After years of waiting, smart home manufacturer Eve Systems has finally given its Android customers what they really wanted: an app.
More than two years in the making, the Eve app for Android promises to unlock smart features that were previously available only to iOS users, according to The Verge.
But before you get too excited about controlling your Eve devices with Android, there’s a big caveat to the news. For now, the new Eve for Android app works only with a single device: the Eve Thermo, a smart radiator valve that’s only available in Europe.
Oh, and one more thing: The Android version of the Eve app only works with Google Home for now.
Eve CEO Jerome Gackel told The Verge that the company hopes to address those issues in “future versions,” but wanted to release the Thermo-only version of the app in time for the winter weather months.
Android users have already been able to control Eve’s smart home devices via the Google Home app thanks to Matter, the smart home-unifying standard.
But that meant Android users were limited to only those smart home controls that are exposed in the Matter protocol. The Eve app offers features that go above and beyond what’s possible (for now, at least) with Matter, including the ability to create on-device automations that don’t depend on the cloud, The Verge notes.
Eve makes some of our very good smart home devices, including the Eve Door and Window contact sensor, Eve Weather (a smart weather station), the Eve Energy smart plug, and the Eve Water Guard water-leak detector.
For years, Eve devices were exclusive to Apple HomeKit, leaving Android smart home users out in the cold.
That began to change with the arrival of Matter in 2023, with Eve releasing versions of Eve Energy, Eve Door and Window, and Eve Motion with out-of-the-box Matter support.
Eve originally announced the belated version of its Android app months before its first Matter devices arrived, way back in September 2022.
The new Android app is built around Google Home’s relatively new APIs, which arrived back in May—hence, it doesn’t integrate with Alexa or Samsung SmartThings, or at least not yet.
Author: Ben Patterson, Senior Writer, TechHive
Ben has been writing about technology and consumer electronics for more than 20 years. A PCWorld contributor since 2014, Ben joined TechHive in 2019, where he has covered everything from smart speakers and soundbars to smart lights and security cameras. Ben's articles have also appeared in PC Magazine, TIME, Wired, CNET, Men's Fitness, Mobile Magazine, and more. Ben holds a master's degree in English literature.