10 Life Hacks Every Apple Home User Should Know
Smart home platforms offer a wealth of powerful features for automating every device in your home, but using them requires some upfront work. It’s also important to understand what you’re looking for. Here are a few hidden tips and tricks to help you get the most out of all your Apple Home-connected devices.
Enable critical alerts to interrupt Do Not Disturb mode.
Apple’s Critical Alerts feature allows you to send a limited number of emergency notifications that can interrupt Silent and Do Not Disturb modes to alert you immediately if there is a threat to your safety, life, or property. These alerts can be triggered by certain sensors, such as smoke, carbon monoxide, and leak detectors, as well as security devices with a panic mode. When enabled, these alerts will appear on the Lock screen and play a sound, even when your device is in Silent mode. Go to Settings > Notifications > General and ensure the Critical Alerts toggle is turned on. You may also need to adjust the Critical Alerts permissions in the device app.
For other types of notifications that aren’t critical but that you want to monitor, such as when cameras detect people, you can set up focus modes .
Customize which frequently used scenes are pinned to Control Center.
When you open Control Center on iOS (swipe down from the upper-right corner of your device), you’ll likely see at least one Home scene or accessory pinned to the Favorites screen, giving you one-tap access to the automation or device without having to open the Home app. Apple does a good job of selecting frequently used scenes to pin here, but you can also customize the ones you need most. In Control Center, press and hold the Home button. Turn off “Use Suggested” and select “Add New Item” to choose from your Apple Home scenes and accessories. You can also tap “Add Control” to pin additional automations to the Home screen of Control Center.
Divide your device’s sensors into multiple blocks to create more targeted automated processes.
Some smart home devices, such as thermostats and motion sensors, actually contain multiple sensors, but they’re all combined into a single element under the main control. By separating them into individual elements, you can view and control them as independent devices. This can be useful if you want your smart blinds to open or close based on ambient light levels, or turn on a fan or heater (via a smart plug) based on the temperature in your bedroom, as detected by a motion sensor. Press and hold the device and tap “Accessory Settings.” If multiple sensors are available, you’ll see the option to ” Show as individual elements .” (Even if you don’t separate elements, you’ll be able to select individual sensors from the device list when creating an automation that uses a sensor.)
Enable built-in countdown timers to deactivate devices.
If you use motion, contact, or presence sensors to turn on lights, you can program these same lights to turn off after a set time within the same automation—even if the sensor is still active. This way, no one has to worry about forgetting to turn off the lights, and you won’t need a separate automation to perform this action.
In the Home app, tap the plus sign > Add automation > Sensor detected something . Then select the sensor and tap Open > Next . On the next screen, select the device you want to turn on and tap Next . Make sure the device is set to On . At the bottom of the screen, tap Turn off and select your desired timeout. Then tap Done .
Use shortcuts to create automated processes based on the weather.
In addition to automating your smart home devices at specific times of day, you can set up a shortcut that will react to local weather conditions and behave differently depending on, for example, whether it’s sunny or cloudy in your home. One specific example is lowering your smart blinds during the day if it’s sunny, and leaving them open if it’s cloudy or raining. You can also set them based on the outside temperature if you want to utilize solar heating in the winter.
To set this up in the Home app, tap the plus sign > Add Automation > Time of Day and set the time when your room gets the most sunlight. Tap Next . On the next screen, scroll down and tap Convert to Shortcut . Uncheck Default Action, type Weather in the search bar, and select Get Current Weather . Type If in the search bar and select the If block. Tap Weather Conditions in the first block and change the type to Condition . (If you want to set up a temperature-based automation, change the type to Temperature .) Tap the next box, change it to Contains , and type Sunny in the text box. Find Home , select Home Control , and drag it just below the If block. Tap Scenes & Accessories to select your smart home device and its action, then tap Next > Done to save.
Program smart light bulbs to act as silent intercoms.
Another creative way to use shortcuts: set your smart light bulbs to blink to get your family members’ attention instead of shouting them across the house. For example, you could use this pattern as a silent dinner bell. Tap the plus sign > Add Automation > Controls an accessory (such as a smart switch or light fixture) or Sensor detects something (such as motion in the kitchen) > Next . Scroll down and tap Convert to Shortcut . Remove the default action, type “Home” in the search bar, and select “Control Home.” Tap “Scenes & Accessories” to select the target light bulb and set it to “Off .” Type “Wait” in the search bar, select the “Wait” block, and set the time to 1 second. Repeat, but select the ” On ” action. Add another “Off” and another “On” to the sequence, then tap “Next” > Done .
Use motion sensors to switch between speakers.
You can also program shortcuts to switch streaming audio from one speaker to another in response to a trigger event, such as motion detection when leaving one room and entering another. This will allow your playlist or podcast to follow you around the house so you don’t miss a beat. In the “Add Automation” flow, select “Sensor detects something” and choose the motion sensor you want to trigger the action. Select “Closes” > “Next .” Tap “Convert to Shortcut,” then find and select “Pass Playback” in your media library. Set your iPhone as the device and your smart speaker as the target device. Find and select “Set Volume” and adjust the slider to a comfortable level. Tap “Next” > “Done.”
Set up double-tap actions to launch multiple automated processes with a single toggle.
Your smart switches don’t have to be limited to a single function—with an inexpensive smart plug and a few shortcuts, you can set up automations with a single press and a double press for another. A spare smart plug serves as a dummy switch, activating an additional scene if it detects a second press before the timeout expires. For example, the first press simply turns on your regular lighting scene, while the second press initiates “away mode,” which turns off the lights, lowers the thermostat, and locks the back door.
In practice, this requires adding an additional outlet to your Home devices (tap the plus sign > Add Accessory ) and programming a lighting scene (tap the plus sign > Add Scene ). After that, you’ll need to set up two shortcuts: one to turn on the smart plug when the switch is turned on with a five-second timeout, and another to trigger a second scene when the switch is pressed again while the dummy switch is still on.
Use virtual dummy switches to prevent repeating automation cycles.
Speaking of dummy switches, they can also be used to prevent one-time automated scenes from running repeatedly if a sensor is triggered multiple times. A dummy switch can prevent your HomePod from repeating announcements every time someone enters a specific room (beyond the first time motion is detected), or prevent your robot vacuum from restarting if you close the door, forget something, return home, and then close the door again when you leave.
Program your smart plug to reset the motion sensor timer.
Another use for this inexpensive smart plug: program it to continuously update its motion sensor timer so your lights stay on while you’re home, but turn off when you’re away. First, add the smart plug to Home and set up an automation that will turn on both the lights and the plug when motion is detected.
To create a timer automation, you’ll need a third-party controller for the Apple Home app. Go to Automation > Create Automation > Sensor Detects Something . Select your motion sensor and select Stops Motion Detection . Select Home Control , then select your outlet and set it to Off . Select Delayed/Automatically Turn Off , set the delay to 20 minutes, and enable Reset Timer When Triggered Again . Finally, you’ll need an automation in the main Home app that turns off your dummy outlet and lights.