The standard notifications of the Apple Home app are not always enough. Sometimes you don’t want to receive a notification for every status change, but only when the humidity in the bathroom is too high, the window has been open for 30 minutes, or the candy drawer has been opened for the third time in a day. We’ll show you how you can do it easily.
There are several ways to send your own notifications via HomeKit. Whether IFTTT, Pushcut or controller for HomeKit, the procedure is always the same. A notification is created that can be sent via a URL. This URL can then be accessed in any HomeKit automation that has been converted to a shortcut.
Since Controller for HomeKit offers by far the widest range of functions, we will focus on the implementation with the popular HomeKit app in this guide.
Create notification
New notifications can be created in Controller for HomeKit under “Notifications”. There you can choose between “Instant”, “Delayed”, “Scheduled” and “Counter”.
In our first example, we want to receive a notification when the humidity in the bathroom is too high. Since we want the notification to be sent immediately when the condition is met, we select “Instant”. As a title we enter “Humidity high” and as text “The humidity in the bathroom is high.” Under “Send to” we select the devices to which the message should be sent.
Before saving, we tap “Send Now” once under “URL Triggers”. This copies the URL that sends the notification when called to the clipboard. We need the URL in the next step for the actual HomeKit automation.
Integrate with HomeKit automation
In Apple Home we create a new automation. As a trigger we select “A sensor detects something” and then the humidity sensor. Then we set the threshold, in our case “Rises above 60%”.
In the next step we go to “Convert to shortcut” at the very bottom. We delete the empty action and add “URL” as a new action. In the field we enter the URL we just copied to the clipboard.
After that, we just need to retrieve the URL using the “Get Contents of URL” action. The URL is already stored after adding the action. With “Next” and “Done” the automation is created and activated.
As soon as the humidity rises above 60%, Controller for HomeKit sends us a notification.
Delayed notifications
You don’t always want to receive a notification right away. With shock ventilation, you probably don’t want to be informed that the window is still open until 10 minutes later. This is also no problem with controllers for HomeKit.
To do this, we create a new notification in the app and select “Delayed”. We enter “Window still open” as the title and “The window in the living room has already been open for 10 minutes” as the text. As “Delay in minutes” we enter “10”. Under “Send to” we again select the devices that should receive the notification. Click on “Save” to create the notification.
For delayed notifications, there are two URLs that can be accessed. One URL schedules the notification, the other can cancel the notification. Accordingly, two HomeKit automations can be created. If the window is opened, the URL under “Initiate notification” is called.
On the other hand, as soon as the window is closed, “Cancel notification” is called. This ensures that the notification is only sent if the window is still open after 10 minutes.
Send notification only after reaching a counter
Another use case is to send a notification only after an event has occurred several times, such as when the candy drawer has been opened for the third time in one day.
For this, too, we create a new notification via Controller for HomeKit and select “Counter” in this case. We enter “Candy drawer opened” as the title and “The candy drawer was opened for the 3rd time today” as the text. Under “Count” we enter “3” and under “Send to” we again select the devices to which the notification is to be sent. Click on “Save” to create the notification.
For notifications with counter there are again two URLs. In this case, there is one URL that increments the counter and another that resets the counter. Accordingly, two HomeKit automations are created again. One counts up the counter whenever the candy drawer is opened.
The second automation resets the counter at midnight.
Send notification to other users
Since version 6.2 of Controller for HomeKit, notifications can also be sent to other users. To do this, they only need to be connected to each other.
In “Notifications”, you can simply scan the QR code or share a link under “Devices & Secret”. After that, not only your own devices will appear in notifications, but also the devices of connected people.
Conclusion
Even though Apple itself only offers rudimentary notifications for HomeKit devices, there is still a simple and very comprehensive way to send personalized notifications with Controller for HomeKit.
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