Homey's tiny smart home controller is exactly the gadget I’ve been waiting for
Lights, music, heating and more are now just a tap or twist away
QUICK SUMMARY
Athom has unveiled the Homey Portal, a 2.8-inch touchscreen smart home controller with a physical rotary ring for controlling lights, music, heating and other connected devices. It works with Homey Cloud, Homey Pro, Homey Pro mini and Homey Self-Hosted Server.
The Homey Portal is available to pre-order now for £249/€249/$249, rising to £299/€299/$299, with shipping expected before the end of 2026.
Athom has introduced the Homey Portal, a new physical smart home controller that gives anyone in the room easy access to lights, music, heating and other connected devices without reaching for a phone.
The Homey Portal combines a 2.8-inch circular touchscreen with a stainless steel rotary ring, and can either sit on a desk or be mounted to a wall. Each Portal is linked to a particular room or zone, meaning the one in your kitchen can control a completely different set of devices to the one in your living room.
It's available to pre-order now for £249/€249/$249 as an introductory price for the first production batch, before rising to £299/€299/$299. It's compatible with Homey Cloud, Homey Pro (2023-2026), Homey Pro mini and Homey Self-Hosted Server, with orders expected to start shipping before the end of 2026.
The Portal can display notifications, questions that need a simple yes-or-no response and even live camera feeds. For example, someone ringing one of the best video doorbells could automatically bring up the live feed and ask whether you'd like to open the smart lock. It can also display live weather and a short forecast.
Multiple Homey Portals can be placed around the house, and each comes with both a desk stand and wall mount. They can even be set up in shared spaces such as rental properties and offices, with owners choosing exactly which controls guests can access.
For lighting, you can tap the screen to switch lights on and off or choose a Mood, then twist the ring to dial the brightness up or down. You can also adjust colour and warmth directly on the display, with support for lights connected through Homey, including the best Philips Hue lights and IKEA products.
When it comes to music, you can connect a system such as Sonos or Denon HEOS and the Portal can show what's playing, complete with album artwork. A tap skips the track, whilst a twist of the ring handles the volume.
Compatible thermostats from Nest, Tado and Honeywell can be adjusted directly from the Portal, with current and target temperatures shown on screen. It can also surface real-time and historical energy use from devices such as the Homey Energy Dongle, Shelly and HomeWizard energy meters, giving you another reason to check the Portal instead of opening yet another app.
