How to Easily Automate Your Smart Home with Apple’s Home and Shortcuts Apps
Many smart devices can connect to your iPhone on their own, but you can also link them through Apple’s Home app. To do this, open the Home app, tap the plus (+) icon in the top-right corner, and select “Add Accessory.” From there, you can scan the QR code on your smart device to connect it.
Once your device is set up, you can control many of its functions directly through the Home app. Even better, you can create automations on your iPhone for each device, allowing them to perform certain tasks automatically. Let’s walk through how to set up automations using a smart device.
Setting Up Automations in the Shortcuts App
The Apple Shortcuts app lets you create two types of processes: shortcuts and automations. A shortcut is a quick way to perform a task on your phone. For example, you can set up a shortcut with the Home app to pause your Apple TV with a single tap, instead of navigating through the remote app.
Automations are a bit more advanced. They can be triggered by various factors like time of day, motion sensors, temperature, location, and more. For example, you can use automations in the Shortcuts app to automatically adjust your thermostat when you get home, turn it off at night, and set it to turn on again when the temperature changes.
To illustrate, let’s create an automation that turns off a smart TV at 2 a.m. every day.
- First, make sure your TV is connected to Wi-Fi and added to the Home app.
- In the Home app, tap “Automations” (or “New Automation” if you’re creating one for the first time) and then tap the plus (+) icon in the top-right corner.
- Choose the event that will trigger the automation, such as time of day, location, or battery percentage. For this example, select “Time of Day,” set it to 2:00 AM, and choose the days you want the automation to run. Make sure “Run Immediately” is selected so it works without needing any confirmation.
- Tap “Next” > “New Blank Automation” and use the search bar to find the Home app under the Apps tab.
- Tap “Control My Home,” then “Scenes and Accessories,” and select your TV. Ensure that it’s set to “Turn Off,” then tap “Done.” Tap “Done” again to save the automation.
Now, your TV will automatically turn off at 2 a.m. each day.
If you need to change something about an automation, just tap its icon in the Automation tab to edit it. To disable it, go to Automation and select “Don’t Run.” The automation will remain off until you enable it again.
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