the new one. Those new to Homey with large smart home installations should buy the Homey Pro 2026; those with smaller installations with more basic needs will find the Homey Pro mini better.

Adding the Homey Pro 2026 is easy via the Homey app. If you’ve got an old Hub, you can run a backup (I think it’s worth paying the small fee for cloud backups), and then restore to the new hub, and all devices will reconnect.

It can take a while, and it took around 10 minutes before all of my devices had reconnected.

If you’re starting from scratch, then the wizard takes you through creating the floors and rooms that make up your home, and then you can start to add devices and build automations.

Features and performance

• Excellent device support
• Thread doesn’t connect to existing network
• Very powerful automation

The only real restriction with the Homey Pro is that it can’t join an existing Thread network, due to the shared radio for Zigbee and Thread. Looking at my home, I ended up with two Thread networks: one that contained my Apple, Aqara, Tado and SmartThings devices, and one for the Homey Pro.

Depending on the layout of your home and the number of devices you have, this may be an issue. To extend a Thread network, you need plug-in Thread devices, but these aren’t as popular as you might think, and I’ve largely got battery-powered devices such as my Ultion Nuki 2025 smart lock.

As a result, I struggled to place the Homey Pro 2026 in a location that worked for everything. If I put the hub in the main house, it doesn’t reach the smart lock on my office; if I place it in my garden office, then I don’t get coverage in my house.

While a Homey Bridge can be added to expand Infrared and Z-Wave coverage, this device doesn’t have Thread built in. I think it’s time that Homey launched a Bridge with Thread.

There are options. First, you can connect devices to an alternative system first. I run Apple Home and have a HomePod mini, so it’s easy to connect devices here, and then share them with Homey. Plus, this route gives me a backup control system.

The other option is to use two Homey Pro bridges. You can’t put them directly in the same account, but there is the HomeyLink app to bridge them, giving you all of your devices in one interface without having to switch between hubs.

Device support is excellent, and now all of my devices work whether via official apps or via community-written ones. For example, in my garden office, I have a SmartWings blind and Ultion Nuki smart lock, connected via Matter over Thread, a Yale Linus smart lock connected via the Yale cloud app, and a Ring Alarm connected via a community app.

This level of support has meant that I can move away from Apple Home for my automations and no longer need a HomeBridge server running on a Raspberry Pi.

A couple of years ago, the support was relatively poor and I couldn’t connect many of my smart home devices; today I can connect everything.

Individual device control is easy. I can add my most-used devices to the Favourites section, but otherwise each device gets its own tile in the app, organised by floor, then room.

My only wish is that Homey would create an iOS widget for quick access to my favourite devices. Currently, the only widget option is for Flows (Homey’s name for routines).

Flows are simple to build and can be simple in operation or much more complicated. For example, when I unlock my office Ultion lock, my Ring Alarm turns off, the Yale Linus unlocks and the SmartWings blind opens; the opposite happens when I lock the door.

That kind of automation can be done with many smart home systems, but Flows are even more powerful with an And option giving more control over when a Flow triggers.

For example, I can have a Flow that says turn on the garden lights if the Ultion Nuki lock locks and it’s after sunset. In other words, the garden lights only come on to show the way back to the house when I’m done with work, only if it’s after dark.

While the basic Flow editor makes most things possible, there’s an Advanced Flow editor available via the web app that offers even more powerful features: multiple triggers, options to wait for multiple devices to finish simultaneously, and more. It’s both brilliantly simple or extremely complicated, depending on what you need.

Homey also offers more control. When I had underfloor heating installed, the plumber didn’t put a two-port zone valve in, so when any radiator turns on, the kitchen floor starts to get warm. My solution is to use an Aqara Valve Controller T1 to isolate the underfloor heating, turning on when the Tado X thermostat turns on, and shutting the valve when the Tado X system turns off.

I can do this automation in Apple Home, which gives me the on/off trigger only; in Homey, I get the same trigger, plus triggers for when the temperature is above or below a target, or when humidity is above or below a target.

Where other systems may give more basic options, Homey exposes everything, making it potentially a lot more powerful.

With the power of the Homey Pro 2026, Flows activate very quickly. As soon as I unlock my office, for example, the alarm turns off and the blinds start opening straight away. 

Should you buy it?

FAQs