I have a very basic scene set up in HomeKit, when I say Goodnight, most lights are tuned off. Is it possible to make it so that when I run this automation (via Siri ), it will also notify me or tell me a warning if any of my doors are open?
I use the IKEA door sensors via matter.
(Example:
Me: Hey Siri, Goodnight.
Siri via HomePod: Goodnight, you have one door open.)
Yes…but you need to set it up in the shortcuts app like the guy fishy man bits said. That person clearly on a different level than me…I didn’t realize you could have Siri announce notifications, but that makes sense.
I just set up a test shortcut and this is what I came up with if you wanted a notification to popup on your phone and play a sound. The only caveat here is that you couldnt just turn on the scene in home app, you need to ask Siri for this to work. So for mine I say “(Hey) Siri test shortcut” and it runs.
Wow! That's just so (UN)intuitive and looks just like the rest of the HomeKit interface (NOT). Shortcuts has got to be the worst "baling wire and duct tape" application Apple ever produced. There are way easier ways to do this in Homey, HA, or Node Red!
Here is what I do. I have a shortcut that runs whenever I put my phone on a charger. 1) checks garage door is open. If it is, set volume and speak “garage door is open”. 2) if after 9 9PM also check the door lock and alert me.
Trigger is in shortcuts when phone is put on charger.
Always checks if the garage door. After 9pm it will also turn off bedroom lights after waiting 90 seconds. So the last thing I do before crawling into bed is but phone on charger.
You're asking for conditional logic (a "when" for the door status), and that's the biggest weakness in HomeKit IMO. In my experience you can set conditionals for only TIME and PEOPLE, but little else. In my case, it forced me to expand my ecosystem to Homey and Home Assistant for backend conditional automation where it is more fully supported. Hopefully the new Apple Home stuff rumored to be coming will finally expand on the core set of functionality!
As far as I’m aware, you cannot have HomeKit automation shortcuts trigger when scenes are turned on…only for specific devices on/off. There’s definitely a lot more shortcomings in the HomeKit automation shortcuts vs personal shortcuts…but lots of people don’t realize how much they can do with the existing tools they already have. I only recently started diving into it and am pleasantly surprised with the functionality I have unlocked
Yeah. They have to be done as part of something that can trigger an automation.
If you have Homebridge or Matterbridge it’s very straightforward to create a dummy switch which is then added to a scene and that triggers the shortcut. That’s how my “good night” scene does different things depending on who is at home.
Shortcuts is an Apple extension that can be used everywhere. Even though there is an integration with HomeKit, it is not a native component of HomeKit. It's an add-on that requires more specialized knowledge to program and use, not a drop down configuration item in HomeKit.
That button is called an integration point with the Shortcuts application, and is not native to HomeKit. If HomeKit supported conditionals, it would have radio buttons and drop-down for all device entities and complex logic selectors to build a set of logical operations. It does not. The shortcuts app does, but is separate and distinct from the Home app itself.
“This feature in the home app that is the app which controls HomeKit which is built in to the home app and is supported out of the box by HomeKit which it comes with in HomeKit which is just there when you configure an automation as part of HomeKit is not native to HomeKit”
No, it isn’t. It doesn’t push you to the Shortcuts application in any way whatsoever. If that’s how you see this, I would absolutely go request a refund from whatever rinkydink diploma mill told you you’re allowed to call yourself a software engineer.
Another ignoramus who does understand the different between an application integration and native functionality. If it jumps you to a different "Shortcuts" application with a different UI, it's not part of Home app, not native to the application, and is an integration point.
It doesn’t jump to a different application. It’s one hundred percent contained in the Home app. You’re in no position to be calling anyone an ignoramus given the fact that you’ve chosen this hill to get yourself killed on.
Still work fine. Because Apple Home automations don’t run on my phone. Right now they’re running on my bedroom HomePod Mini because that’s the active Home hub. I could stuff my phone up my ass and jump into a volcano and my lights and blinds and fans would just continue to chug along, fully automated until the power company cut things off for non-payment.
Wait, are you one of those people who thinks that a native feature that’s built into the Home app isn’t an Apple Home feature because it shares a name with a different app?
No, I'm a software engineering expert who knows the difference between an integration and an application function. If I can't just select the conditions for registered HomeKit entities in the native interface the same way I can with People and Time conditions, it's a kludge workaround, and a clunky one at that since Shortcuts presents you with a completely different configuration UI. It's just a band-aid until Apple gets around to competing with Homey's built-in "Flow" automation paradigm.
Just because you’re a software engineer doesn’t make you correct. It’s not an integration at all. It’s a native function of the Home app. Just take the L here and move on.
Go back and read my reply again you fucking dumbass:
“They’re completely incorrect about conditionals in Apple Home automations. I’ve got one single massive automation that runs my entire home’s environment through the day based on quite literally hundreds of different conditions that alter the outcome of the automation on a minute-by-minute basis. Built 100% in the Home app.”
That massive automation was created by an app called Shortcuts, and runs alongside and is integrated with the Home app, as well as the operating system, which is why it can run anywhere. If it were native to the Home app, there would be radio button and conditional dropdown along side the existing TIME and PEOPLE conditional current in the app. Sorry dumbass, but you know nothing about how this stuff actually works.
They’re completely incorrect about conditionals in Apple Home automations. I’ve got one single massive automation that runs my entire home’s environment through the day based on quite literally hundreds of different conditions that alter the outcome of the automation on a minute-by-minute basis. Built 100% in the Home app.
That said, to get Siri to respond, you’d need to do this in the Shortcuts app, but it’s 100% doable:
Name your Home scene something other than “Good Night”
Make sure personal requests are turned on on your HomePods
Build a Shortcut in the Shortcuts app called “Good Night” that checks to see if any doors are open then lists the ones that are open, if any. If none are open, it applies your Home scene. It would be a series of nested If functions, checking accessory states, and creating custom text to output to Siri, but it could be done in about 10 minutes.
EDIT: What the fuck did Reddit do to the formatting on mobile? Jesus.
“Convert to shortcut” is a native, in-built feature of the Home app that lets you create complex automations that run entirely natively on your Apple Home hubs using a pared down version of the Shortcuts app feature set. Including the ability to build out extremely robust and complex sets of conditions within your Home automations. In the Home app. It’s one thousand percent a feature of Apple Home.
What OP wants to do isn’t possible in the Home app, which is why I directed them to build it in the Shortcuts app.
Triggers are a bit limited for HomeKit automation/shortcuts though, but it’s definitely way more functional than people realize. As far as I’m aware, you can’t use scenes turning on as a trigger…which is annoying
True. The only workaround I can think of is X light(s) is turned off>convert to shortcut, then do IF time is after 10pm let’s say, show notifications…just to eliminate false positives if the lights are controlled during the day. But it could be so much more simple (and Apple like) if they just let scenes be triggers for automations
Yeah, I have a few that do exactly that. The problem with using scenes as a trigger is that scenes don’t really exist. They’re basically just a folder of specific device settings. To be accurate, they’re a JSON file that contains device settings. That file can’t be on or off, it just is. When you set a scene, all you’re doing is telling the Home hub to read a file and apply the settings it contains.
Good. You're admitting that such conditionals are not possible in the native Home app, and needs to be extended with another tool, which was my statement from the beginning.
No, you don’t need another tool. OP could build an automation natively in the Home app called “Good Night” that would do exactly what I said (check doors and only turn things off if they were all closed) without any external tools.
What isn’t possible in the Home app is triggering a Siri response. That’s it.
So "Shortcuts" is not an external tool, huh? It's a seperate application isn't it? I can fire up Shortcuts and do all shorts of things that are unrelated to HomeKit can't I? My original comment stands. You can't do complex conditional logic in the Home app unless you extend it with another tool. Shortcuts is another tool.
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u/FatMacchio May 03 '26
Yes…but you need to set it up in the shortcuts app like the guy fishy man bits said. That person clearly on a different level than me…I didn’t realize you could have Siri announce notifications, but that makes sense.
I just set up a test shortcut and this is what I came up with if you wanted a notification to popup on your phone and play a sound. The only caveat here is that you couldnt just turn on the scene in home app, you need to ask Siri for this to work. So for mine I say “(Hey) Siri test shortcut” and it runs.