How to Set Up Temperature and Humidity Automations on HomePod

[MacRumors]

In late January 2023, Apple released a HomePod 16.3 software update that adds humidity and temperature sensing to the second-generation HomePod and all HomePod mini models. This article explains how the features work and what you can do with them.

Apple's new second-generation HomePod features temperature and humidity sensors that can be used to measure the indoor climate. But that's not all. The new 16.3 HomePod software allows you to run automations based on these measurements.

What's more, the existing HomePod mini has a dormant temperature and humidity sensor that Apple activated with the 16.3 update, allowing the same temperature and humidity settings to be used for home automation and device activation purposes. (Sadly, that is not the case for the first-generation HomePod.)

Below, we show you how the temperature and humidity sensor information appears in the Home app, and how you can add automations. In our example, after having installed the 16.3 software on a HomePod mini, we run through the steps needed to activate a thermostat to heat a room whenever it falls below 66.2 degrees Fahrenheit (19 degrees Celsius).

1. Open the Home app and select the room where the HomePod mini or second-generation HomePod is located.
2. After a short calibration phase on first use, the readouts at the top of the room menu provide live climate measurements. We're going to tap the Temperature readout.
3. Tap the Temperature Sensor button in the pop-up menu to access the settings card.
4. Tap Add Automation.
   
   
   
   Using the dial, choose a temperature level that activates the automation using the Rises Above and Drops Below options.
5. Use the Time setting to choose from Any time, During the day, At night, or Specific times.
6. Use the People setting to choose whether this automation should run based on When I am home or When I am not home. You can also turn this setting off.
7. Tap Next, then select the accessory that you want to use with this automation. Here we're selecting Thermostat.
   
   
   
   Tap Next, then give your automation a name at the top of the menu and set your accessory to perform an action. Here, we're setting the thermostat to heat the kitchen to 71.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or 22 degrees Celsius.
   Tap Done, then tap the X to close the Temperature Sensor settings card.
   
   

Our automation is now ready to activate the thermostat to heat the room whenever the temperature drops below the specified measurement. To complement the automation, we could create an additional one that turns off the thermostat when the room reaches a certain temperature.

This is just one example of some of the new features available with the HomePod 16.3 software update. The update also brings users the ability to add remastered ambient sounds to scenes, automations, and alarms, as well as the ability to use Siri to set recurring automations and find people who are in your Find My contacts.

Article Link: How to Set Up Temperature and Humidity Automations on HomePod

 

[Justin39]

Very nice addition!

 

[dubiousgif]

The article should state that your iOS device has to be on 16.3 too. I updated my HomePod mini but don’t see any of the new stuff. I thought it might work since the sensor coding is there prior to iOS 16.3 for third-party sensors like Onvis and Eve.

 

[NMBob]

They have a temperature sensor right next to a CPU?

 

[6787872]

eh, just use a smart thermostat. and i've never seen a humidifier without a humidistat. but cool i guess, more automation is always good.

 

[ctg7w6]

Can you just ask Siri the temperature? My mini won’t tell me.

 

[HorstBockman]

Does HomeKit automation function properly if the Internet is down?
(To those who say it does, please provide actual evidence. I've read automations do not work when the Internet is down.)

 

[the.burn]

Can you just ask Siri the temperature? My mini won’t tell me.

Yes you can, also for humidit!
you have to ask for temperature „in room xyz“, otherwise it will tell the outside temperature…

 

[Cheesehead Dave]

They have a temperature sensor right next to a CPU?

It actually at the base, well away from the CPU: https://www.techhive.com/article/57...portedly-has-a-secret-temperature-sensor.html

 

[Ghost31]

If I have an HomePod, can I just ask it the temperature and it’ll tell me?

 

[RetiredTaxman]

So set up in three rooms. The stereo pair behind me sat on a low level bookcase report a one degree centigrade difference

 

[JosephAW]

Does the mini version have this?

 

[Cheesehead Dave]

eh, just use a smart thermostat. and i've never seen a humidifier without a humidistat. but cool i guess, more automation is always good.

I guess if you're cooking in the kitchen and it's starting to get warm in there, but your home thermostat is elsewhere in the house and not activating because the room its in is cool, this would be useful to activate it or even just turn on the house fan if your thermostat has it available.

 

[dubiousgif]

Yes you can, also for humidit!
you have to ask for temperature „in room xyz“, otherwise it will tell the outside temperature…

Or asking “indoor/inside” temp/humidity works too.

 

[System603]

eh, just use a smart thermostat. and i've never seen a humidifier without a humidistat. but cool i guess, more automation is always good.

Perhaps better example would be a situatuation with a fireplace where you'd get notified to add a log because the room is getting colder or high humidity alert to open the windows in a house without automatic ventilation or a/c.

But this one feels strange for not using the thermostat sensor *in the same room* as shown on the picture (not a central one).

 

[foobarbaz]

eh, just use a smart thermostat.

Or a dumb thermostat. Setting a target temperature is literally what they do.

There's no need to set it when the temperature drops. Just set the minimum temperature and it'll activate when needed. If it's warmer, it will turn off on its own.

So what's the benefit of this complicated automation?
I mean, how often will it even activate? Only once, I guess. Because once the thermostat is set to 22°, it will stay that warm permanently, and it will never trigger again.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Ok that actually looks pretty nice.

Seems there’s finally some upward trajectory in the Home department. I hope they keep it up. I think what was really holding them back was HomeKit certification, and ideally Matter solves that problem.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Or a dumb thermostat. Setting a target temperature is literally what they do.

There's no need to set it when the temperature drops. Just set the minimum temperature and it'll activate when needed. If it's warmer, it will turn off on its own.

So what's the benefit of this complicated automation?
I mean, how often will it even activate? Only once, I guess. Because once the thermostat is set to 22°, it will stay that warm permanently, and it will never trigger again.

You might simply want to be notified if a room without a thermostat is above or below a certain threshold. I’m glad the data is available, people will figure out things to do with it.

 

[gaximus]

This is cool. I kinda wish I hadn’t spent $200 on ECOBEE sensors for all my rooms. But I’m not sure if the thermostat can use HomeKit/matter thermometers to adjust the hvac.

 

[MrRom92]

This is awesome. One of my HomePod minis is in the bathroom, and I already have the exhaust fan hooked up to HomeKit. I often just ask siri to turn it on or off. But now I’ll probably be able to run automations to run the fan whenever the humidity in the room rises above a certain level and turn it off once the humidity in the room has dropped.

 

[jtdx99]

This is cool and something I'll use!

 

[Will Co]

Does HomeKit automation function properly if the Internet is down?

It does

 

[Cheesehead Dave]

This is cool. I kinda wish I hadn’t spent $200 on ECOBEE sensors for all my rooms. But I’m not sure if the thermostat can use HomeKit/matter thermometers to adjust the hvac.

I wonder if you can somehow use Shortcuts for this?

IF (Kitchen + Living Room + Bedroom) / 3 < 72 THEN Turn on the furnace

 

[Will Co]

You should also know that the HomeKit protocol, and in particular the conditional rules that are supported, is actually far richer and expansive than the functionality surfaced within the native Home app. For example, within the Home app, you cannot configure a rule that says "At Sunrise, turn on this water feature, but only if the temperature of my garden sensor is > 3 degC". There are similar looking things that come close, which you can create, but not one with that specific conditional structure. If you look at some of the third party apps available there is a heck of a lot more you can do with your HomeKit accessories. For example, using some of the tools you can configure more complex rules, such as the one above, and weirdly they will be displayed correctly by the Home app, although you cannot edit them. You would have thought that Apple, having defined the entire HomeKit protocol, would have created a UI that surfaces all of it. Seems that the UI team are still playing catch up with the rest of the HomeKit system.

 

[6787872]

Or a dumb thermostat. Setting a target temperature is literally what they do.

There's no need to set it when the temperature drops. Just set the minimum temperature and it'll activate when needed. If it's warmer, it will turn off on its own.

So what's the benefit of this complicated automation?
I mean, how often will it even activate? Only once, I guess. Because once the thermostat is set to 22°, it will stay that warm permanently, and it will never trigger again.

the 'target' temperature is not always fixed. scheduling? different temps time of day? temps based on weather?

it's really not that complicated.