Do you want to make your home smarter, but don’t want to replace all your lamps with smart ones? Then there is a solution for that. It is possible to control your regular lamps with your iPhone in the Home app. That is how it works.
Tip: this way you can control any ordinary lamp with your iPhone
You can make your home smarter through HomeKit: Apple’s ecosystem for smart home devices. For this you only need devices that are compatible with HomeKit. Do you only have regular lamps at home? No worries. It is possible to make any ‘dumb’ lamp a bit smarter by means of a smart plug.
This allows you to turn your regular light bulbs on and off with your iPhone at the touch of a button. Please note: this does not give quite the same effect as a real smart lamp, because you can often still dim it and change its color. Nevertheless, it can be useful to be able to control your normal lighting via your iPhone. There are all kinds of smart plugs in the well-known web shops, but a good example is the Philips Hue Smart Plug. It goes like this:
- Plug the smart plug into the socket;
- Then insert the plug of your regular lamp into the smart plug;
- Add the smart plug to your HomeKit accessories in the Home app;
Tap Add Accessory and scan the Product’s HomeKit barcode.
- From now on you can switch on your lights via the Home app.
Automate lights in the Home app
It is also possible to automate your lamps afterwards. This works very easily via the Home app.
- In the Home app, go to the ‘Automation’ tab and tap the plus sign;
- Choose when the automation should take place. You can choose from a location, a time or a HomeKit device that turns on or off;
- Then select the lighting that should go on at a specific time, for example in the morning when you come down. Here you can also adjust things like brightness;
- Confirm the automation by tapping ‘Done’.
More about smart living
HomeKit has many options for making your home smarter. Read all about Apple’s ecosystem in our handy HomeKit guide. You also read on iPhone how to set scenes via the Home app. In addition, we give you 5 tips for smarter operation of your smart home.
This month is all about (smart) living. Below you can read more articles about our monthly theme:
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Tip: This is how you control every lamp with your iPhone in the Home app
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