I recently went back to iPhone after about 7 months of Android use… iPhone 10 broke so I held off until the iPhone 11 Pro came out. Now that I’ve got it back, I wanted to control my smart home with Siri. Actually not that easy! Unless they are Apple HomeKit devices, which apart from my Philips Hue everything else isn’t!
What I have:
- Alexa devices
- Smart Plugs
- Smart Blind
- Nest
- Nest Cams
- Nest Protect
- IR Blasters (Controlling TV’s, Soundbars, Fans etc.)
- Philips Hue with colour bulbs
- Philips Hue Motion Sensor
- PS4
- PS4 Pro
Controlling these devices I have them all connected to HomeAssistant running on my Synology NAS within a Docker container. All these currently work with Alexa or the HomeAssistant interface, so why would I want to control them from Siri? Well because I’m a geek and when I’m on long drives I want to talk to my car (CarPlay integration) and say “Close Blinds” or “Turn PlayStation on” and then it happens? Pointless but still gives me that I can do attitude :).
I had tried messing around with the HomeBridge Docker container but I was limited in what I could add device wise… so after a bit of Googling I came across the HomeKit Integration for HomeAssistant – WOW, after adding this to my configuration.yaml file, everything just worked, the nice little HomeKit code showed up in my HomeAssistant web GUI and then I was able to add it to my home app on my phone as a HomeKit Accessory.
The only problem I’ve found so far, is that for it to work when I am out of my home, I have to leave a “hub” at home. Which means leaving my iPad at home, until I buy a new Apple TV / HomePod. 🙂
Overall though, I’m quite pleased and chuffed that I can get it to work through Siri!
