Here’s something I created that involves multiple devices, which ordinarily takes several individual commands.

More important for smart-home users, it lets you customize the specific words necessary to get Siri to perform all those actions, which is really the special sauce: Instead of needing to say a precise, often obtuse combination of words that HomeKit or Siri normally requires, such as “Hey Siri, turn on number one Hue Light in the living room and set it to yellow and dim it at 50%,” you can simply pick a short and easy-to-recall trigger word or phrase like “Hey Siri, it’s nap time.”Īll week we’ll be putting together staff recommendations and expert advice on the very best in smart home. Shortcuts is a clever app that speeds up actions you regularly take on your phone-say, sending a text message to a friend-by cutting out all the steps you usually have to go through to make that happen (unlock your phone, go to the home screen, tap Messages, find your friend’s name, poke the text box, type a message, hit Send). (You can customize voice commands for Alexa in a similar way see “ How I Use Alexa to Dunk on My Kids” for details.)

But if you want the ability to use voice commands without being stymied by Siri’s tin ear, download the free Shortcuts app. Using Home, you can set up and then control all your various devices, individually or as a group, put them on a schedule so that they perform various actions at set times, and have one or more of them trigger one another via Automations and Scenes (these are similar to Alexa’s Routines.) If you’re all good using the Home app (or the various other companion apps for setting up smart devices) to do that, read no further. And all HomeKit-compatible equipment can be consolidated into one app, Home, which comes preinstalled on your iOS device. (I humbly note that naming your smart light bulb “Vestibule Hue light two” will always end in tears.) As with many smart-home devices, there’s a terrific and free cure-all that lets you clean up all potential confusion and keep Siri in particular on track: Apple’s Shortcuts app.Īpple iPhones and iPads come with the built-in ability to control smart gear using a software platform called HomeKit.

Or, at least, it often feels that way when you struggle to find the precisely correct string of words to get Siri to turn off a smart light without its mishearing and balking-or triggering some other action and causing you to Rickroll yourself. One of the dirty little secrets of the smart home is that all those voice-controlled digital assistants like Alexa and Siri are in cahoots against you.

Cannot make calls using siri on mac