It is reasonably widely known that some of the most vulnerable moments of our day is when we are arriving to or leaving a location.  For this very reason in fact, many car keys have a panic button that will sound the horn or the alarm of the car.  As fans of home automation, I was thinking we could use a HomeKit button to bring this functionality to the home.  Whether you’re in danger or you just want to get someone’s attention, a HomeKit panic button can be very useful.

In order to play along at home, you’ll need:

We’ll also be using 3 different apps to create our HomeKit panic button: 

  • Aqara Home
  • Eve for HomeKit
  • Onvis Home app
  • Apple’s Home app

Aqara Home: Create Alarm Sound and Flashing Light with Aqara Hub

  • Sign into the Aqara Home app
  • From the “Automations” tab, tap ‘+’
  • Under “If”, tap “Add”
  • Select the Wireless Mini Switch
  • Select “Long press”
  • Under “Then”, tap “Add”
  • Choose the Aqara Hub (Night Light)
  • Select the action you want “Plays assigned alarm sound and night light flashes”
  • Tap “Confirm”
  • Tap “Save”
  • Name the Automation and tap “OK”
  • Sign out of the Aqara app and sign in using HomeKit Mode

Eve for HomeKit: Create a Panic Button Scene with Onvis CS1 Security Alarm Contact Sensor

  • From the ‘Automations’ tab, select ‘Scenes’ from the top menu
  • Scroll to the bottom of and tap ‘Add Scene’
  • Tap ‘Add Actions’ and find the Onvis CS1
  • Enable “Panic Ringtone Type” and choose from 0 to 3
  • Enable “Panic Time” and choose from 0 to 300
  • Tap “Add”, then tap “Next”
  • Name the scene and choose an icon
  • Tap “Done”

Onvis Home: Adjust Volume of CS1 Alarm

  • Tap on the CS1 tile
  • Long press on “Alarms” at the bottom.
  • Under “Volume”, select “High”
  • Tap the back arrow at the top left to confirm

Apple’s Home: Add a HomePod Alarm to the Scene

  • Long press on your panic button scene.
  • Tap “Add or Remove Accessories”
  • Select your HomePod.  Tap “Done”.
  • Under “Media”, tap “Audio”
  • Select “Play Audio”
  • Tap “Choose audio”
  • Find the sound you want to play
  • Select “Repeat”
  • Adjust the volume to your liking
  • Tap “Back” and then the ‘X to save the changes to your scene.

Apple’s Home: Control the Panic Button Scene to Aqara Wireless Mini Switch

  • Tap on the Wireless Mini Switch tile
  • Under ‘Actions’, tap ‘Add’ to the right of “Long Press”
  • Select the Panic Button scene.
  • Tap “Next”
  • Tap “Done”
  • Aqara Hub Ad

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