Product Library / Water Protection & Plumbing
Research profile · last verified 2026-07-19Eve Water Guard (2nd generation, Thread)
Compatibility
| Ecosystem | Support | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Alexa | Doesn't workVerified: does not work with this ecosystem | Not supported, and the reason is architectural rather than a missing skill: the device's application layer is Apple HomeKit carried over Thread, and Alexa does not speak HomeKit. Eve's Matter-upgrade page confirms Water Guard is not among the eight products given a Matter path, which is the only route that would open Alexa. Published third-party testing states plainly that it is not compatible with Alexa. |
| Google Home | Doesn't workVerified: does not work with this ecosystem | Not supported, for the same reason as Alexa — HomeKit over Thread with no Matter path, and Google Home does not speak HomeKit. Eve's own upgrade list excludes Water Guard, and published third-party testing states it does not work with Google Assistant or with Android at all. |
| SmartThings | Doesn't workVerified: does not work with this ecosystem | No SmartThings path exists. Recorded as none on the protocol architecture rather than a vendor statement: SmartThings does not implement HomeKit, and Water Guard has no Matter certification that would give SmartThings a route to it. We found no explicit statement from either Eve or SmartThings addressing this product, so the basis here is structural — weaker evidence than the Alexa and Google entries, which also carry a published compatibility statement. |
| Home Assistant | Not checkedWe have not verified this yet — this is not a claim about the product | Genuinely unresolved. Home Assistant's Eve integration is Matter-only and does not list Water Guard. HA does document a HomeKit Device integration that can adopt HomeKit-over-Thread accessories, which is the plausible route, but community reports and an open HA core issue describe real pairing failures with that class of device, and no source confirms a working Water Guard pairing. Note also that adopting a HomeKit accessory into HA generally means unpairing it from Apple Home. |
| Apple Home | WorksWorks with this ecosystem | The one ecosystem this device serves, and it serves it fully — but the useful half needs hardware beyond the box. Remote notifications, away-from-home alerts and automations all require a HomePod or Apple TV, so the real entry cost is above the sticker for anyone who does not already own one. It is a Full Thread Device and, being mains-powered, acts as a router that extends the Thread mesh rather than leaning on it. Siren muting is missing from the Apple Home app and lives only in the Eve app. |
? Not checked means we haven’t verified that ecosystem yet — it is a statement about our research, never a verdict on the product. A Setup Check can research it for you.
Protocols: THREAD · BLUETOOTH
Needs before it works: An Apple Thread border router — HomePod mini, HomePod (2nd gen), or Apple TV 4K (2nd/3rd gen) — which doubles as the Apple home hub needed for remote alerts and automations. A non-Apple border router does not substitute: this device speaks HomeKit over Thread, not Matter, so a Google, SmartThings or eero border router cannot carry it. Setup requires an iPhone or iPad; there is no Android path.
Subscription reality
✓ Works without a subscription: Yes.
No subscription and no vendor account at all — Eve states there is no Eve cloud or bridge, and settings sync through the buyer's own iCloud rather than an Eve server. This is verified from Eve's privacy and product pages, not assumed from silence.
Maintenance reality
- Batteries: None — mains powered (100–240V, 50/60 Hz, 50 mA adapter); no battery and no battery backup
- Cloud dependence: No — core function survives without the vendor's cloud
- Runs fully local: detection, the siren, and HomeKit automations all execute without an internet connection or vendor cloud, and only remote (away-from-home) notification needs the Apple hub reachable. The mains requirement is the practical catch — the unit must sit at an outlet, so only the cable can reach where water actually pools. The 6.5 ft / 2 m sensing cable is reusable rather than consumable and daisy-chains via extensions, though Eve's own two pages disagree on the maximum run (490 ft on the product page, 500 ft / 150 m in the FAQ) — recorded as ~150 m rather than picking one. The siren cannot be disabled or volume-adjusted, and muting it is available only in the Eve app, not the Apple Home app.
The catch
It is a wired, Apple-only leak detector, and three constraints compound. It needs mains power, so the unit sits at an outlet and only the cable reaches the floor where water collects. It speaks HomeKit over Thread with no Matter certification, so Alexa, Google Home and Android are excluded outright — and Eve has passed it over through three and a half years of Matter upgrades covering eight other products. And meaningful function, meaning remote alerts and automations, requires an Apple TV or HomePod on top of the purchase. Against that: no account, no cloud, no subscription, and a sensing cable that runs to roughly 150 metres.
Who it's for
Apple Home households that already own a HomePod or Apple TV and need to watch a long linear run — behind a washer, along a water heater drip pan, down a length of exposed pipe — rather than one point on a floor, and that specifically want a device with no vendor account or cloud behind it. It is the wrong product for Android households, for anyone mixing ecosystems, and for anyone who needs the sensor somewhere far from an outlet.
Sources & method
evehome.com/en-us/eve-water-guard — lists Bluetooth and Thread, 'Full Thread Device (FTD)', model 51EBG8702, 100–240V 50 mA supply, 6.5 ft cable extendable to 490 ft, and states it 'requires a HomePod or an Apple TV (4th generation or later) as a home hub'. The page makes no Matter claim. Corroborated by evehome.com/en-us/support/eve-water-guard, which gives the cable maximum as 150 m / 500 ft — the discrepancy is recorded rather than resolved. — vendor-page research, verified 2026-07-19 · evehome.com/en-us/upgrade-to-matter lists the eight Eve products with a Matter upgrade path (Energy, Door & Window, Light Switch, Motion, MotionBlinds, Shutter Switch, Thermo, Weather); Water Guard is absent, and Eve states it has no timeline or ordering to share. Supported by a csa-iot.org certified-products search that returned six other Eve devices and no Water Guard entry, and by Home Assistant's Eve integration page, which is Matter-only and does not list it. VERIFICATION NOTE: a search snippet asserting 'Eve Water Guard is Matter-enabled' was traced to generic Eve marketing boilerplate conflated with Water Guard content by the search engine, and is contradicted by four Eve-owned pages — treat that claim as a known false positive if it resurfaces. — vendor-page and registry research, verified 2026-07-19 · Published third-party testing (TechHive review of the 2nd-gen Water Guard) states it is 'not compatible with Alexa or Google Assistant, nor will it work with Android' — an affirmative compatibility statement rather than vendor silence. The architectural basis is Eve's own upgrade page above: HomeKit over Thread with no Matter path, and neither Alexa nor Google Home implements HomeKit. — third-party-testing plus vendor-page inference on protocol architecture, verified 2026-07-19 · No statement from Eve or SmartThings addressing this product was found. Recorded as none on protocol architecture only: SmartThings does not implement HomeKit, and the CSA registry shows no Matter certification that would give it a route. This entry rests on structural reasoning rather than a published statement, which is a lower evidence bar than the Alexa and Google entries carry. — structural inference — no counterparty statement located, verified 2026-07-19 · home-assistant.io/integrations/eve/ covers Eve Matter devices only and does not list Water Guard. home-assistant.io/integrations/homekit_controller/ and /integrations/thread/ document that Thread alone carries no control layer and that HomeKit accessories are adopted via the HomeKit Device integration, but home-assistant/core issue 131229 and community reports describe pairing failures for HomeKit-over-Thread accessories. No source confirms a working Water Guard pairing in either direction. — counterparty-source research, verified 2026-07-19 · evehome.com/en-us/privacy states there is no Eve cloud or bridge and that no account is required; Eve's feature pages state 'no registration, no subscription, no cloud'; settings sync via the buyer's iCloud rather than an Eve server — vendor-page research, verified 2026-07-19 · evehome.com/en/news/eve-water-guard-thread-support (2022-02-22) gives USD $99.95 at launch, $189.90 for a two-pack and $19.95 for the sensing-cable extension. No current price was obtainable on 2026-07-19 — neither Eve's product page nor Amazon rendered one to research tooling — so this is recorded as a launch MSRP. — vendor-page research, verified 2026-07-19 · ABB newsroom (new.abb.com) and evehome.com/en/eve-becomes-part-of-abb both record ABB Ltd's acquisition of Eve Systems GmbH effective 2023-06-01, with Eve continuing as an independent brand inside ABB Electrification's Smart Buildings division — counterparty-source research, verified 2026-07-19 · Eve's product and FAQ pages describe detection plus a 100 dB siren and no valve. Published third-party testing notes the siren cannot be disabled or volume-adjusted, and that cutting an appliance's power via a smart plug is the usual automation pattern. No source confirms a verified pairing with any specific shutoff valve. — vendor-page and third-party-testing research, verified 2026-07-19. This is a research profile: compiled from manufacturer documentation, certification registries, and published testing — we state facts, not verdicts, and we have not physically tested this unit. How we work →
Compatibility and lifecycle information reflects the last-verified date above and can change without notice (firmware updates, cloud-service changes, discontinuations). It is provided as-is, for information — verify with the manufacturer before purchasing. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it. Full terms: Terms of Service.