UPDATE: It appears that the bug has been fixed with iOS 15.1 / tvOS 15.1 / HomePod Software Version 15.1.
There is a workaround for the HomeKit shortcut bug in iOS 15 / tvOS 15. The problem occurs in shortcuts using for instance brightness percentages values (of lights) or brightness lux values (from sensors) in conditionals (if statements).
The workaround is getting the value using Get the state of Home, and then turning that value into a normal number using Get Numbers from Input. The resulting number can then be accessed either as a Magic Variable in the if statement, or you can make a variable from the number which can then be accessed in the if statement.
This is annoying, and time consuming for anyone with a lot of HomeKit automations using shortcuts, but at least itās a way around the bug. Letās hope Apple fixes the bug as soon as possible.
IIāve written a more comprehensive post where I share three examples of the workaround.
Hi Stefan,
Thanks for the tip, however thereās also the Contact Sensor State for Window/Door sensors that is not working anymore after the tvOS 15 update.
For that one I tried the Get the state of Home then Get text from Input, and finally the text in a conditional (should be Open/Closed), but itās not working š Of course working fine when running the shortcut manually. Any idea for this one?
Really annoying indeed.
Thanks!
Hi Alexis,
Sad to hear about your problems. Which Window/Door sensor do you have? I just ordered a Eve Door & Window sensor, so that I can do some experiments with it. I’ll let you know when I get it and had some time to test.
Thanks, itās the Aqara Window/Door Sensor.
Hope this will be fixed by tvOS 15.1.
Hi again Alexis,
I got the Eve Door & Window sensor today and started testing. I added a test shortcut to a Hue Dimmer Switch button. I hused the same Get state of Home, Get text from Input and then tried adding the text through a Magic Variable to the if statement. If I use is or contains as the conditional and then Open, it works for me. Could you test it?
Hi Stefan,
Unfortunately thatās exactly what I tried and itās not working š
The sensor reports correctly Ā«Ā OpenĀ Ā» from the Home app, but still not working in the shortcut when triggered by the automation and not manually.
That’s really weird. Did you test with “contains” as well? And you wrote it with a capital O, exactly as the sensor does?
Yes thatās what I did:
– Shortcut
– Sensor reporting correct status
And of course the shortcut itself is working when runned manually.
That is really annoying. I wish I had a Aqara sensor and hub so that I could do some different tests.
Same here, but with buttons. I have several Hue light buttons around the house, some original Hue and some Friends of Hue. After I’ve updated the last AppleTV unit, the FoH buttons do not trigger rules in Homekit anymore. I’ve rebooted the Hue hub a few times and then it worked for a short time on one button, but all the rest of them don’t work anymore.
Basically, triggers from the Hue hub are ignored in Homekit tvOS15. The other way around, Homekit triggering stuff in Hue still works.
Fortunately I still have iOS14 on iPad’s in the house, so I can divert for now by disabling the hub function of all AppleTV’s.
Are you triggering HomeKit shortcuts with the buttons?
The problem surfaced right after I updated the last AppleTV to tvOS15 yesterday. That last one is usually HomeKit “master” in the network.
Most Hue buttons only trigger (single push) a scene without any conditions or homekit shortcuts attached. Scenes that contain Hue lights, Eve Energy sockets (lights) and virtual switches (for HomeBridge timers). Some buttons are programmed in Homekit and Hue simultaneously. Except on those scenes that need to use Homekit Adaptive Lighting. In those scenes Hue lights are set via Homekit. In those scenes I also found that iOS14.x can’t handle more than 6 Hue lights in one scene; with more than 6 Hue lights parameters can randomly be ignored. When that happens I have to push the button more than once to fully activate the scene.
I have one scene with HomeKit shortcut script, but that one is triggered by time (repeats every 5 minutes). The script reads a Hue outdoor light sensor and uses the value for multiple IF THEN commands to set different scenes (lights, shades) indoor during day-time. I still have to test if that still works.
I don’t have any Friends of Hue buttons at home, so I can’t test it, but I wonder if Hue needs to make an software update for the Hue Bridge.
Overall I hear a lot about different problems with HomeKit after the update, so I really hope Apple will fix it quickly.
Btw, the shortcut that reads the Hue outdoor light sensor will probably need to be rewritten using the fix in this post.
I got it working again. Edited all the rules that contained a FoH button trigger. I used the Eve app to remove the button trigger, save it and add the button again. This way I didn’t have to rewrite the whole rule, including conditions, scenes and/or shortcuts.
I must note that I edited the rules on my iPhone which still has iOS14.8 on it.
Maybe it is a coincidence, but the time between the push on the button and the actual switching on/off seems faster now. Switching on isn’t instant, but at this moment it is faster compared to when all devices were on iOS14.x/tvOS14.x – we’ll see over time.
Hi Stefan, thank you for this workaround. All my rooms are now working again š One question: Did you notice longer delay when triggering shortcuts with hue switches? I think it takes maybe one second longer to do any action (on/off script, even just turning off all lights). This one second longer delay feels like eternity. In home app the action is instant. Thanks.
Yeah, the delay is really noticeable. Every time I walk into a room that uses the motion sensor to turn on the lights, my first thought is that it’s not working… and then the lights turn on. Let’s hope this will be fixed as well.
You are right! The delay is much worse than before! Even with the new AppleTV 4K š
Thanks for your post. Nine rooms repaired using your workaround! Now I am wondering if it best to leave the fix in or revert when Apple sort out their s…
Great blog, and keep the tips coming.
Hi Mike,
I’m happy this worked for you. This workaround shouldn’t really have any adverse effect on the shortcut, so even when or if Apple gets this fixed, I don’t think it’s necessary to revert back. If they do get it working the old way, I might do a comparison and see if there’s any time difference when running them.
Interesting reading. In my case, my 3 HomePods Minis, the ATV and iPad (not used as a hub) are on iOS 15. Only my iPhone 12 Pro in still on iOS 14.
However, I don’t experiment any issues with Homekit. Maybe because the iPhone is on iOS 14? I’ve been tempted to upgrade but after all the issues around the shortcuts and automations not working properly I am waiting for a more stable iOS version.
That’s interesting. I would have thought it would mostly be the OS of the hub that would create problems.
This seems to be fixed in iOS 15.1 RC. I have all HomePods and Apple TVās on the 15.1 RC and was able to remove the get statements and get numbers statements. So my automations simply just have the āifā conditionals and itās working perfectly. I have automations where at certain times of the day if the shades are equal to or above a certain value, they will close to a set value. I had to use the workaround before but now with 15.1 it works perfectly without the workaround.
However Iām trying to get a different automation working based on whether the grave door is opened or closed and I canāt get it to work at all. Not even with the workaround or the Get text values.
Good hearing that most of the problems are solved in 15.1 RC. How about the stability of the Home app on iOS? It’s been really buggy for many.
Still seems to crash here or there especially when spending a lot of time setting up shortcuts.
excellent post! Thanks for sharing and I wish you much success! how has it worked for you in iOS 15.6? Here I couldn’t make it work, when the shortcut reads the sensor that has no movement, it loops.
Hi Christian!
I haven’t had any issues with iOS 15.6. Can you explain in more detail the HomeKit shortcut where you’re having problems?
I’m not home right now. but things look different with this update. could you please send a print of the shutdown shortcut?
I’ve got two different versions. The first just turns the lights off, and the second dims them before turning them off. One thing that did change is that there is no longer an Exit shortcut with Result. It was replaced with Stop this shortcut.
Thanks for posting this. this newly introduced “undocumented feature” has been driving me mad. i’ve had to resort to using Homekit controller, which of course now means some of my automations reside in that app and not the home app.
you’re blog and website is really hepful!!! thanks
Chris, thank you so much for your comment š
I noticed that the āStatisticsā function (specifically the ability to sum a list of numbers) is missing when Iām trying to create a shortcut within HomeKit automations. Is this right? Is there an alternative way to replicate the summing functionality?
You are correct that the Statistics function is not available in HomeKit Shortcuts. There’s quite a few functions that you can use in regular shortcuts that are omitted from the HomeKit Shortcuts.
What you can do is to
1) Create a variable and set it to 0
2) Use the function Repeat with each item in List
2.1 ) Calculate Repeate Item + The variable you created
2.2 ) Set the variable to the Calculation Result
It’s not as elegant as using the Statistics function, but it works š
Sorry, Iām very much a beginner when it comes to HomeKit Shortcutsā¦ š Would you mind posting a screenshot to show us how the Repeat function would work in this case
Yes, of course. I made notes on the side of the screenshot, so that’s a little bit easier to follow. Let me know if you need any more help š
Thatās very detailed, and insightful. Thanks!
However, I couldnāt get this to wok. The sum always returns as 0.
Not sure how to attach inline photos here, but I uploaded the screenshots to OneDrive:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AoyxytEAaZ1JiEymYSWy3kPgMmTS
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AoyxytEAaZ1JiEorlY4TiFsgg1kv
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AoyxytEAaZ1JiEtcOcrl7N2cy1Fo
In the repeat with each item in list loop, after you calculate the sum you need to update the variable to the result of the calculation. Itās the Set variable SumOfNums to Calcuation Result before End Repeat in my example.
Thanks a lot! That worked like a charm.
I really hope you produce more content. These Shortcut automations are very helpful, as HomeKit itself is limited – and for me at least, I don’t want to get into the hassle of HomeAssisant and more customized options
Great to hear Ian!
I have a quite few ideas in the pipeline, just need to to find some time to write them up š If you have something specific you’re thinking about, you can always do a suggestion for a post.
Again, thanks for your comments and questions. I love to help if I only can.
Do you know if itās possible to duplicate HomeKit automations with shortcuts embedded in them? The native Home app doesnāt support duplicating automations and others such as Home+ supports duplication but doesnāt seem to include the shortcuts in new duplicated action.
No, I don’t think that is possible. I needed to do this, as I’m running a shortcut that checks every temperature sensor and then logs that on a local web server. My solution was to used a scheduled dummy switch running in Hoobs (Homebridge), with an HomeKit automation (with the shortcut) that runs every time the switch is triggered.
Hi there (first time post š)
Now that iOS 15.2 is out, are your Homekit automations (using shortcuts) still significantly slower?
In my case, I have switches that use shortcuts to turn lights on and off, that are still annoyingly slow (~2s).
This seem related to the selected active home hub. I have two Apple TVs 4k, one running on tvOS 14.3 and one now on tvOS 15.2 – as soon as the tvOS 14.3 is active, everything is perfectly fine (delay < 0.5s). I've also tried this with two iPad Pro's (one on iOS 15.2 and one on iOS 14.3) and it exactly the same.
Thanks a lot!
Hi Marcus,
I installed 15.2 on my main AppleTV yesterday (4K gen 2), and don’t think I see much difference in how fast the shortcuts are triggered. I haven’t had huge problems with it before, but I do notice sometimes that some take a bit long to trigger. Still room for improvement. Perhaps the best thing for you is to keep one on 14.3 and try to keep it the active one.