Reviewing and Adjusting HomeKit Time Based Automations When In A Time Zone Different from Home

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Level 1

45 points

Reviewing and Adjusting HomeKit Time Based Automations When In A Time Zone Different from Home

I am having a bit of hard time with reviewing and adjusting HomeKit based lights time-based automations while in a different time zone than my Home. (Of course all this wasn't helped with last night's time change either.)

First, before leaving my home, I changed one automation (on Eve Home Switch) from starting at sunset to starting at 5pm (to allow me to easily figure out when to turn off the front lights on Halloween since I was not there to give out candy).

Afterwards, while in a different time zone, in the Apple Home App, I changed the automation to start at sunset, and that seemed to work right -- the light turned on at sunset at my home location. But I only knew that by viewing my cameras at home. Somehow it did not seem to show it as ON, on the Apple Home App status.

It also looked like a bunch of my time based automations did not appear to be indicating right. Some two hours off some three hours (the actual time zone time difference). Things did not seem consistent.

Last night (Saturday) I ended up deleting all my automations in the Apple Home App and returned to the Eve Home App and re-established them there. In the Eve Home App, I found I had to have the automation "start time" on Sunday (repeating daily) be set for a time two hours earlier than the time at my home to make it work (and the 2 hours corresponds to the time difference between where I am (Arizona which had no time change last night), and my home location (which did)). For example, I called one automation Lights On at 6am. To make it turn on at 6am at my home, I had to start it at 4am at my location. (For the lights on at Sunset I set it up as a rule based automation in Eve rather than a Timer based. That is just the way it works in Eve.)

I checked it last night on both the Eve Home App and Apple Home App. They were aligned. I believe that the Apple Home App indicated Lights On at 6am automation was to start at 4am (which is 4am in the time zone I am in vs 6am at the location of my home).

But today, when viewed still here in Arizona, in the Eve Home App it says start at 4am today and in the Apple Home App it says the automation is daily at 6am.

I am not sure if, when setting up time based automations (for my home location when I am not in my home's time zone) in the device Apps (such as Eve Home), if I should say times based on the location I am currently in or not?

If I set up time based automations for devices in the Apple Home App, I am not sure if I should use times based on where my Home is or times adjusted based on where I am.

Overall, I would have liked it to be such that as I am setting automations for devices at my home, I use the time at my home for the automations for set up and for reviewing no matter where I go myself (and view on iPhone). I am happy that it seems to use sunset at my home location when setting up a sunset based automation from a different time zone. But I am now confused about the time based ones and do not know what to expect as I continue to monitor things at home remotely.

Appreciate any good guidance on this and how it is set up. And possibly if the device Apps (e.g., Eve Home) may do things time-wise differently than Apple Home. That would not be good, but again, I am not quite sure at this time.

Thanks for any insights.

I looked at the automati

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 14.7

Posted on Nov 3, 2024 10:13 AM

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Answer 1

Ontario1 Author

Level 1

45 points

Nov 21, 2024 12:49 PM in response to Ontario1

Here is how it works for time-based automations, and recommendations for setting up and naming them.

Automations that are time-based are in effect based on the time at the location of your Home.
It is recommended to entitle time-based automations to include the time of the operation at your Home.
When viewed in a different time zone, the indicated times adjust automatically to reflect the time zone you are in.
Sunset/Sunrise-based automations are based on the sunset/sunrise time at the location of your Home, and are not altered when viewed in a different location.
If you make a change to a time-based automation while in a time zone different from the location of your Home, be sure to select the time in the time zone you are in rather than the time zone of the location of your Home.
Time-based automations adjust automatically to time-changes for daylight savings time and standard time at the location of your Home.

In practice, then, with an automation:

Automation Title: Lights on at 6:00am

Automation Instruction: Turn on the Lights at 6:00am.

If my Home is in the Eastern time zone, the automation title and instruction are aligned (6:00am).

If I go on a trip to the Pacific time zone (where it is 3 hours earlier), and view the automation in the Apple Home App, it will indicate:

Automation Title: Lights on at 6:00am <--- This title remains as it was.

Automation Instruction: Turn on the Lights at 3:00am. <--- This instruction is changed.

This means that no matter what time zone I am in when I view the automation, the time that my Lights turn on remains 6:00am at the location of my Home. The way that the automation instruction is portrayed in the Apple Home App (and the device apps), is using the local time at the location that I am viewing the automation. By using the Automation Title which includes the time at the location of my Home, there will be no confusion when checking on or even establishing the time-based automations in a different time zone. Just remember that the Automation Title includes the time at the location of your Home and the instruction includes the time at the location you are viewing or establishing the automation for your Home. With sunset/sunrise based automations they always refer to sunset/sunrise at the location of your Home, and do not change when checking or establishing them from another time zone.

While I still think that the time-based automations would have been better to have an indicated time at the location of the Home that they would act at (similar to the sunset/sunrise being fixed at the location of the Home), that is not the case. The times for the instructions are the time at location where the automations are viewed, and they adjust automatically when you change time zones. When you change time zones and check your automations, the automations continue to occur at the times you set for them at your Home location, but that means their displayed time in the local time zone, changes. You must keep this in mind too if you are away from your home location and are setting up an automation that will occur at the location of your Home.

Hope this helps out those looking into this.

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Answer 2

Ontario1 Author

Level 1

45 points

Nov 3, 2024 2:42 PM in response to Ontario1

Update: Now, when I go to the Apple Home App, my automations are showing including the two hour differences.

For example, the Lights On at 6am automation name indicates it will turn Lights On at 4am. So it is back to what I saw last evening.

Wouldn't it just be best for it to indicate something like: Times Shown are Times at Home Location where devices are situated? That would make it a whole lot easier for folks. Certainly when it says "Sunset", it means sunset at the home location, so this would make it all consistent.

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