Onvis Smart Motion Sensor SMS2 is a combination of motion sensor with light sensor, temperature and humidity gauge. It connects to Apple HomeKit using Thread protocol or Bluetooth, making it super responsive and energy efficient. According to its specifications, Onvis SMS2 has 100° field of view and up to 7m detection range.

I usually use Eve Motion for motion sensors at home. It was only a simple curiosity when I decided to try Onvis Motion Sensor because it was on a really good sale price. Now I feel glad that I did. With much smaller form factor, Onvis Motion Sensor can do more because it is basically a combination of Eve Motion and Eve Weather in one device, minus the display.

Initial setup is super easy. Onvis does have its own app, but we can choose to skip it and add the sensor to HomeKit if we choose to. I used the Onvis app because I always want to download the latest firmware for all my smart home devices on first use. Also I feel curious what the Onvis app looks like.

Onvis app is not bad, it allowed me to download my firmware upgrade. The app interface is not as polished as Eve’s app, but it does what it should. The detection history is available as timeline list. I prefer Eve’s presentation using bar chart, but I could get the same information. According to Onvis, this sensor has on board data storage for the most recent 32 days or 100 activity records.

Everything else are mostly aligned with what we would expect from a HomeKit accessory. We can see temperature and humidity from either Home app or Onvis app. All standard automations from HomeKit that require a motion sensor works as they should.

A special mention that my automation to turn on the light using Onvis SMS2 reacts noticeably faster than similar automation that I set up in another room using Eve Motion. Not sure if that is caused by the relative position from other Thread-enabled devices or from the processing speed of the accessories.

Even though I am happy with this purchase and can clearly see some valid use cases for Onvis Motion Sensor at my home, I would not go and replace my Eve Motion sensors with Onvis products. First, my Eve Motion sensors were already a significant investment and I still prefer the level of polish that Eve app offers, especially the visual that helps me to quickly see historical motion detection.