I gave my young child an apple watch cellular and setup as a family member so it's a standalone setup that's not directly sync with an iphone.
I tried to give him access to a smartlock or garage door to give him quick access to the house after school.
I have searched the forum, but I can't really find any solution that works:
I tried to give him access thru an app like IFTTT, but all the apps I have tried requires iphone.
I also tried the homebridge route but apparently I'll need to purchase a homepod/apple TV/ipad as a homekit hub in order for him to have access to any home accessory?
Am I missing something that's simpler? I thought it'd be trivial but I ended up spending days on different things and nothing works so far.
Apple did away with iPads being able to be a Home Hub, so it’s HomePod mini or ATV. Siri generally complains that I need to unlock my iPhone whenever I tell my Apple Watch to open the garage door or unlock the front door, so you may need to share a virtual switch to Apple Home that triggers an unlock or garage door opening. That said, Siri is local control and has been very reliable for the few years I have been using it. I wouldn’t want to rely on something cloud based like ifttt to let my child in the house.
You can setup up an 'Apple Shortcut' if you can connect the Apple watch to any family members' iPhone. This will allow more features on the Apple Watch than non connected. If that is not a possibility, then disregard the below.
To send an http request to RM with a 'Trigger Cloud end point', which RM will open the door or unlock a lock, etc.... I have several of these on my watch to turn on Towel Warmers, Shut off Ring Camera, etc...
Agreed, but the Apple Watch’s features are best accessed when connected to an iPhone, even if that iPhone is a family member so it can access additional features like shortcuts, download music, etc. I was just trying to provide one possible solution, assuming that the family has an iPhone.
You are correct, the cellular models of the Apple Watch can function independently, but Hubitat does not have an Apple Watch app that can open locks/garage doors, etc.
Sorry. That would make it possible without a Home Hub device. With a Home hub, he could setup geolocation events to automate locking and unlocking the door during the hours his child would be getting home without draining the battery too much.
In standalone mode and with a home hub, would it be possible to unlock thru siri? That's probably the best solution if workable. I worry that geolocation isn't reliable enough, sometimes I don't see his location updated at all for hours on Find My.
It should be as long as the Apple Home is set up and the Apple Watch owner is added as a member of the home. That said, I think it should work now if the iPhone used to setup the Home is on the WiFi.
After a couple mouths of playing around, still can't find a solution that works well enough.
I bought a homepod mini and setup Apple Home. However, sometimes it took as much as 5 minutes for Apple Home to realize the watch is here. Using Siri to unlock also often not working for some reason.
