In this guide, we explain how you can use HomeKit accessories if you have a holiday home or second home. Consider, for example, a security camera to keep an eye on everything when you are not there. Or a smart door lock to give unexpected guests access.
HomeKit in a holiday home, isn't that too much overkill? no! It is precisely with smart accessories that you can arrange all kinds of things, such as granting access, detecting leaks and controlling the lighting. We explain what you need, how it works and which accessories are suitable.
- This is how you make your holiday home smart
- HomeKit accessories for your holiday home
- Practical tips for your holiday home
This is how you make your holiday home smart
To start with, it is good to know that you have to create a separate HomeKit home for the holiday home. You also need a home hub to be able to control things remotely with HomeKit. It is best to use a HomePod mini for this, because it is relatively cheap and also comes in handy for playing music. An Apple TV is of course also possible, but it is a lot more expensive and you will not always have it in your holiday home. Certainly not when there are changing guests.
In the Housing app you use virtual homes, which are divided into several rooms. You can assign accessories to a particular room to control them simultaneously.
You can add a new home as follows:
- Open the Home app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Go to the first tab, Home.
- Tap the plus sign in the top right corner.
- Choose the option Add new home.
- Give the home a name, for example Holiday home.
- You can now start adding rooms and adding accessories. You can also invite other people to HomeKit.
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If you're new to HomeKit, you'll find tips on how to use HomeKit on the Home tab with Apple.
HomeKit accessories for your holiday home
Which appliances are useful for your holiday home? Below we give some suggestions, with links to pages where you can find more information. The accessories we mention are suitable for a home where you are not daily or weekly, but where you want to keep an eye on everything.
- Smart door locks: This allows you to give others access to the house, even if you are not in the area yourself. You can issue temporary codes to give someone access. This can also be useful if you have hired a cleaner who has to get to work after the guests leave. If friends want to stay in your house spontaneously, you can give them remote access. You can use a Nuki number pad for this, for example.
- Security camera: Do you want to keep an eye on if someone is sneaking around the house? Then you set up a HomeKit camera. With some cameras you will receive a notification when there is movement, while other cameras are able to recognize people and animals. Such a camera is mainly intended as reassurance: if you regularly check whether everything is still OK, it is one less thing to worry about. You could also use a motion sensor for this, but then you cannot look around the room or garden. You can also install window and door sensors to receive a notification as soon as someone enters.
- Water sensors: Leakage is sometimes not noticed until late at a holiday home. You can prevent this by placing a water sensor in places where there is the greatest risk of water damage. Unfortunately, you cannot solve this problem remotely, but at least you will be there in time.
- Smart lighting: For many people, the first thing they buy when it comes to smart lighting. accessories goes. With smart lamps you can simulate presence, so there is less chance of burglary. This is possible with Philips Hue, but because you are not in your holiday home every day, you can also look for cheaper options such as Tuya or IKEA Tradfri.
- Smart buttons: If you regularly have guests in your holiday home, you don't want to just give them access to your HomeKit home. You can solve this with smart buttons and light switches, which you provide with a clear label. This way, guests can switch the lights on and off in a normal way, while you keep control remotely. If the guests forget to turn off the lights after departure, you can still do that yourself.
- Smart doorbell: You are not always present in a holiday home, but you want know if someone has been at the door. With a smart doorbell equipped with a camera, you can answer the doorbell and talk back, or check whether there has been trouble at the door.
Of course you can make it as crazy as you want by making your holiday home smart on even more points, but we think that the accessories mentioned above are the basis. You could also think of smart plugs to switch off devices remotely and a smart thermostat to heat the holiday home before the guests arrive. Anyway, not everyone feels like investing a lot of money in a home that you don't visit very often. Fortunately, there are now also cheap smart home solutions such as the Lidl smart home system.
Practical tips for your holiday home
To make your smart holiday home a success, we have two more tips:
Continuous internet
To be able to connect to the devices in your smart holiday home, the home hub will be connected to the internet. must be. This means that Wi-Fi will have to be available continuously.
Save energy
By controlling heating, lighting and power consumption remotely, you can save energy and therefore money. By replacing normal lamps with energy-efficient smart LED lamps, you consume less. You can also better monitor consumption and become more aware of ways to save energy. If no one is there, no devices need to be switched on. Except for the internet router, to control everything remotely.
In our guide about smart home in a rental home you will get even more tips about using smart accessories in places where you are not allowed to drill and renovate just like that . Also check out our guide to getting the most out of HomeKit.
See also 
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