Turn on lights arriving Home IF not on already

[lala6971]

I have a budding Homekit enabled Home started. We are successfully running Phillips Hue and Ecobee 3 and my Lutron Caseta kit arrives tomorrow to replace a two gang switch area that is in my kitchen/living area. We also have an Apple TV gen 4. I am currently using the Manufacturer apps and the new iOS 10 Home app. I've considered buying the 3rd party Home app but haven't yet pulled the trigger on it for $15. (but could be convinced to do so) We also all have iPhones (at least Apple5s or above) and iPads. We are a very Apple home except our PCs.

What I'd really like to be able to do is have the set up turn on certain lights when we arrive home IF they are not already on. Our kids may be home and in the living area where these lights are and I don't want the lights changing if they are there. Mainly I want to do this to a certain Lutron light after I finish setup this weekend, but there are Phillips Hue bulbs in the area too if it makes a difference.

Conversely, I'd like to make sure all the lights are off when we are not home, but again only if the kids aren't there.

There is an Ecobee 3 sensor in the main living area and I have one extra Ecobee sensor I can place to more fully cover the area as well. I don't really want to mess with setting up Homebridge since I don't have a Mac to run it on, but that's the only piece of technology that I wouldn't entertain if it would help the situation. I do also have an IF account but haven't figured out how to make it do what I'm describing.

Help?

Thanks,
Janice

 

[kid2010]

I believe most of third party HomeKit apps (Home [non-Apple one], Elgato Eve, Hesperus) allows you to create automation you described. You can create a location based automation and add condition to limit it to only run if the light is currently off.

 

[simonx314]

I believe most of third party HomeKit apps (Home [non-Apple one], Elgato Eve, Hesperus) allows you to create automation you described. You can create a location based automation and add condition to limit it to only run if the light is currently off.

kid2010 is correct, the Eve Home app will allow you to create HomeKit triggers (called "Rules" in the Eve app) with conditions. The built-in iOS Home app does not support conditions for triggers except for "after sunset". Use Eve to create a rule like "Enable living room lights scene, when I arrive at home, but only if light bulb A is off".

You can also use the Ecobee room sensors as conditions, so triggers will only fire if living room sensor is unoccupied. I have an Ecobee and a bunch of Homekit stuff and this is what I do.

The Eve Home app supports everything except for iBeacon triggers, so only spend money on the expensive HomeKit apps if you have iBeacons.

 

[rhett7660]

Since you mention Lutron, you can also get their bridge and do the same thing. That is what I am currently using right now and it works like a charm. No issues and have setup a geofence that turns certain lights off and on when I leave or arrive.

 

[CrzyP]

I'm late. Mentioned in the post above, the Lutron app and bridge allows you to program your lights using geofencing. Works well!