It feels like this year has sped by—just moments ago, we were anticipating 2024, and now we’re preparing for the holiday festivities. For many, Christmas offers the perfect opportunity to infuse a little extra enchantment into our homes. My journey into HomeKit began by automating my Christmas decor, so it’s only fitting that I present my refreshed guide for crafting a smarter, more festive holiday display.
HomeKit Weekly is a series dedicated to smart home devices, automation techniques, and all aspects of Apple’s smart home ecosystem.
Essential Equipment
Before diving into purchasing HomeKit accessories for automating your Christmas decor, I recommend getting a device that serves as a HomeKit “Home Hub.” The compatible devices include Apple TV, HomePod, or HomePod mini. As long as these devices are logged into iCloud, you can manage your devices and automate them from anywhere. While it’s not mandatory for HomeKit, it’s highly advisable.
The Christmas Tree
The Eve outlet is on the pricier side, but it adds Thread support to your network. Thread is a specialized mesh networking protocol for HomeKit and various smart home devices that allows direct peer-to-peer communication. It’s self-sustaining, self-repairing, and self-routing, enabling seamless communication between all your devices.
Once your devices are set up, you can control your tree via Siri or the Home app. It’s also possible to set up a HomeKit automation for it to turn on automatically at sunset or at a set time (I’ll detail how to create these automations at the end of this article).
In my home, I’m not permitted to adjust the Christmas lights on the tree, but if you are, consider using Twinkly. With Twinkly, you can re-string your tree with smart home-ready lights. They introduced native HomeKit support in their Gen II and Plus models several years ago. Additionally, Twinkly offers pre-lit Christmas trees and outdoor lights.
Outdoor Lighting
I’ve already mentioned Twinkly, but if you possess outdoor lights that you wish to connect to HomeKit, here are some products I recommend.
When dealing with outdoor lights, ensure you opt for outdoor-rated plugs, as indoor plugs aren’t designed to survive extreme cold, moisture, or rain.
The mechanism with these plugs is similar: connect the lights to the adapter, and then plug the adapter into the wall.
Setting Up Automations
Once your devices are integrated into the Home app, you’ll have multiple ways to interact with them. The simplest method is using the Home app to switch them on and off as desired.
If you own a HomePod, you can instruct Siri to control them by name: “Hey Siri, turn on my Christmas Tree lights.”
If you prefer a more automated approach, it’s best to allow HomeKit to manage the timing. Open the Automations tab in the Home app, click the + button, select Add Automation, then choose A Time of Day Occurs, and set your preferred time. For instance, it’s quite practical to have the lights turn on at Sunset. Additionally, you might want to create another automation to switch them off at Sunrise or when it’s bedtime.
Conclusion
There are numerous enjoyable ways to automate your Christmas decorations through HomeKit using affordable devices. Starting small with a single HomeKit plug for your main tree is a straightforward entry point, allowing you to manage it via the Home app.
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