Get notifications for your HomeKit accessories

Check the status of your HomeKit accessories and get alerts when they detect something—even when you’re away. With the Home app, you can stay up to date on all the activity in your home.

Get started

• Add HomeKit accessories to the Home app on your iOS device.
• Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to the latest version of iOS. To use the Home app on Mac, update your Mac to macOS Mojave.
• To get notifications for your HomeKit accessories when you’re not at home, set up a HomePod, Apple TV 4K, Apple TV HD, or iPad as a home hub.

Check the status of your home

You can check the status of your HomeKit accessories at the top of the Home tab in the Home app on your iOS device or Mac.

You can also control which accessories are included in the Home tab’s status. Here’s how:

1. Open the Home app on your iOS device or Mac.
2. On your iOS device, press and hold an accessory. On your Mac, double-click an accessory.
3. Tap or click Settings.
4. Tap or click Status and Notifications.
5. Turn Include in Status on or off.

Turn on notifications for your accessories

You can set up notifications for certain HomeKit accessories,* like locks and sensors, to alert you when an accessory detects something. For example, if you have a sensor on a door, you can get a notification when it opens.

If you want to see notifications for your HomeKit accessories on more than one device, turn on notifications on each device. Here’s how:

• On your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch: Open the Home app and tap   in the upper-left corner. If you have multiple homes, tap Home Settings, then tap a home. Under Notifications, choose a type of accessory, like Sensors, then tap an accessory and turn on Allow Notifications.
• On your Mac: Open the Home app. In the menu bar, go to Edit > Edit Home. Under Notifications, choose a type of accessory, like Sensors, then click an accessory and turn on Allow Notifications.

Learn more about notifications on your iOS device.

*Not all HomeKit accessories support notifications.

Get alerts at a certain time or when someone arrives or leaves

You can customize notifications for your HomeKit accessories to alert you at specific times and based on who’s present in your home.

1. Open the Home app on your iOS device or Mac.
2. On your iOS device, press and hold an accessory. On your Mac, double-click an accessory.
3. Tap or click Settings.
4. Tap or click Status and Notifications, turn on Allow Notifications, then choose from these options:
   • Time: Set a time that you want to get alerts for your accessory.
   • People: Get alerts for the accessory when you or someone arrives or leaves your house. If you choose this option, you need to set up a home hub and make sure that everyone who can control your home has Share My Location turned on and has a primary iOS device selected in Settings > [your name] > Share My Location.
5. Tap or click Back in the upper-left corner, then Done.

To get notifications for your HomeKit accessories while you’re not home, set up a home hub.

To see notifications that you set up in the Home app on more than one device, you need to set up notifications on each device.

Do more with the Home app

• Use the Home app to manage and control your HomeKit accessories on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.
• Set up a home hub to control your HomeKit accessories remotely, grant access to the people you trust, and automate your accessories to do what you want, when you want.
• Invite people to control your home.
• Ask Siri to turn on lights, adjust the thermostat, and control all of your HomeKit accessories.
• Find accessories that work with Apple HomeKit.

Published Date: May 04, 2019

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