HomeKit help with homekit setup

[chenks]

can anyone help me understand HomeKit and the Home app.

i'm coming from an Android environment where my devices were all added to "Google Home" and everything worked fine - be it in the house or away from the house (remote access just worked).

i have Hue bulbs (with the Hue hub) and a Nest thermostat.
i have added these to the apple "Home" app - Hue by scanning the code on the back of the hub, and for Nest by using Homebridge.
this all seems to work find providing i am in the house, but i have no "remote" access to anything - so i can adjust the heating when i am my way home, or turn on external lighting in preparation for arriving at home - all stuff i could do no matter where i was.

am i right in thinking that to do this in the apple environment i need another apple device to run all this? for example, a homehub mini?

google home also had routines where it could sense your location and turn things on/off as appropriate - i assume this is also possible in the apple environment?

we are a 2 iphone home, so we would need the apple "home" to be able to sense when both are away from home or only 1 away from home, example being if we set it up so that all lights were turned off if both weren't at home, but wouldn't turn them off if only 1 left the home.

 

[haralds]

Homekit needs a hub. This could be an AppleTV HD or 4K or a HomePod. You could designate an iPad, but it would have to stay powered and in the house. See Set up your HomePod, HomePod mini, Apple TV, or iPad as a home hub

 

[chenks]

Ok, but the “home” app lets you add your devices without a hub.

so that is simply for local use, and external use requires a HomeKit hub?

that will then enable away from home access and have all the home/away routines?

 

[fastbagger]

Ok, but the “home” app lets you add your devices without a hub.

so that is simply for local use, and external use requires a HomeKit hub?

that will then enable away from home access and have all the home/away routines?

Yes

 

[Itinj24]

Same with automations or “routines” as you described for Google. Things such as turning on lights when you arrive home. A home hub is needed for that too. The reason is everything is processed locally on the home hub and not routed to an external server. Supposed to be for privacy and results in faster automations.

 

[waw74]

ewe are a 2 iphone home, so we would need the apple "home" to be able to sense when both are away from home or only 1 away from home, example being if we set it up so that all lights were turned off if both weren't at home, but wouldn't turn them off if only 1 left the home.

as long as you both have your own Apple ID, it's really easy.
if you share an ID, it's almost impossible since each ID can only have one location.

You set the home up in the home app on your phone, and then share it with the other person. You'll have the option to grant them access away from home or not (if you have a hub). Helpful for granting access to friends.

once you've got that all setup, for automations you can make "when I leave" or "when everyone leaves" and you can pick the location, So you could make automations that trigger when you leave work, when everyone is away from home, or when anyone arrives home.


for away access you need a home hub, an Apple TV (a "new" one, either the 4k or HD), or a homepod. You can also use an iPad, it must be plugged into power. For the iPad, there's a toggle switch to enable home hub, for the others it it should happen automatically when you sign into your Apple ID.

 

[chenks]

as long as you both have your own Apple ID, it's really easy.
if you share an ID, it's almost impossible since each ID can only have one location.

You set the home up in the home app on your phone, and then share it with the other person. You'll have the option to grant them access away from home or not (if you have a hub). Helpful for granting access to friends.

yeah we have done part (without the home/away part as no hub right now)

the hue integration seems a little strange as I can see all my lights, but it’s also listed all the light switches as well, which seems a little pointless

 

[Itinj24]

yeah we have done part (without the home/away part as no hub right now)

the hue integration seems a little strange as I can see all my lights, but it’s also listed all the light switches as well, which seems a little pointless

Do you have smart light switches controlling the Hue bulbs or are you taking about the Hue dimmers showing?

 

[chenks]

Do you have smart light switches controlling the Hue bulbs or are you taking about the Hue dimmers showing?

it’s the hue dimmers showing as well as the bulbs

 

[Itinj24]

it’s the hue dimmers showing as well as the bulbs

Gotchya. I just hid those away. They’re mainly exposed because you can assign the buttons in HomeKit. Pretty sure they don’t do anything when you tap on them on the screen. It’s been a while since I used Hue. Moved to smart switches.

 

[chenks]

Gotchya. I just hid those away. They’re mainly exposed because you can assign the buttons in HomeKit. Pretty sure they don’t do anything when you tap on them on the screen. It’s been a while since I used Hue. Moved to smart switches.

how do you hide them? I can see an option to hide from the main Home Screen, but not in the rooms

 

[Itinj24]

how do you hide them? I can see an option to hide from the main Home Screen, but not in the rooms

Yeah that’s what I meant. I don’t display them on the favorites (main) page which is where I do most of my controlling.

 

[xraydoc]

how do you hide them? I can see an option to hide from the main Home Screen, but not in the rooms

I hide things like that away in an extra room; I call mine "Engineering Deck" and just stick things like that in there so I don't have to see them.

 

[chenks]

as long as you both have your own Apple ID, it's really easy.
if you share an ID, it's almost impossible since each ID can only have one location.

You set the home up in the home app on your phone, and then share it with the other person. You'll have the option to grant them access away from home or not (if you have a hub). Helpful for granting access to friends.

once you've got that all setup, for automations you can make "when I leave" or "when everyone leaves" and you can pick the location, So you could make automations that trigger when you leave work, when everyone is away from home, or when anyone arrives home.


for away access you need a home hub, an Apple TV (a "new" one, either the 4k or HD), or a homepod. You can also use an iPad, it must be plugged into power. For the iPad, there's a toggle switch to enable home hub, for the others it it should happen automatically when you sign into your Apple ID.

well i got the homepod mini and set it up.
jeez it's a pretty dumb "smart" speaker - the google nest range is head and shoulders above it.

on the nest i could say "hey google play bbc radio scotland", and it would play it just now
on the homepod i sag "hey siri play bbc radio scotland" and it says it can't play it

so i have to open the bbc sounds apps on the iphone, play the station, select available devices, select airplay, select the speaker, and then it plays. surely there has to be a better way than that!

in terms of the homekit - i now have myself and the other person set to access accessories remotely.

it seems to have created 1 automation automatically "when the last person leaves home" - which pauses the audio the homepod. i guess i can edit this one to turn off all the hue lights and set the Tado smart thermostat to away mode? not sure if the tado app itself will conflict with this as that also seems to have a home/away option. the hue app also has a home/away option. i guess i should disable those within their own apps and let homekit do it instead?

 

[macbuzzr]

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