Thanks to Level Lock for sponsoring this video! Check out their products here: go.magik.ly/ml/28q8a/ Get 30 days of free access to the Controller for HomeKit app (new and returning users): go.magik.ly/ml/28q8f/
Am I losing my mind or are there currently no smart locks that support Apple Home Key using hands-free unlock with Ultra Wideband (UWB). These new locks would need to have the UWB chip? Are we waiting for CES?
I have an Eve Energy Outlet on my washing machine. I have home bridge, Controller, and home assistant yellow on the way. How do I get an automation to let me know when the washer has stopped running? I have been watching your videos and see things about this but cant figure it out. Thanks
This is exactly what I needed. I asked in one of your live streams but I couldn't explain it very well due to the word limit in the chat. Thanks for the video as always!
Thanks Shane for all the work you’ve put into presenting these demos. I totally agree with you guys on this. Homekit is ten freaking years old, and the automation hasn’t improved; the iconography still suck, and the interoperability…well, you get my point. Not cool to be dependent on third-party apps after ten years.
Yeh I think they are missing a huge market. I’d imagine they are doing what Apple normally does which is be very deliberate and not rush anything out. That’s what I’m hoping at least. If they really focused on building seamless smart home integration with advanced features people would pay a subscription for it. At least I would. I refuse to spend the time it takes to go through these clunky workarounds that require a million different actions just to complete what should be a simple task
I think Apple prefer this model. - this is a paid app, and Apple get a % of all transactions through apps, therefore for them this is a win win - a 3rd party develops the app, it makes the eco system more valuable to customers, and they get paid for it… but I agree it would be better if this was native.
Another great video! It would also be nice if they could add the ability to sense the presence of a specific person (ie your kids get home). Thank you for sharing Shane!
Thanks for that Shane! Well done! Would be nice to see functions added for convenience and expediency like duplicate, copy, repeat, etc. The ability to shortcut repetitive additions to code is always nice.
"An old Mac mini M1..." Tell us you're a geek without telling us you're a geek. LOL There are people who'd consider an M1 Mac mini to be state of the art. 🤣
Shane, your videos are always a hit! I spotted something at the bottom that might need a little jazz: “Stop the current workflow and start a new one” in the “Restart Workflow” section. This way, it won’t be like a motion sensor that needs a timeout before it notices your *waving your hands sporadically* dance moves. Am I off the beat here? What’s your take?
I would like to see a loop statement where instead of doing like you did with the lights to get them to flash you could do a loop. Something like this: X=1 -> for x endfor. The repeated on/off statements reminds me of the old DOS days.
Great video! I was curious on this Controller update. Too bad it needs to run in the foreground on ATV. That makes it look usable for me, as I have no spare devices that will run Apple Home. Thanks Shane!
Now that Controller has the hub, we can also call the shortcut url, pass parameters, and callback Controller. Having this conditional logic power and the ability to also call shortcuts from the hub is powerful. Eliminates the need for pushcut too which has been less than reliable.
Great video Shane thanks! With this app are we able to tap into some of the conditions of the Aqara door locks that are only available natively on the Aqara app (e.g. IF door unlock from inside)?
Hi Shane, is there a minimum requirement for an old iPad or iPhone ( in terms of os or hardware) or I can use any? I don’t have an old one so I want to buy a refurbished one but the cheapest that is compatible with
You mentioned that you use smart plugs for your christmas stuff. Do you leave them plugged in all year or do you take them out? i have a ton of them for lights and everything. Maybe like over 20 LOL but i'm not sure if i should just leave them or should i take them out? They wont be used anymore until next christmas.
I usually remove my smart plugs until the next Christmas and reconfigure them in HomeKit each year. There may be other or better ways, but I find this the easiest.
You can also archive your Christmas-specific automations from within the Controller for HomeKit app and delete them for the year then restore them when you’re ready to use them, since they will be missing all the accessories you would have removed for the better part of the year anyways. Makes it super simple to not have extra unused accessories or invalid automations filling up your setup.
Think I’ll wait for Apple’s big 2025 Home OS year. Fully expecting workflow capabilities with the release of a dedicated hub with screen. The update to shortcuts and automations was a good step forward.
I have the lifetime license for Controller and have plenty of old iPhones for this use. I also just bought the HomeyPro, still in box. Are these now substantially overlapping in capabilities that only need one or will the HomeyPro are a good bit more? BTW, I love these videos as they hit on my next steps. I know there are fewer of us but with your numbers, I suspect enough of us medium level users to warrant these videos here and there.
Thanks for the feedback! There is some overlap but homey pro will still give you more capabilities, like being able to integrate other devices into HomeKit otherwise not supported, creating virtual switches, etc.
Hey Shane, I have a Ikea smart button, I want to use it outdoor for a doorbell. I have a customized sound for it as well, but it takes almost 10 seconds to play. Is it possible to reduce delay?
Hi Shane--- I have a smart lock Home app question. I have a smart lock hooked up with automation so it turns off at 11 PM. Now when I unlock the door in the morning, I get a notification but when the door locks at night automatically I am not getting a notification. I am the organizer of the home so is that why? The reason I mention that is other members of the family are getting the notifications when the door locks. It is just me as the organizer that is not getting the notification from the automation. Do you have any idea as to what is going on? Should the organizer get notified from automations?
Hey Ben. Notifications are set for smart devices in the Home app on a per device basis. But if you are getting a notification when the door unlocks in the morning, it sounds like you have Activity Notifications enabled on your phone for the lock. There is no reason why you should not get notifications in the evening as well. Make sure you don't have focus modes or do not disturb set that would prevent notifications for the Home app to come through in the evenings.
@@ShaneCreates so even though I am the home organizer who set up the automation, I should still be getting a notification for when the automation kicks in?
Great video Shane, Ken you build one of these automations in Controller on your iPhone but have it run on an Apple TV? Or, do you have to somehow build it on the Apple TV?
Thanks Gregg! You can build the automation on any device running the controller app (as I did on the Mac) and they sync across devices. As long as you have a device running in hub mode, doesn’t matter which device you build the automation on.
awesome videos as always, Shane! I can’t wait one day until you can just tell Apple Intelligence to set up this automation, do you know what the minimum requirements to run controller for HomeKit are on a Mac? For example, can I set it up on my 2012 Mac mini that is running Catalina?
Thanks for watching Larry. Right now you can only run Hub mode on an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV 4K. You can use the Controller app on your Mac, but you can not use it in Hub Mode.
@ thanks Shane, would be nice if they added the ability to use an old Mac mini that you have lying around to use as the home hub for controller for HomeKit.
@@ShaneCreates How I have mine setup right now is I have a old phone that is the home hub. with that old phone I made a apple account for my home automations. Do you know if I can send a work flow I made on a laptop (that is signed into my personal apple account) can be sent to the old phone?
One question about long term use. If you put on an older / unused iPhone or iPAD, what happens when the OS won’t be updated on that device because it’s too old. I can see the APP at some point requiring a specific iOS / iPAD OS and you are stuck and need new hardware. to extend the use of the software, it would seem you should be on a newer device which can be expensive. Curious on thoughts?
Shane good vid, but I’m like a pig in mud with home assistant 88 automations 19 in HomeKit so I can get Siri to announce and now I’m making stuff from my dashboard disappear ie only need to see smoke alarms when they are going off, only need to see smart plugs if they are switched off or in use, I’ve made my gaming computer work in reverse when it pulls 40watts the smart plug disappears so no one can turn it off accidentally. Never thought I would be so much into Home Assistant! And the amount of devices that I can integrate is it matter, thread, zigbee, Bluetooth, RTS wifi? Only protocol I’ve not got is ZWave and don’t think I ever will. Was a proper Apple fan but they dropped the ball twice one killing home pod then having to revive, Siri still not the best so what I can automate without voice is a winner for me and the last HomeKit is weak not enough development over the years for a big company like Apple
The stop automation is worth buying a lifetime pro subscription, I have FP2 & FP1 that need it. Just need the enable hub mode to work on Apple TV, dont have spare Iphone or Ipad that can run the latest IOS..
Since shortcuts will not do this automation, do you think Eve’s app would work? Also, I was wondering if the cancel action happens, will it cancel turning off lights entirely - or does it reset itself to start over again. 🤔
Hey Shane, have you found a way to do a text-to-speech Intercom to all of the speakers in your house? I have a door sense on my freezer door and when it is open for 3 minutes, I want to send a message to all of my speakers in the house to say "The freezer door is open". You would think that something like this would be easy to do in HomeKit but it seems almost impossible. I was hoping that with Controller in hub mode it would be possible.
@@samerighneim I don't understand. When I am creating a workflow in Controller, the only actions for the steps include: Execute Scene, control accessories, controller accessory, get accessory state, create time based autoamtion, de/activate automation, if/else, wait, monitor value, notification, call url, output. I don't see how to trigger the shortcut
My apologies was short, I meant that you can send an announcement to all homepode speakers with text you can type or pre type inside the shortcuts app. But what speakers do you have? I assume in shortcuts app you can still play sound of Siri reading text ?
@@samerighneim no problem at all. I appreciate the help. All my speakers are home pods. My understanding is that a shortcut created on my phone can use intercom. I have created a shortcut in the shortcut app that sends a voice message that the freezer door is open and siri reads the text out to me just fine. I guess if I run HomeKit Controller on an old iPhone and then create the shortcut on that iPhone, I just need to figure out how to have Homekit Controller run the shortcut.
@ got you, for me it works to other devices, but perhaps because I set to allow announcements delivery to all devices of the members as Im homepod admin. Try the announcement settings and set announcements delivery settings to the members and homepods
Right now I’m using a Reolink WiFi doorbell, connected to HomeKit via scrypted. But I hope to run PoE sometime soon and switch to a PoE doorbell for an upcoming project.
Subscription based and as long as it’s in the App Store. No thanks. Home assistant can do all of this and more. Also almost anything in Home assistant can pair with home kit. Home kit is only good for the normal user (others in the home)
Not necessarily. I have Home Assistant running, but 97% of what I have in my home that integrates with HA also integrates with HomeKit natively. And almost all the functions I want pretty much work within HomeKit. There are a couple of things I want my home to do that require me to make an integrated device from HA back into HomeKit, but not enough to go through the rabbit hole of becoming a total HA geek. I might have to get there at some point, but something simpler like this for one-offs is a good intermediate step. As they say, there is more than one way to skin a cat.
They need to list the prices for this. I don't want to download it to find it costs more than I want to pay. Prices are not even on there website or their App download page.
Thanks to Level Lock for sponsoring this video! Check out their products here: go.magik.ly/ml/28q8a/
Get 30 days of free access to the Controller for HomeKit app (new and returning users): go.magik.ly/ml/28q8f/
Am I losing my mind or are there currently no smart locks that support Apple Home Key using hands-free unlock with Ultra Wideband (UWB). These new locks would need to have the UWB chip? Are we waiting for CES?
Correct there are not any locks that support this yet.
I have an Eve Energy Outlet on my washing machine. I have home bridge, Controller, and home assistant yellow on the way. How do I get an automation to let me know when the washer has stopped running? I have been watching your videos and see things about this but cant figure it out. Thanks
This is exactly what I needed. I asked in one of your live streams but I couldn't explain it very well due to the word limit in the chat. Thanks for the video as always!
I'd really prefer that Apple create a more powerful Home experience without having to resort to 3rd party apps.
Same
Thanks Shane for all the work you’ve put into presenting these demos. I totally agree with you guys on this. Homekit is ten freaking years old, and the automation hasn’t improved; the iconography still suck, and the interoperability…well, you get my point. Not cool to be dependent on third-party apps after ten years.
This ☝️
Yeh I think they are missing a huge market. I’d imagine they are doing what Apple normally does which is be very deliberate and not rush anything out. That’s what I’m hoping at least. If they really focused on building seamless smart home integration with advanced features people would pay a subscription for it. At least I would. I refuse to spend the time it takes to go through these clunky workarounds that require a million different actions just to complete what should be a simple task
I think Apple prefer this model. - this is a paid app, and Apple get a % of all transactions through apps, therefore for them this is a win win - a 3rd party develops the app, it makes the eco system more valuable to customers, and they get paid for it… but I agree it would be better if this was native.
Thank you for this video! I bought this the other day and got lost. With your help I totally get it now! Thank you again so much.
Thanks for watching. Glad it was helpful!
Another great video! It would also be nice if they could add the ability to sense the presence of a specific person (ie your kids get home). Thank you for sharing Shane!
Thanks for that Shane! Well done!
Would be nice to see functions added for convenience and expediency like duplicate, copy, repeat, etc. The ability to shortcut repetitive additions to code is always nice.
Great video!
We need 3 things in Controller:
1. Duplicate commands
2. Repeat loops
3. SET A LIGHT TO ADAPTIVE MODE!
Adaptive mode is not available on the api. 3rd party devs can’t use the option
Really interesting, love your videos.
I have an old Mac mini M1 just sitting around. Can i install controller app on it an have it run as a hub?
"An old Mac mini M1..." Tell us you're a geek without telling us you're a geek. LOL There are people who'd consider an M1 Mac mini to be state of the art. 🤣
Agree. I have a Mac mini that's always on for Signals hub to run - This seems like this is a miss
We use presence to unlock the doors. It’s easier than pulling out a phone or entering a code
Shane, your videos are always a hit! I spotted something at the bottom that might need a little jazz: “Stop the current workflow and start a new one” in the “Restart Workflow” section. This way, it won’t be like a motion sensor that needs a timeout before it notices your *waving your hands sporadically* dance moves. Am I off the beat here? What’s your take?
I would like to see a loop statement where instead of doing like you did with the lights to get them to flash you could do a loop. Something like this: X=1 -> for x endfor. The repeated on/off statements reminds me of the old DOS days.
Great video! I was curious on this Controller update. Too bad it needs to run in the foreground on ATV. That makes it look usable for me, as I have no spare devices that will run Apple Home. Thanks Shane!
That’s pretty neat!
Mac should be number one priority to Hub Mode. I hope they follow what signals do. I have a 24/7 Mac running.
Thank you Shane I got my gifts 🎉
Awesome!
Now that Controller has the hub, we can also call the shortcut url, pass parameters, and callback Controller. Having this conditional logic power and the ability to also call shortcuts from the hub is powerful. Eliminates the need for pushcut too which has been less than reliable.
Great video Shane thanks! With this app are we able to tap into some of the conditions of the Aqara door locks that are only available natively on the Aqara app (e.g. IF door unlock from inside)?
Do these workflows have easy ways to do text to speech notifications on homepod mini?
Is hub mode capable old of running an iPhone shortcut once I stop a HomePod alarm?
Hi Shane, is there a minimum requirement for an old iPad or iPhone ( in terms of os or hardware) or I can use any? I don’t have an old one so I want to buy a refurbished one but the cheapest that is compatible with
I was going to ask the same question. I have a couple iPhone 5,s and 6,s
You mentioned that you use smart plugs for your christmas stuff. Do you leave them plugged in all year or do you take them out? i have a ton of them for lights and everything. Maybe like over 20 LOL but i'm not sure if i should just leave them or should i take them out? They wont be used anymore until next christmas.
I usually remove my smart plugs until the next Christmas and reconfigure them in HomeKit each year. There may be other or better ways, but I find this the easiest.
You can also archive your Christmas-specific automations from within the Controller for HomeKit app and delete them for the year then restore them when you’re ready to use them, since they will be missing all the accessories you would have removed for the better part of the year anyways. Makes it super simple to not have extra unused accessories or invalid automations filling up your setup.
Think I’ll wait for Apple’s big 2025 Home OS year. Fully expecting workflow capabilities with the release of a dedicated hub with screen. The update to shortcuts and automations was a good step forward.
I have the lifetime license for Controller and have plenty of old iPhones for this use. I also just bought the HomeyPro, still in box. Are these now substantially overlapping in capabilities that only need one or will the HomeyPro are a good bit more?
BTW, I love these videos as they hit on my next steps. I know there are fewer of us but with your numbers, I suspect enough of us medium level users to warrant these videos here and there.
Thanks for the feedback! There is some overlap but homey pro will still give you more capabilities, like being able to integrate other devices into HomeKit otherwise not supported, creating virtual switches, etc.
Hey Shane, I have a Ikea smart button, I want to use it outdoor for a doorbell. I have a customized sound for it as well, but it takes almost 10 seconds to play. Is it possible to reduce delay?
Does the flashing of lights work together with getting an imessage on your iphone ??? Been searching for a direct way to do it
Hi Shane--- I have a smart lock Home app question. I have a smart lock hooked up with automation so it turns off at 11 PM. Now when I unlock the door in the morning, I get a notification but when the door locks at night automatically I am not getting a notification. I am the organizer of the home so is that why? The reason I mention that is other members of the family are getting the notifications when the door locks. It is just me as the organizer that is not getting the notification from the automation. Do you have any idea as to what is going on? Should the organizer get notified from automations?
Hey Ben. Notifications are set for smart devices in the Home app on a per device basis. But if you are getting a notification when the door unlocks in the morning, it sounds like you have Activity Notifications enabled on your phone for the lock. There is no reason why you should not get notifications in the evening as well. Make sure you don't have focus modes or do not disturb set that would prevent notifications for the Home app to come through in the evenings.
@@ShaneCreates so even though I am the home organizer who set up the automation, I should still be getting a notification for when the automation kicks in?
@@BenDMitchell yes if notifications are turned on
I’m confused. Does this mean I need Home Controller to use Home Hub?
Great video Shane, Ken you build one of these automations in Controller on your iPhone but have it run on an Apple TV? Or, do you have to somehow build it on the Apple TV?
Thanks Gregg! You can build the automation on any device running the controller app (as I did on the Mac) and they sync across devices. As long as you have a device running in hub mode, doesn’t matter which device you build the automation on.
Would hub mode work on the upcoming Apple Hub with a screen?
awesome videos as always, Shane! I can’t wait one day until you can just tell Apple Intelligence to set up this automation, do you know what the minimum requirements to run controller for HomeKit are on a Mac? For example, can I set it up on my 2012 Mac mini that is running Catalina?
Thanks for watching Larry. Right now you can only run Hub mode on an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV 4K. You can use the Controller app on your Mac, but you can not use it in Hub Mode.
@ thanks Shane, would be nice if they added the ability to use an old Mac mini that you have lying around to use as the home hub for controller for HomeKit.
Can you make a workflow on one device (Like a laptop) and push it to the phone? That would be nice so you can use a laptop to easily make them.
Yes you can create the workflow on any of your devices.
@@ShaneCreates How I have mine setup right now is I have a old phone that is the home hub. with that old phone I made a apple account for my home automations. Do you know if I can send a work flow I made on a laptop (that is signed into my personal apple account) can be sent to the old phone?
One question about long term use. If you put on an older / unused iPhone or iPAD, what happens when the OS won’t be updated on that device because it’s too old. I can see the APP at some point requiring a specific iOS / iPAD OS and you are stuck and need new hardware. to extend the use of the software, it would seem you should be on a newer device which can be expensive. Curious on thoughts?
Good point. I remember when my old iPad Air 2 was suddenly not able to access HomeKit.
Great I’m gonna go out and buy $1000 phone for this hub!
Shane good vid, but I’m like a pig in mud with home assistant 88 automations 19 in HomeKit so I can get Siri to announce and now I’m making stuff from my dashboard disappear ie only need to see smoke alarms when they are going off, only need to see smart plugs if they are switched off or in use, I’ve made my gaming computer work in reverse when it pulls 40watts the smart plug disappears so no one can turn it off accidentally. Never thought I would be so much into Home Assistant! And the amount of devices that I can integrate is it matter, thread, zigbee, Bluetooth, RTS wifi? Only protocol I’ve not got is ZWave and don’t think I ever will. Was a proper Apple fan but they dropped the ball twice one killing home pod then having to revive, Siri still not the best so what I can automate without voice is a winner for me and the last HomeKit is weak not enough development over the years for a big company like Apple
Can this be done in apple’s shotcuts? I need the stop automation when motion is (re) detected again with my FP2 sensor
There is not a good way to do this in shortcuts.
@@ShaneCreates Thanks Shane - always great info!
The stop automation is worth buying a lifetime pro subscription, I have FP2 & FP1 that need it. Just need the enable hub mode to work on Apple TV, dont have spare Iphone or Ipad that can run the latest IOS..
Since shortcuts will not do this automation, do you think Eve’s app would work? Also, I was wondering if the cancel action happens, will it cancel turning off lights entirely - or does it reset itself to start over again. 🤔
I don’t know if I can get a hold of you but I have
Hey Shane, have you found a way to do a text-to-speech Intercom to all of the speakers in your house? I have a door sense on my freezer door and when it is open for 3 minutes, I want to send a message to all of my speakers in the house to say "The freezer door is open". You would think that something like this would be easy to do in HomeKit but it seems almost impossible. I was hoping that with Controller in hub mode it would be possible.
Use shortcuts, set text (ask each time) and next action is the intercom.
@@samerighneim I don't understand. When I am creating a workflow in Controller, the only actions for the steps include: Execute Scene, control accessories, controller accessory, get accessory state, create time based autoamtion, de/activate automation, if/else, wait, monitor value, notification, call url, output.
I don't see how to trigger the shortcut
My apologies was short, I meant that you can send an announcement to all homepode speakers with text you can type or pre type inside the shortcuts app. But what speakers do you have? I assume in shortcuts app you can still play sound of Siri reading text ?
@@samerighneim no problem at all. I appreciate the help. All my speakers are home pods. My understanding is that a shortcut created on my phone can use intercom. I have created a shortcut in the shortcut app that sends a voice message that the freezer door is open and siri reads the text out to me just fine.
I guess if I run HomeKit Controller on an old iPhone and then create the shortcut on that iPhone, I just need to figure out how to have Homekit Controller run the shortcut.
@ got you, for me it works to other devices, but perhaps because I set to allow announcements delivery to all devices of the members as Im homepod admin. Try the announcement settings and set announcements delivery settings to the members and homepods
What new doorbell you using?
Right now I’m using a Reolink WiFi doorbell, connected to HomeKit via scrypted. But I hope to run PoE sometime soon and switch to a PoE doorbell for an upcoming project.
@ gonna make that switch over to UniFi now that you got a gateway?
Thinking about it!
I’m using the unifi g4 pro doorbell. Connected by POE. And integrated into HomeKit via Homebridge.
Subscription based and as long as it’s in the App Store. No thanks. Home assistant can do all of this and more. Also almost anything in Home assistant can pair with home kit. Home kit is only good for the normal user (others in the home)
Home assistant is not for everyone (and that is ok!)
Native Apple Home app can do these too. No need to buy another app or have another device running as a hub
You cannot do most of this natively in the Apple Home app.
So I have to have an iPhone, iPad or HomePod to be allowed to use this ?
I think i will give it a miss.
Yeah that is a pretty big limitation. I luckily have an iPhone X sitting in a drawer and this just gave me a use for it!
Don’t think Homepod works. iPhkne, iPad or AppleTV
This is where Homekit is just getting totally messy and unusuable and you wish you would be on Home Assistant
Until Apple improve HomeKit, running home assistant makes way more sense than this.
Not necessarily. I have Home Assistant running, but 97% of what I have in my home that integrates with HA also integrates with HomeKit natively. And almost all the functions I want pretty much work within HomeKit. There are a couple of things I want my home to do that require me to make an integrated device from HA back into HomeKit, but not enough to go through the rabbit hole of becoming a total HA geek. I might have to get there at some point, but something simpler like this for one-offs is a good intermediate step. As they say, there is more than one way to skin a cat.
No, I use home assistant for all my automations. Great video though.
And home assistant is free. :-) and is running on an old busted up laptop with a dead screen that was sitting in garage.
I’m confused of why you felt compelled to even comment
@@pleaseletitgo1818 He might want people to choose wisely.
@@pleaseletitgo1818feel better about themselves
@@pleaseletitgo1818 hey, let it go.
Sorry but needing a dedicated (always power on) device seems like a huge negative to me.
They need to list the prices for this. I don't want to download it to find it costs more than I want to pay. Prices are not even on there website or their App download page.
Prices are listed in the App Store for this under “in-app purchases”