The British science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke famously said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Go back in time 500 years and show them your smartphone, and you’d probably be burned at the stake for being a witch. Even 100 years ago, the things your phone can do would have blown people’s minds.
Sometimes, even current technology can feel like magic, if you use it correctly. I’ve been tinkering with smart home tech for a long time, but even now, I often get a small thrill when an automation I’ve created kicks in. These are some of my smart home automations that still feel like magic.
1
Motion-Activated Lights
I’m a strong believer in home automation over home control. Being able to turn your smart light bulbs on and off from an app on your phone is fine, but it’s ultimately still a switch. I want my lights to turn on and off without me having to do anything at all.
That’s exactly what they do. I’ve used different methods over the years, but the best results I’ve had so far are using mmWave presence sensors. These devices can not only detect when you enter a room but also whether or not you’re still in it. You can even create different zones within rooms that can trigger different automations.
When I walk into the room, my light will turn on, but only if the light sensor in the device indicates that it’s dark enough. When I walk out of the room, after 15 seconds, the light will turn off. So far, so magic.
I’ve added a lot more complexity, however. If I’m in the room when the light levels drop below a specific threshold, the light will automatically turn on. If I close the blinds, for example, I don’t need to do anything; the light will come on by itself. If I open the blinds and the light level increases, the light will turn off.
Using zones, I can even sit in one specific chair in the room, and the reading lamp above that chair will turn on. Whatever I do, if I need light, it will turn on and if I no longer need it, it will turn off. It really does feel like magic and still gives me a small thrill each time it happens.
2
Playing Audible When I Turn on My Bluetooth Speaker
This is one of my simplest automations, but it’s also one of my favorites. It shows that home automation doesn’t have to be complicated to be useful. It’s also one of the few automations that I have that isn’t controlled by Home Assistant; it all happens on my iPhone.
In the Shortcuts app, you can trigger shortcuts in many different ways. One of the triggers is when your iPhone connects to a specific Bluetooth speaker. I have a small Bluetooth speaker in my bathroom that I use to listen to Audible when I shower.
I created a simple shortcut that automatically plays audiobooks from Audible on my iPhone whenever it connects to that Bluetooth speaker. Now, when I enter the bathroom, all I need to do is turn on the Bluetooth speaker. As soon as I do so, Audible starts playing from the last place I left off, without me having to pull out my phone and open the app.
The automation is simple but incredibly effective. So much so that I did the same in my car. Now, when the engine starts and my phone connects to the Bluetooth sound system, my audiobook will carry on playing from the point I left off.
3
Reminding Me Which Trash to Put Out
My trash is collected on alternate weeks. One week it’s recycling, the next it’s refuse. It’s hard enough trying to remember to put it out on the right day, never mind keeping track of which type of waste I’m supposed to be putting out. Friday mornings used to be chaos, as I’d remember at the last minute that it was collection day and then have no idea which week it was.
I knew that home automation could help, not only to remind me to put out the trash bins but also which ones needed to go out. I created an automation triggered by a motion detector that would run the first time I entered the kitchen on a Friday morning. Once motion is detected, my smart speaker informs me that it’s collection day and the type of waste that I need to put out.
The automation even pulls the trash collection schedule information from the official web page, so it can inform me if there’s no collection for any reason, or if the collection day changes during the holidays. It genuinely does feel like magic; I’ve not missed a collection once since setting it up.
4
Controlling My TV With a Cube
Sometimes the magic of my smart home is due to the automations themselves, but occasionally, the magic is entirely down to the hardware. This is definitely the case with the Aqara Cube Controller.
The Aqara Cube is a slightly crazy Zigbee smart home controller that has six different gestures. You can slide it, shake it, rotate it, tap it, flip it, and throw it, and get additional information such as which sides you flipped to and from that can give you an incredible number of different actions. The real challenge is figuring out what to do with it.
I use my Aqara Cube for something that has never been a major problem, but more of a mild annoyance. These days, you need multiple streaming services if you want to keep up with all the latest shows.
When I sit down in the evening, I need to turn on my TV, and then navigate through the smart TV menus to select the appropriate app. If I want to watch something on my DVR, I have to select the appropriate input instead of the smart TV menu. It all requires quite a few button presses to get to the content I want to watch.
I created an automation that does it all for me. Each side of my Aqara Cube is labeled with a streaming service such as Netflix, Disney Plus, or Apple TV. When I sit down in the evening, if I want to watch Severance or another great Apple TV show, I simply flip the Aqara Cube over so that the Apple TV label is on top. My TV will then turn on, and automatically open the Apple TV app, taking me straight to it.
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After I’ve finished Severance, I might want to watch something else on Netflix. I flip the Aqara Cube over to the Netflix side, and the TV automatically opens the Netflix app. It honestly really does feel like magic.
It’s not all that the Aqara Cube does, either. If I rotate it left, it skips back 30 seconds and skips forward 30 seconds when I rotate it right. I can tap it twice to play or pause the current show, and at the end of the night, I toss it into the air and catch it, and the TV turns off. I imagine that’s what it must feel like to be a wizard.
5
My DIY Universal Remote
Another major annoyance that I had was that I needed so many remote controls for all the various bits of AV equipment I was using. I needed a remote for the TV, another for the surround sound, another for my Apple TV, another for my HDMI switcher, another for my Roku stick, and so on. I used a Harmony Hub that allowed me to control multiple AV devices from a single remote, but when it died, I discovered that Logitech had stopped making them.
In frustration, I decided to create my own. I used a wireless remote keyboard and mouse that’s shaped like a TV remote, and used Home Assistant to create what is my most complex automation. It was more than worth it, however.
Using just one remote, I can now control every AV device in my living room. If the surround sound is on, the volume buttons will turn it up and down. If the surround sound is off, the same buttons control the TV volume instead. If I’m watching my DVR, the Play/Pause button controls the set-top box, but if I’m watching Netflix, it pauses the smart TV instead.
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There are even buttons to turn on subtitles no matter which device or app I’m using, and another that automatically enters my PIN for my streaming accounts (just don’t tell my kids). Replacing a pile of remote controls with just one that does everything is pure bliss.
6
Critical Alerts on Demand
This is another of my simplest automations, but one that has saved me endless amounts of stress and done the same for my wife. Picture the scene; you’re at the grocery store and you want to know if you need to get milk. You message your wife and even try calling, but she keeps her phone on silent, and doesn’t see the message or feel the call vibrate.
If only there were some way to let her know that she has a message. Well, now there is. I created a very basic automation that uses Home Assistant to send a critical alert to my wife’s iPhone. Critical alerts cause the iPhone to make a notification sound even when the phone is on silent.
I set the automation to a widget on my iPhone. Now all I need to do is tap the widget and my wife’s phone gives a loud notification. She then knows to check her messages and I get to find out if we actually need milk before I’ve gone ahead and bought way too much.
She has the same setup on her iPhone, and it works incredibly well. We almost always miss messages unless we’re looking at our phones when they arrive, but we almost never miss critical alerts.
You can set up Emergency Bypass on your iPhone for specific contacts, which means that all calls and messages from that contact will have audible ringtones or notifications, even if your iPhone is set to silent. However, this is an all-or-nothing setting and doesn’t work for other messaging apps such as WhatsApp.
By creating a critical alert automation, I get to choose when the audible notifications happen, without annoying my wife by making her phone ping with every dumb GIF that I send her. It’s saved so much stress that I just wish I’d thought of it sooner.
A lot of smart home tech is smart for the sake of it. Why anyone would ever need a smart fridge I’ll never know. However, when done right, smart home automations can honestly feel like magic, performing actions exactly when you need them without you having to lift a finger.
Most of these magical automations are by necessity fairly complex, and often beyond the scope of popular smart home automation systems such as Alexa routines. You can create some useful automations with Alexa, Google, or Siri. However, if you want your smart home to feel like magic, then you should consider using software like Home Assistant, that can allow you to create almost any automation you can imagine.
