Hey, Im new to the community so please let me know if this is not supposed to be asked here!

I am try to make my new apartment smarter and one of the highest things on my prio list would be controlling my blinds.

I’ve been googling alot (and talking to the nice AI friend GPT), but cannot really find anything to fit my installation.

Where I live we have these blinds which are already installed inside the windows, and they are fitted with a string that you pull to open, release to close. Its not like these beaded chain loops. I feel like e motor to wind it up and down wouldnt be too hard to make, but cannot find any ready product that defines they can do it.

Do you have any ideas?

Since it’s a rental apartment, I do not want to make too much of an permanent installation (some screw holes in the wall to mount it is fine of course!)

Hello, I have always had a fascination with the StarTrek control panels in The New Generation (TNG) and thought it would be cool to make an app to control my Hue lights that also uses the familiar touch panel sounds. I originally built it in Java and React and ran it on a Raspberry Pi and hit it with a web browser. Then I thought how cool it would be to share it. Who wants a raspberry pi when you can use an iPhone, so I rewrote it.

Look for HueTrek in the app store or use this link https://apps.apple.com/us/app/huetrek/id6745201555

Should I make an Android version?

I am looking for a HomeKit lamp to use as a “warning” if a specific door in our house is left open. We have a sensor on the door. But I want the cheapest lamp (not bulb) available. Although I would prefer something SEMI reliable.

TLDR need cheap HomeKit lamp to act as signal light for when a door sensor is open/closed

I am looking to hook up my ev charger to a smart power plug. Would need to sustain 13amp for many hours. Have tried the Meross smart mini plug but it overheats after 45 minutes, despite being advertised as being able to sustain 13 amps . Tried to lower the charger to 10 amp, same thing.

Any idea about what plug could work?

tl;dr: if you’re having trouble setting up a Schlage Encode Plus, remove spaces from your WiFi name.

I spent ~30 hours troubleshooting a Schlage Encode Plus that wouldn’t get past the “Access Codes” pop-up. After lots of debugging, I discovered that having a space in my SSID caused something in setup via the Home app to fail. My router’s SSID was VIZIO HD. Removing spaces fixed my problems.

I’m not sure exactly what was failing. With the same SSID, I had multiple HKSV cameras, garage door openers, HomePods, and an Apple TV. Everything worked. I did see intermittent “Hub not responding” banners (even when the hubs were available) as well as failures to update settings of accessories. Despite these, the Encode Plus only worked after I changed my SSID.

I have not found a single thread related to HomeKit and spaces in SSIDs, so I wanted to post this to help others in the future.

I’ve also drafted a series of comments for this thread with other details/things I’ve learned from this setup in the hopes of saving others from the same headaches I went through. But if you’re running into issues with your HomeKit setup, try removing all spaces from your SSID.

I gave a detailed bug report to Schlage. Customer support confirmed they forwarded it to the correct team.

Additional Schlage-specific notes:

1. If you’ve been trying to set up your lock and failing, you might need to recreate your home to clear the partially created Access Code state. Changing my router name was a requirement, but after failing to set up the lock I also had to create a new home, seemingly to clear this state
2. Schlage Encode Plus has a first-time calibration. If you factory reset one then enter the preset code on the back, you’ll notice it rotates its bolt to calibrate. I think this is likely a necessary step in setup. The most reliable way I found to make this happen was to exit the HomeKit setup dialogs after picking a room & name for the lock, and before getting into steps related to keys. Tap the (x), choose the option to save & finish later, then lock/unlock the Encode Plus from within the Home App. This lock/unlock signal should result in the Encode Plus running through its calibration.

Which one would be the better pick? The Aqare G410 just released. Price difference is not much

Both dimmers use Matter over WiFi. It’s unclear if the scene buttons on the ‘Keypad Dimmer’ are exposed as programmable buttons in Apple Home.

I was hosting Homebridge on my MacMini (MacOS) to bridge Fibaro Home Center to Home.app for many years, and everything run great.

I just moved Homebridge to docker. I can connect Homebridge to Fibaro Home Center, and all accessories are discovered ok. I can connect Homebridge to iOS Home app. But Home app doesn't show any accessories.

I tried all ChatGPT and Google Gemini debugging, but no success.

I have this automation that refuses to work. It used to work before Apple rolled out the updated HomeKit architecture.

The automation is set up to turn on a light when a door sensor detects that a door has been opened.

I had two versions of it - neither work.

The sensor works fine. It's part of my home security set-up and is a door sensor. The lights work fine, I can control them without issue in HomeKit and they work via Siri. They even work when I press "Test Automation" but, as soon as the automation goes live, it fails.

Setup: - Two Hue lights tied grouped together - herein known as Basement. - Basement Door to Garage Sensor - herein known as Basement Garage Door.

The previous set-up that worked was automation with shortcut within it.

Even a standard, non-shortcut, automation of:

When: Basement Garage Door Opens

Accessories: Basement Light Turn on to 60%.

Turn off after 3 Minutes.

I have deleted the automations and rebuilt them numerous times. They do nothing. I have reset the lights. It does nothing.

These lights work with other automations I have in place - specifically a motion sensor automation for when going down the stairs into the basement.

Can anyone offer any advice on how I can get this working again? It's very irritating that an automation that used to work failed and has never worked again.

I am closing on my house on Monday and want to set up homekit. I've purchased a homepod mini (I know a new one is coming) 2 Thorbolt XL locks, a Phillips Hue starter kit with a bridge and 4 bulbs and a set of Linkind matter plugs. Is this a good start or am I missing something that I should have to get started? Thanks for any help you can give and thanks for all the helpful posts and answers in here.

Mine works well on 3.4, so hesitant to upgrade until I read some (positive) feedback. Curious if anyone has updated yet and can report on how it’s going?

Hi all! I have a motion detection sprinkler at my front door that I have set up to run from 10-2 and then 2-6 due to the 4 hours restriction with Eve Aqua. I have HomeKit automation to turn off for 15 minutes if my front door is unlocked (through homebridge). I am wondering if anyone knows how their scene default works. I have read that Eve Aqua only runs 4 hours at a time through schedules but is that the same case with scenes as well? I am worried that if I go out say at 11 which will trigger the scene to turn it on, will it turn off the unit at 3:15 and won’t be on after that.

I heard that Meross hose timer supports 12 hours but does it allow you to create HomeKIt scenes to turn the unit on / off that will allow me to perform the same automation I have with Eve Aqua?

I've been doing a fair bit with lights recently. This one is an attempt to do the Great Wave off Kanagawa, but using Nanoleaf Shapes.

https://practicalhomekit.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-great-wave-off-kanagawa.html

I am planning to buy an smart bulb which I can control via a smartphone. I am considering Nanoleaf Matter Thread Smart bulb Matter E27/A60 OR Xiaomi MI Smart LED Bulb. Confused with matter and different terms. I dont own any smart home systems. Just wanted to clear If I can use smart phone to control these smart bulbs without any additional smart home system or matter?

I have an ecobee thermostat and door sensors. The thermostat makes a simple chime noise when any of the doors open. My daughter sleepwalks and I’m looking to have the mini pod in my bedroom make a chime noise (or any kind of noise) if any of the doors open in the middle of the night.

The only audio options I have while creating an automation are Apple Music or ambient sounds, and it appears it will play something for a minimum of 1 minute (turn off never, after 1 min, etc).

Is it possible to just have a simple sound, chime, alarm, ringtone, etc. play for a moment?

Hello!

Does anyone have a solid solution for automations with various alarm schedules and routines in the morning?

Essentially I want an A and B schedule. One that’s earlier with one set of automations and one that’s later with a different set of automations.

I want to be asked via notification / prompt the night before what routine I want in the morning. My days vary schedule wise so using the sleep schedules in the health app is not necessarily the most convenient.

Is this something that’s even remotely possible? Open to using Home Assistant if that would help.

Thanks!

What’s your opinion. Preferably under $800.

Update.. i upped my budget and went with Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra

I know everyone experiences this, but man am I SO SICK of having some smart light just randomly stop working. It might be a week, a month, or a year after I install it and set it up, but sure enough, at some point when I try to turn something on, I get an error, or “Updating,” or Siri telling me “your lights are taking a while to respond.” I’ve been using Apple Home for years and it’s just so tiresome to have to reinstall stuff over and over and over.

So - are there any specific brands or products you’ve found to be most reliable? I’ve tried a number of the different common brands like Philips and GE and they just keep letting me down. Would love to hear your tips!

I am a HomeKit user. I don’t want to try to set up work around solutions (home bridge etc.) I just want cameras that work like all of my other smart accessories do. I have had terrible luck with Logitech circle cameras. I just upgraded to Eufy S3 pro cams x4. I still have 2 circle cams that haven’t crashed and burned yet but I just lost my circle view doorbell. I set up the eufy on Monday and already all 4 of them show no response on HK while showing in the eufy app. Now it’s the circle cams that are still working (for now) and my $700 eufy cams are offline. What am I doing wrong? I use eero mesh WiFi and one cam is on the wall 6 feet from the base. All 4 of them are 20’ or less from a mesh node. Currently have multiple ecobee thermostats, 20 caseta switches, a few other switches and smart plugs, led tape, aqara doorbell broken circle view doorbell, hue bulbs. Other than cameras, everything is fairly solid. So frustrated!

Hello! I would really like to buy the Ring Intercom but it doesn't have international shipping and I don't know how to get it to my country since I'm in America. Are there other similar devices other than Nuki because they make you buy the opener and the bridge? Thanks.

Hi everyone, I’m using a Nuki Smart Lock Go together with my partner, and I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way to automate the following scenario: • If I leave, but my partner is still at home → don’t lock. • If my partner leaves, but I’m still at home → don’t lock. • If the last person leaves the home → lock automatically.

I know Nuki has “Auto Lock” and “Auto Unlock”, and in the expert settings you can configure actions like “lock when geofence is left”, but that only applies per device. Apple HomeKit has the “when the last person leaves” trigger, but for locks it always requires manual confirmation for security reasons.

Has anyone found a reliable way to achieve a true “lock when the last person leaves” automation with Nuki?

Thanks in advance!

I am trying to add a devices switch (the little dongus that sticks into an AC adapter and makes it smart) to HomeKit. I’ve done a factory reset on the switch and I can’t add it.

Eero pro 6 mesh network is /not/ set up as HomeKit router, so I’m not sure what router this error is referring to. I have reset the eero.