The developers of the Controller For HomeKit app (see right) introduce it by saying: “HomeKit can do more than Apple’s Home app is showing you”. They’re right about that, as there are several features of HomeKit that aren’t easily found within the app.
For instance, we’ve looked at how the Home app allows you to use scenes and automations to control your smart devices, but you also have the ability to use automations within the more powerful Shortcuts app. When you’re creating a new automation, there’s a “Convert To Shortcut” button — easily missed at the bottom of the screen — that adds the automation to the Shortcuts app on iPhone or iPad (but not the Mac version). This provides more advanced control, such as the ability to use the “Wait” command so that a device, such as a security camera, can wait for a specified time before triggering another device — perhaps turning on the lights or heating when you return home.