Level Up Your HomeKit Automations (New in iOS 18!)

[@jordaynerjr]

They got scared when they seen you switch to home assistant😂

[@ShaneCreates]

🤣🤣🤣

[@chrisrobinson3771]

This is probably one of the most useful videos yet on shortcuts. However do think you can expand more on the “switches” (guest/vacation) that you mentioned.

[@ShaneCreates]

Glad you found the video helpful. I actually made a video a couple years ago covering this topic. The concept still applies today. Why you need a GUEST MODE for your smart home! kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXKbqIKhptmrgdE

[@DrStannWilliams]

@@ShaneCreatesI actually reached out to you a while back via your website to see if you could do a video about “guest mode” but as it pertained to having company over and having alarms on doors and beer fridges. I figured it out myself and just got a new Aqara hub and paired door sensors on certain bedrooms and offices to one specific hub and called it “guest mode” so if there’s a party and someone walks into a restricted area (private bedroom), an alarm will sound on the hub. Just something to think about for content in the future that might be helpful to the viewers.

[@nbmsc]

lol bro you saved my life, I am about to go on vacation now and was wondering how to set up some automations then your video came up...wow....you really saved my life!. THANKS A MIL!!!!

[@ShaneCreates]

I'm glad you found the video helpful! Thanks for watching!

[@n_carpenter]

The guest mode switch is clever

[@zaphodbeeblebrox2911]

I'd call it the marriage switch. I'm such a bad programer if the wife runs into routine issues it'll be great to be able to abandon the "smartness" until I get back.

[@randydunn]

Wish HomeKit would provide an automation for soft ramp up or down lights versus abruptly on/off.

[@zaphodbeeblebrox2911]

I'm able to set this in the Leviton app and is followed by my automation rule.

[@Fez_Vrasta]

The day they allow to read and set reminders status it will be awesome.

[@zaphodbeeblebrox2911]

(Lurker) Can you give an example of what you mean?

[@Fez_Vrasta]

@@zaphodbeeblebrox2911 For example, an automation that checks if a task has been completed already or not, and once completed, sets it a such.

[@inelonwetrust9169]

Great video Shane and perfectly timed. Trying to set up my Christmas tree with different automations depending on the day of the week.

[@ShaneCreates]

I’m glad you found the video helpful. I love automating my Christmas tree also!

[@miranwar]

Thank you for this video. I finally figured out with your help on how to set a timer before my garage lights turn off after motion detector stops detecting any motion. Thank you !

[@douglsmith]

I like to use shortcuts to do toggles. For example, I like the little arre Smart Buttons with Matter over Thread buttons because they're so simple with a single button. Shortcuts allow doing a toggle like when the button is pressed if the lamp is off then turn it on, otherwise turn it off. That leaves double tap and long press of the same button available to toggle other devices or scenes off and on in the same way.

[@Dr_Cole]

This is great news as a ton of my automations need to be crafted in other apps. Granted, it would be easier to just do al of this in the Home App vs. it porting you you to the Shortcuts app. I do use a guest mode and a summer mode (that the kids stay up much later. I wish there was an elseif command to permit an alternative set of solutions: If = primary set (turn light to 100%) and elseif = secondary solutions (turn lights to middle of the night mode, such as 30%, so you don’t blind someone but provide them with a bit of light to move around).

[@ShaneCreates]

It’s all done in the home app.

[@Dr_Cole]

@ oh, fantastic.

[@Cyber_vir]

10:42 bro said turn Santa ON 😭

[@Aaron_Fleming]

Please don’t.

[@Pomme-Kit]

Hi Shane. For the Eve motion sensor, you can set the light level in the Eve app, so that motion detection will only be triggered if the light is below the defined level. If you set this value, it will mess up your automation if you add another light level condition.

[@heaththompson6034]

Shane, great video. Great to see the steady progress Apple is making on automations and thanks for surfacing it - I did not know about this capability. I think even the "convert to shortcut" step is not a well-known capability for creating complex automations. Honestly, it would be hard to imagine a more arcane way for them to have implemented this capability - buried at the bottom of a list of sensors and scenes, and making you switch paradigms to shortcuts. I hope that Apple will eventually rework this entire automation user experience to make it more natural and straightforward. However, at least there's a way to do it, so guess I should be thankful for that.

[@wyodhale]

Followed your example and created a shortcut to turn on a Hue lamp by the front door only when the light was already off and the light level was low. It would seem to run but would not get past the Wait command to turn off. Running the shortcut manually would generate an error message that the Accessory is out of resources. Found a Reddit thread that indicated changing the Hue lamp setting from Adaptive to one of the standard settings (white) eliminated the issue. Sure enough, that did the trick and the automation runs perfectly now. Bug report submitted to Apple. Thanks for the great work.

[@nicolesylvain853]

Thank you for this interesting video. Is it possible to send a notification every 24h with the temperature? Thanks

[@ShaneCreates]

You cannot send custom notifications from HomeKit automations, but you can do it via personal automation in the Shortcuts app.

[@JFP-ktl2]

I ordered the eve energy three pack and a motion sensor and the gift code was denied. Said not for use with these items. Thanks for the video on the shortcuts. Most helpful. I especially like the slow methodical way in which it is done.

[@sirbubber]

Can you add an shortcut as action after the If statement?

[@fabioken953]

Will this automation still work when you leave the home? Aren’t Shortcuts stored on the iPhone?

[@ShaneCreates]

Personal shortcuts created in the Shortcuts app run on your personal devices (iPhone, iPad, etc.). Home Automations/Shortcuts created in the Home app run on your homekit hub, so they do not require the personal device and will still run even if you are not home.

[@hmrios]

@@ShaneCreatesThank you so much for answering this question! I have been avoiding converting home automations to shortcuts for this reason. I’m excited to start using shortcuts for some complex automations I have in mind. You’re the best! Been following your videos for a while.

[@mossimac]

Shortcut automations behave just a little bit slower than non-shortcut ones. I figured out if you use controller you can do conditional automations that are very snappy.

[@maxime4047]

Thanks for your video! Do you always have to write your `if` condition manually each time, or is there a way to create a shortcut for the `if` condition and reuse it in any implementation where you want the same logic?

[@MortyP]

14:48: Long-time watcher and big fan of your content! I've learned a lot from your videos. I’m curious about the difference between "Stop the Shortcut" and "Nothing." I’ve noticed you often use "Nothing" as a best practice, but why would you choose it over "Stop the Shortcut" in this context? Thanks again-keep up the great work!

[@ShaneCreates]

Thanks for the support! Good point here. In this case, using the "nothing" action would work as well. Both would work. The big difference is that the "Nothing" action literally does nothing, but would continue running the rest of the shortcut. "Stop this Shortcut" will stop running/exit the shortcut right when it reaches that action. So in this case, either would work. But if you had additional actions after your IF action, you may want to use one or the other, depending if you would want the shortcut to continue running to get to those actions. Hope that makes sense.

[@MortyP]

@ShaneCreates makes perfect sense; thank you for clarifying.

[@eddief4567]

@@ShaneCreates But you shouldn't need to stop the shortcut. In normal IF statements the ELSE portion (in this case OTHERWISE) would only execute if the initial conditions were not met.

[@cenktaskin]

Hello shane, I am a close follower from Turkey. I work in the IT sector and I love watching your videos. I am having a problem that I think is after the iOS 18.** update. Although I have 17 automations when I write home automation, I can no longer add a new automation. Apple home app gives an error that the process could not be completed. Have you had any experience with this? I would be very grateful if you can help me. With my bad English :) I looked in foreign forums but I could not find an application limit or a result for this error. Many thanks in advance for your support and all your videos.

[@leroyyyjenkinsss]

Your videos are always top tier. But can we talk about how annoying it is that you can’t use your APPLE TV to trigger a HOMEKIT automation! For a simple light strip behind my tv I have to use a shortcut or a HomeKit tv.

[@dadsalleb]

this should have been there a few years ago. It's a good improvement but it still can't multiple triggers for one automation - so I need to use eve app... Look forward apple further improve it.

[@ShaneCreates]

That is true. If you want multiple triggers for one automation, you still need to use a 3rd party homekit app.

[@jayc2263]

How well does it work with the wait function? I recall it wasn't always as reliable as it should be in the days.

[@ShaneCreates]

So I'm always a little hesitant to use wait actions in homekit automations for more than 30 seconds or so. What I usually do is use a "repeat" action that will repeat the "wait" action multiple times. I've always found that a little more reliable than a really long wait action in my automation. You could also add IF actions in there to continue checking IF motion is detected or not, etc for multiple check. There are some capabilities, including wait actions, in the Controller for HomeKit's new Hub Mode that I think work well. Not sure if you've used that app, or interested, but I'll be releasing a video on that soon. Might be worth checking out.

[@Bombo993]

Great video, Shane! I didn’t know that you could expose lux sensor in the Home App with Eve. Do you know if they plan on doing that with Aqara motion sensors?

[@michaeldonald9755]

Hi Shane, thanks for the videos, really enjoying them, I’ve recently begun moving from Alexa over to full HomeKit. I’ve replaced all the Alexa’s with HomePods around the house, however we are struggling around the house with “intercom” command phase, my wife and kids are used to Alexa’s “make an announcement “ is there a way of using shortcuts to create a command like “make an announcement” that then triggers “intercom”

[@imraul3009]

Thank you Shane, This is exactly what Ive been trying to figure out for my garage door (skio automation demo) after opening, to close only when no motion is detected after 5 min wait function. 👍. non HA user here.

[@ShaneCreates]

Glad it was helpful. Thanks for watching!

[@bugjuicer]

It's great that you can get deeper with automations, that's cool! But it's still frustrating that a basic condition is so complicated. I have Hue lights and sensors, some in the hall. It's always frustrated me that I want the sensor to turn the lights on, if it's dark in the hall at any time of the day. The hall has windows, and when the sun is out, it's fine. But when it's a cloudy day, you have to overcomplicate a simple task? So kept them in the Hue app. This would work, I guess, but for no benefit over the Hue app; might just leave it all alone for the moment!

[@rockercover]

The Eve motion sensor sure looks like the Hue branded device. 😀✅

[@LebDusty]

where did u find electric santa? all i found are batteries operated

[@jeremiahpowell3028]

Thanks for this video cause I just got some new THIRDREALITY Smart Color Night Light and I could set better conditions cause my wife does her journaling at the dinning room table and doesn’t move much and it turns the lights off after 15 mins so I can set up conditions (still have to figure out what that is)

[@blazejwalczak142]

Hi it is good enough to buy a HomePod mini as a main hub to HomeKit installation and whole automatisation ? Thx

[@JonathanDawsonLaw]

Where did you get the shelf to the right of the hex lights?

[@GaryWieland]

When did Eve add a occupancy sensor or did I miss something. Thought they only made a motion sensor. Be great if they did. Is this a prerelease product?

[@ShaneCreates]

No it’s the Eve Motion. It is exposed to HomeKit as an occupancy sensor.

[@SimplepcUK]

Hi Shane, this is brilliant, however I’m trying to make a shortcut which I’m not sure how to do or if possible? I have a motion sensor in my kitchen, which turns on the cabinet lights to bright white, however if I set the lights to a colour and walk into the kitchen it will change the colour back to white. I’d like to implement the shortcut to stop the sensor changing the light should they be set to a colour and then use a switch for the white light should I require it? Is this possible? And how do I achieve this? Many many thanks.

[@ABC589]

In theory, can’t you just set the automation to toggle the power state? That’s what I did in my setup however my Govee LED Strip (non-Matter) doesn’t natively support HomeKit so I control the device via Alexa & Google Home.

[@SimplepcUK]

@ I tried to create a shortcut but it was super laggy, so I created an automation in Controller for HomeKit app which works perfectly.

[@mecprosound]

Hey Shane thanks for all the great videos. Do you know in the new iOS 18 if the shortcuts now runs from the hub? I remember at one point it was based on each users iPhone.

[@NineSixteenKing]

Correct me if I’m wrong but, wasn’t ALL of this functionality already available via the Controller for HomeKit app?

[@ShaneCreates]

That is correct. But many people don’t have that app or prefer to keep everything in the native home app. So this provides a good alternative.

[@heatherprauto]

Thank you Shane!! Do you notice a delay now to run the automations using the If statements especially if they are nested. I setup an automation if my Aqara motion sensor detects motion at night, then to run the shortcut built in to check the light level if it was below 10lux and to also check if the stairs lights were already off, then to set them to 25%. I noticed it’s about 3 seconds and I’m up a few stairs when it triggers the lights to come on. Versus coming on much more quickly on the first step when I just use the automation to run at night and if any motion turn lights to 25% on the stairs. Thanks!

[@JohnHomekit]

Hi Shane, really enjoy your channel, been watching for about 2 years. QUESTION: I've been trying to add to my Goodnight Scene Automation in Apple Home by having my Homepod mini go to sleep automatically 1 hour after the scene has been activated. So far, I've only been able to make the Homepod go to sleep by actually telling Siri to do it. it would be much better if the WHOLE scene was automated. Would this new change in iOS 18 allow me to do this? Thank you.

[@dronewanderings7413]

Thanks for the video! It was useful but I am having issues with a conditional automation that uses a shortcut. Basically, I want the main bedroom light to go on if motion is detected, but only if another light is NOT at 50%. My shortcut says this: If lamp is at 50%, do nothing. Otherwise, turn on the main light. Unfortunately, the main light goes on with any motion regardless of whether the other bulb is at 50%. Is there a glitch with HomeKit or with the smart bulb? Do you get issues with automations of this sort? I am using Eve motion sensors, Eve smart plus and the lamp uses a Nanoleaf light bulb. Thanks !

[@ShaneCreates]

Try instead of “do nothing,” use “stop shortcut”

[@dronewanderings7413]

@ unfortunately that also didn’t fix the issue :/ I wonder if it is a bug with the percentage variable

[@d.j.vandermeer3832]

Can you also set presence of someone. So when my lightsensor is below 16 lux switch on living room lights under the condition that I’m at home. In the Home+ app I can do this but in Homekit I only can set if someone arrives.

[@TsiRoadkill]

Just use home assistant

[@ShaneCreates]

Not everyone wants to use home assistant though.

[@islandsnow]

Or just get home controller. Seems easier than using home and shortcuts

[@HomeIsWhereTheSmartIs]

The annoying thing about this is that HomeKit can do this natively, it’s just that the Apple Home app has no user interface for adding the conditions, so you ending up needing a third party app. And what’s worse is that Shortcuts automations run much more slowly (at least they used to). I really appreciate this update for actual Shortcuts on my iPhone, and maybe it makes more complex shortcuts automations a little faster, but they’ll still be too slow for my liking.

[@yonahf]

Does this all have to be on your main ioS device? or can I build some on my phone and some on my ipad?

[@ShaneCreates]

It doesn't matter which device you create the automations in. Since you are doing this in the Home app, they are home automations/shortcuts and will run on your HomeKit hub.

[@yonahf]

@ Thanks for the reply! I have so many questions and really appreciate your videos and wisdom!

[@CleanestNdaCity]

Is there still a delay in the automation running when converting to a shortcut?

[@ShaneCreates]

I think this will largely depend on what you are doing in your shortcut. For example some smart devices may have longer connection times. So it is possible for there to be a delay if your automation has to check various devices as conditions, for example, that are slower to connect.

[@BenDMitchell]

Hi Shane-- new member here- After the holidays I want to get a garage door that is controlled by HomeKit. Any recommendations?

[@ShaneCreates]

Hey Ben thanks for supporting the channel! I’ve used a few over the years and Tailwind is what I’m currently using. I like it a lot. Here is a full video covering the product and details. There should be an active discount code in the video description too if you decide to get one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZPZoWBmZsmAgq8

[@BenDMitchell]

@@ShaneCreates I know nothing about smart garage doors. Can you install them on an existing garage door or do you need to install a whole new door?

[@ShaneCreates]

Yes you can use your existing garage door. Check out that video that I linked for all the details, including installation, compatibility, etc.

[@NavekG]

So how do it setup a condition to only do something on a day of the week. I want my office to turn on my monitors on m-f but not turn them on during the weekend. I can not find a condition for days of the week. Am I missing something?

[@ShaneCreates]

It's a little bit more complicated, but not too bad. In your shortcut, you need to get the "current date." Then use an IF statement that says IF Date (change format to custom EEE), does not contain "sat sun" Now this IF action will be a condition that will only run Monday through Friday.

[@NavekG]

@ that worked. The monitors are not coming on for today. I will see if they work tomorrow. Thanks so much.

[@amshaq007CR7]

Hi Shane I was trying to get in touch wondering if did something wrong because I didn't receive the stuff that I won a couple a weeks ago .

[@ShaneCreates]

Hey! Sorry about that. I just heard back from the manufacturer and was told that the shipments went out last week. So it should be arriving soon! I think their warehouse was a little backed up after Black Friday.

[@amshaq007CR7]

Okay thank you so much ❤

[@James-cn9no]

@AppleInc give us some serious scripting control. I can't do something as simple as alert me if the contact sensor is open more than 5 minutes. So basic. Open up some advanced features.

[@MyMahery]

I thought only Mrs. Claus can turn Santa on 😂

[@ShaneCreates]

🤣 ... nice

[@chert023]

Is there a way to add my kids to Apple home for keys but not give them access to my cameras?

[@pacificadventures9919]

Yes, just invite them under the home settings in the app. You can select conditions

[@chert023]

@ thank you

[@daman1220]

If I create these shortcuts on my phone, will they still run when I’m not home? I seem to remember that used to not be possible.

[@ShaneCreates]

Yes, if you do this in the Home app. If you create a "personal" shortcut in the Shortcuts app, it runs on your iPhone. Home automations/shortcuts run on your homekit hub so they will still run when you are not home.

[@robertedgar7191]

Hmm 2 years ago you did a video about converting automations to shortcuts, so is this really new? But anyway how to convert an existing automations to a shortcut? Apple Homes biggest weakness is still the hoops you Apple forces you to go through in creating automations compared to almost any other system.

[@ml4319]

The new part is the multiple conditions in the If statements.

[@ShaneCreates]

IF actions received a big update with iOS18. That is what's new. At 12:20 I converted an existing automation to a shortcut.

[@robertedgar7191]

@@ShaneCreates But I found I had to create 2 separate automations - 1 for Sensor A as the trigger and another for Sensor B as a trigger with both then having an IF including states for both Sensor A and B. Its at best clunky, and to be honest despite this I am still having Sensor B causing the lights to go off even with Sensor A being on. It would be so much easier if Apple just accepted that not everything in iOS should be a shortcut and instead develop the right tool for the job.

[@philliphenderson5474]

When creating the automation to turn off your porch light at about the 15 minute mark of the video, you added two motion sensors’ detecting motion as conditions to prevent turning off the light. How long are the cool down or detection intervals of your motion sensors? If they are short, perhaps that that could be problematic. It seems that, at the time this automation ran, if someone were on your porch, your guest switch were off, and neither motion sensor happened to be triggered (especially if having a short detection interval) that the light would turn off, an unlikely occurrence, to be sure, but I’m still curious. More generally, how do you automate turning off of lights after a room is empty while avoiding leaving people in the dark? It’s something I have found challenging.

[@rh50412]

It’s still a bummer that we need to convert to shortcuts to do this. Just let us do it natively in the Home app!

[@ShaneCreates]

It is all done natively in the Home app.

[@rh50412]

@@ShaneCreatesRight, but still as Shortcuts. What I would love is the same way you can add People and Time that are natively built into Home like you showed.

[@stijnvannuffelen2405]

@@rh50412 +1 I would also like a native interface to add conditions in the main Home app automations, without the use of "Convert to shortcut". It's already shown in the settings of an automation in the Home app when you've added conditions using the Eve app. There's a "Only if…" toggle below the people section of an automation that has a condition. So, it would be logical if you could add/remove additional conditions there as well.

[@videocreations27]

Home Assistant

[@ducuBAR]

Still too cumbersome, typical Apple afterthought.

[@emmgeevideo]

Idea for an updated look in 2025: Lose the backward-facing hat. You're not as young as you were six years ago when you started the channel.

[@naiharn]

Mom, please stop commenting on the videos I’m watching! 😅

[@MichaelLuis-z6f]

🔭👀 still looking for who asked you… 😂

[@emmgeevideo]

@ Dude, bruh, etc. -- This is called the "Comments" section, not the "You Can Only Express Your Opinion if Asked" section.

[@ypark2877]

The years where we were all restricted to some obscure stylist personal opinion based on someones age was passed by in the 60's.