As more devices are added to Apple Home, controlling them individually is not always the most convenient approach. Turning off several lights, adjusting the thermostat and controlling outdoor devices one at a time can require several separate commands.
Apple Home Scenes provide a way to group those actions together.
A Scene can set multiple compatible accessories to predetermined settings with a single command. Instead of controlling each device separately, the homeowner can create a Scene for a common activity such as going to bed, watching a movie or spending an evening outside.
A Scene is a saved group of settings for multiple accessories that can be activated together.
How Apple Home Scenes Work
A Scene tells Apple Home how a group of compatible accessories should be set.
For example, a Good Night Scene might turn off selected interior lights, adjust a compatible thermostat and set exterior lighting for the night.
A Movie Night Scene might dim the lights in a living room and turn off other lights nearby.
Once created, the Scene can be selected from the Home app rather than adjusting each accessory individually.
The products included in a Scene do not have to come from the same manufacturer. Apple Home provides the common platform that allows compatible accessories to be controlled together.
Scenes and Automations Are Different
Scenes and Automations are closely related features in Apple Home, but they serve different purposes.
What should the devices do?
A Scene sets several compatible accessories to predetermined settings.
When should something happen?
An Automation responds to a trigger such as time, location, sensor activity or another accessory.
A Scene is generally useful when several devices should be set a certain way together. An Automation is useful when an action should happen automatically after a particular event.
The two can also work together. A group of device settings can be created for a particular situation, while automation can determine when those changes should occur.
Good Night
Bedtime is a straightforward example of where a Scene can be useful.
A household might normally turn off several downstairs lights, adjust the thermostat and check exterior lighting before going to bed.
A Good Night Scene could place those compatible devices into their preferred nighttime settings together.
Every household can configure the Scene differently. One family may want all exterior lights turned off, while another may keep selected lights on overnight.
The Scene simply saves those preferences so they can be recalled later.
Movie Night
A Movie Night Scene could control several lights around a television or home theater.
Instead of adjusting each fixture individually, the Scene might dim the main lights, turn off another light that creates glare and leave a small amount of background lighting on.
The same idea can be used for other activities around the home. A Scene does not need to control a large number of devices to be useful. It simply groups settings that are commonly used together.
Scenes Can Extend Outdoors
Outdoor lighting is another practical application.
A homeowner could create a Backyard Evening Scene that turns on patio lighting, landscape lights and other compatible outdoor lighting at the same time.
The Channel Master Pro-Floodlight could be included as one of those devices. For example, a Scene could turn on the Pro-Floodlight along with other Apple Home-compatible lights around the property.
This also allows different types of lighting to remain separate products. A floodlight can provide broad illumination, while pathway and patio lights handle their own areas. Apple Home can group them when the homeowner wants to control them together.
Scenes allow compatible products from different manufacturers to be controlled as a group.
Home and Away
Scenes can also be organized around whether the household is home.
An I'm Home Scene could set selected interior and exterior lights to preferred settings when someone returns.
An Away Scene could turn off lights or change other compatible accessories before everyone leaves.
These Scenes can be activated manually, or similar actions can be incorporated into Apple Home Automations when the homeowner wants them to happen based on arrival, departure or another trigger.
Using Scenes With Siri
Scenes can also be activated with Siri.
This is one reason simple Scene names are useful. Instead of opening the Home app and selecting several accessories, the homeowner can ask Siri to activate a Scene that has already been configured.
For example:
“Siri, Good Night.”
“Siri, Movie Night.”
“Siri, Backyard Evening.”
Siri then activates the devices and settings assigned to that Scene.
Choose Scene Names That Are Easy to Remember
A Scene name should describe the activity rather than the technology behind it.
Backyard Evening is easier to remember than a name based on individual lights. Movie Night describes the purpose of the Scene without requiring anyone to remember which devices it controls.
This becomes more important when several people use the same Apple Home. A clear name makes the Scene easier to recognize in the Home app and easier to request through Siri.
Start With Routines You Already Have
There is no need to create a Scene for every combination of smart-home settings.
A practical place to start is with activities that already require several devices to be adjusted regularly.
Bedtime, movie watching, outdoor entertaining, arriving home and leaving the house are common examples. The specific Scenes that make sense will depend on the products installed and how the household uses them.
As additional Apple Home-compatible products are added, existing Scenes can also be updated to include them.
This is one of the useful differences between controlling an individual smart device and using a smart-home platform. The individual accessories can continue performing their own functions, while Apple Home provides a way to organize and control several of them together when needed.