Sensors & Safety: Apple Home guide
⬇ Download free PDF: HomeKit Sensor Setup Guide
Sensors trigger automations without anyone tapping anything: motion turns on lights, contacts report doors, leak sensors raise the alarm.
How to choose
- Motion sensors: check the detection range and indoor or outdoor rating.
- Contact sensors work on doors, windows and garage doors.
- Leak detectors with a sensing cable cover more floor near water heaters.
Top picks
Eve Motion (Matter)
Eve Door & Window (Matter)
Eve Water Guard
Apple Home setup, step by step
- In the Home app, tap the Add (+) button, then tap Add Accessory.
- Scan the QR code or enter the 8-digit Apple Home code (Matter devices use an 11- or 21-digit code), or hold your iPhone near the accessory.
- If the device was already paired to another Matter app, tap More options and select it.
- When asked to add the accessory to your network, tap Allow. Assign a room and a name (Siri uses this name), then tap Continue and Done.
- Home app > Add (+) > Add Automation > A Sensor Detects Something, pick the sensor, then choose what reacts.
Tesla tie-ins
- A motion sensor in the garage turns on lights when you step out of the car.
- A contact sensor on the garage door can notify you if it's left open after the car leaves.
Real-world examples
Summarized in our own words. Links go to the original posts.
A garage owner sets the Eve Motion duration to 5 minutes in the Eve app. One automation turns the lights on when motion is detected, and another turns them off when it clears, so walking back and forth doesn't flicker the lights.
Users say two separate automations (detects motion and stops detecting) plus the Eve duration setting work more smoothly than a single timer.
A HomeKit blog explains why the Home app's "Turn Off After" must be longer than the sensor's own duration.
YouTuber Shane Whatley shows how to convert a Home automation into a shortcut to add logic, such as conditions on light level or time.
Checked against: Apple: add an accessory · Apple: Matter · Apple: scenes & automations
Need recipes? See Shortcuts.