Hello everyone. With more than 15k subscribers, I’m sure the Apple community has some great experiences to share with others. My question this week is, “What was the most clever way you’ve ever used an Apple product to solve a problem?”

  • maxprime
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    1 year ago

    For years I have been trying to get Home Assistant to work nicely with my garage door opener. I used a MyQ system that would constantly go offline and just recently switched to an ESP based switch.

    What makes it Apple related is that I installed HomeKit Bridge which bridges all compatible entities from Home Assistant to HomeKit. The new garage door switch is now reliable enough that I can now say “Siri open the garage door” and immediately it will open.

    Only Apple for the first 5% of the automation, but boy after all the headaches I’ve suffered to reliably open my garage door, this one feels so damn good.

    If you are wondering why I don’t just use a radio remote, I do. But no matter which remote I try, I cannot get them to work through the steel door, they will only work reliably if I am beside the garage, not in front of it. Also when I’m out for a walk or a bike I don’t usually bring the radio remote. So this automation gets used about 3-4 times per day. Plus it will remind me if the door was open for more than 3 minutes!