Of all the smart home products I've tried over the years, one stands out for having the biggest impact on my daily life, while also giving me the type of automation that was previously only available in movies. I'm talking about Matter-enabled window shades, and I just installed a new set in my bathroom, and it's been incredible. This week, I'm reviewing the Canisteo Motorized Wicker Wood Blinds.
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HomeKit Weekly is a series dedicated to smart home accessories, automation tips and tricks, and all things Apple smart home infrastructure.
The Installation Process
Overall, installing Canisteo blinds is easy if you measure correctly. I've included a video above showing how to measure, but once they arrive you'll need to drill a couple of brackets into the top of your window frame and then you can get started. The blinds have slots drilled into them that you insert a screw into, and then you tighten the blinds down with the included bolt. There's enough “wiggle room” to get them in. Overall, it took me about 15 minutes per window to physically install them.
Once you have the Canisteo blinds installed, you will need to charge them to full power. They come with a very long USB-C to USB-A cable, but I noticed that there was no power outlet near one of my windows, so I improvised and used a USB battery pack to charge it. Yes, I am a modern-day MacGyver (or is it MacGrubber?). I left it to charge for a few hours, then got to work setting up the rest of the unit. The motor has a green flashing light that will turn solid when it is charged.
Programming the Canisteo Shades
The shades come with a remote control, and as much as I love having HomeKit access, I love having a remote control just as much. I just hate it when products are software-only. The remote allows me to raise and lower them without having to worry about Wi-Fi, HomeKit, etc. The remote comes pre-programmed, but if you buy multiple shades, it’s incredibly easy to add to your existing remote.
Once you’ve set up the remote, you can continue adding it to HomeKit. There’s a Matter tag on the back of the shade, but there’s also one on the top. I’d remove the tag and put it somewhere safe, but be aware that there’s another tag hidden on the top. You’ll have to physically remove them from the mount to access it, but that’s better than losing it forever. Once added to HomeKit, you can open and close the blinds manually from the app, or create scenes/automations to control them automatically.
Wrapping Up
Overall, the Canisteo blinds are fantastic. They were a major upgrade to our home. These Canisteo blinds in particular are in my bathroom, and one of the windows was behind the bathtub, so it was a bit of a hassle to manually open and close them every day. With the Canisteo Motorized Woven Woods, it's a matter (pun intended) of using my iPhone, Siri, or grabbing the included remote. Even without HomeKit, I would have loved these blinds, but with HomeKit support via Matter, they open up the kind of automation usually reserved for movies with the very rich. You can buy Canisteo motorized blinds directly from Canisteo.
