Apple ’s Home app and ecosystem of third - party HomeKit accessories and sensors let you build and control a rich internet of smart firing , remotely hold switch , monitors for things like water news leak and room access being shut out , and cameras . But a on the face of it round-eyed task can seem unreachable until you cross a different path .
After leave our back - alley garage threshold open up a few times latterly — luckily , with nothing slip out of it — we resolve to add up a door / window sensor . While we have a traditional alarm clock system in our house , the service department door was n’t wire into it , and it would cost hundreds in service fee and function to extend it . Instead , I bought anEve Door & Window detector . It ’s simple - to - install and HomeKit compatible .
With the detector in position , I ( and all my crime syndicate extremity ) could configure Home to notify me each meter the garage door opened or close . But what I was looking for was “ negative knowledge ” : information that something hadnotoccurred . At 9 p.m. every night , I wanted to get an alerting if , and only if , the door had persist open .
The obvious course would be to set out in the Home app and use its Automation view . However , automations within Home can be coif on a schedule only for what Apple callsaccessories : devices that have a control or can take an action . They do n’t work withsensors , or thing that report a status . ( Accessories often have sensors associated with them , like a light or motion sensor on a tv camera . )
Icancreate a Home automation that says , “ When the service department door open , turn on the lights in the service department and start play my grunge play list at full loudness . ” I ’m sure the neighbors would love that . I could also have opted for a HomeKit service department door opener outfit , likethis one from Meross , that provides both a sensor function ( door open or closed ) and an accessory function ( opened or shut the door ) . So I could write an automation that aver , “ If it ’s 9 p.m. and the garage door is open , close it . ”
Within Home , however , Icannotcreate a successiveness like “ at 9 p.m. , look into the garage door sensor and , if it ’s open , institutionalise me an alerting . ”
The Shortcuts app seems like a more probable candidate , but at first coup d’oeil it does n’t seem to help either . It require a little dig to regain a solution within , one that works with Shortcuts for iOS and iPadOS only ; the macOS adaptation in Monterey does n’t let in the necessary pieces .
The Shortcuts app lets you create Shortcuts from a guide or from scratch , but you ca n’t start in the My Shortcuts view . Instead , navigate to the Automation aspect . Here ’s how to create a crosscut that has a scheduling component and that works for a detector :
The new “ personal automation ” appears under the Personal label in the Automation aspect on the machine on which you set it up .
Thanks to Jeremy for his avail in navigating the Shortcuts app and finding this solution !
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