Ecobee via homekit, will I lose ecobee app or Home function?

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Hi, total newbie here just setting up my Home Assistant Green server.

Ecobee is currently paired with homekit and used equally via the Ecobee app and the Home app.

My understanding is that I need to unpair the ecobee with homekit in order to add it to Home Assistant. I want to make sure I don’t end up breaking the existing functionality via the ecobee app and the home app. What will happen when I unpair ecobee then add it to home assistant? Can I restore its access to each of these apps after pairing it with home assistant? The more step-by-step instructions I can find for this, the better.

One of the things I’d like to do is log ecobee’s air quality reports so I can try to understand what it’s responding to. It swings wildly for reasons I don’t understand.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

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I didn’t know about Homekit and Apple devices but I have my ecobee thermostats connected to ecobee cloud and accessible via the ecobee app and their website and connected to HA via the homekit integration and HA and the ecobee app work fine.

I wouldn’t worry to much about the ecobee air quality sensor. It’s garbage and swings wildly for no reason. I use an AirGradient device to track air quality in my home and it’s much more accurate with clear and consistent tracking.

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I have an Ecobee connected to HA using HomeKit. To do that, you have to remove it from Apple Home. You can have one or the other, but not both. The Ecobee app will still work, but you have to choose between HA and Apple Home.

It’s worth noting that the Ecobee air quality information is not available via HomeKit. You get temperature, humidity, HVAC control, and presence (including remote sensors if you are using them). So if your main interest is logging air quality, you might be out of luck. According to the integration page on the HA site, Ecobee no longer lets you get an API key to connect to their cloud control, and I think that was the only way to get air quality.

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Thanks. I’m going to look into the AirGradient sensor. Everything I’ve read from customers says the Ecobee sensor isn’t good. It’s definitely doing something, but what, I don’t know. It’s all over the place.

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Thanks, this is really useful information. I had hoped I could use them all simultaneously, but I guess not. I’ll be in trouble if I break the Apple Home app use.