Apple's online store now sells the Aqara Thermostat Hub W200, its first Adaptive Temperature thermostat besides ecobeeApple's online store now sells the Aqara Thermostat Hub W200, its first Adaptive Temperature thermostat besides ecobee

Apple has added the Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 to its US online store at $169.95, 9to5Mac reported on 2 October.

Apple's product page says the W200 supports Adaptive Temperature and Clean Energy Guidance, the two Apple Home features that adjust heating and cooling around a household's routine and around when the grid is cleaner. It has a 4-inch touchscreen, works with 24V systems, and doubles as a smart home hub with Zigbee and Thread radios. Apple's page also lists a doorbell view and lock control on the thermostat's screen. Aqara showed the W200 at CES in January and launched it in April; 9to5Mac notes Apple's price is 10 dollars above Amazon's.

Until now, the thermostat Apple sold for those features was the ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium, currently $259.99 on Apple's store. The Aqara is 90 dollars cheaper.

What else Apple added

One detail differs between sources. 9to5Mac describes the W200 as working with HomeKit over Matter. Apple's own page for it says HomeKit Compatible and does not mention Matter, while its page for the W100 sensor does. We have used Apple's wording.

Home Widget 1.10 adds a camera grid

In a smaller Apple Home update the same day, 9to5Mac's HomeKit column covered version 1.10 of Home Widget for HomeKit, an independent app by developer Clement Marty. It adds a mosaic of every HomeKit camera in one view, reachable from a Home Screen or Lock Screen widget or a Control Center button, plus thermostat control and whole-room lighting from a single tile. The App Store lists version 1.10.4, released on 2 October, which brings the camera mosaic to Apple Watch. The app is free with limits, or $14.99 for life.

Our take

Apple's own store is a short, chosen list, and a second Adaptive Temperature thermostat at a lower price is a signal that Apple wants its energy features in more homes, not only in ecobee's. The timing also fits Bloomberg's reported 13 October date for Apple's home hub, though Apple has drawn no connection, and the W200's own hub radios mean it does not need one.

The Matter discrepancy is worth settling before buying. APPDOOK would treat Apple's page as the authority and assume HomeKit pairing, which works either way in the Home app. And Home Widget is a reminder that the quickest way to see every camera at once is still a third-party app. AppleInsider's review of the SwitchBot Lock Vision Pro this week made a related point from the other side: over Matter, the Home app could only lock and unlock it, with no Home Key. The Home app reaches a lot of hardware now. It does not yet reach all of what that hardware can do.