Summer is in full swing, and with that comes summer travel. Whether for vacation, baseball tournament, work conference, or all of the above, HomeKit can help you keep tabs on your home. When traveling, there are a few key aspects of my HomeKit setup I fully rely on. One thing to keep in mind is that you’ll need a HomeKit hub to access your devices remotely.
HomeKit Weekly is a series focused on smart home accessories, automation tips and tricks, and everything to do with Apple’s smart home framework.
Automate your outdoor watering
After one of the wettest Mays in my area in recorded history, you never know what the dog days of summer will bring. One of the easiest HomeKit wins for summer travel is automating your outdoor watering. If you’ve ever come home to a dead lawn or dead plants after a week away, you know the pain.
There are a handful of products designed to work with HomeKit that connect to your hose and allow you to manually turn on your sprinkler or create automations based on timing or the local weather.
Come home to a comfortable temperature
There’s nothing worse than walking into a hot, stuffy house after a long trip and waiting hours for your house to cool down. On the flip side, you don’t want to be cooling your home all week while you aren’t there. With a HomeKit-compatible thermostat, you can turn your AC back to your preferred temperature the night before (I do this so it can cool down when it’s a bit cooler) and save money during the week.
Automate your lights so it looks like you’re home
One of the oldest tricks in the book when you’re out of town is leaving a few lights on so it looks like you’re home. The problem is, a light that stays on 24/7 actually makes it more obvious that you’re not at home. That’s where HomeKit comes in. Once you automate a few lights, you can manually adjust them remotely so it appears like people are home. You can also create some HomeKit automations to do this as well.
Monitor your home with HomeKit cameras
When traveling, I don’t want to obsess over my house and property, but I want to know if something’s going on. That’s where HomeKit Secure Video comes in. I’ve got a few cameras outside my home to let me know what’s going on. With HomeKit Secure Video, the clips are stored securely in iCloud+, and since I have multiple Apple TVs at home, I can access them remotely.
Wrap up
Summer is a great time to travel, but it’s also when your home needs a little extra attention. With the right HomeKit setup, you can keep your lawn watered, your house cool when you get home, your lights on a natural schedule, and your cameras available to monitor remotely. These are the exact setups I use when I’m gone for work or family trips, and they’ve made travel way less stressful.
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