Who needs Alexa when you have Siri? tvOS 10 lets you control a variety of SmartHome devices from your Apple TV using just your voice. Here’s how you can take advantage of this feature and control your home without ever having to overload your smartphone.
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Before you can use Siri on your Apple TV to control your SmartHome devices, you first need to make sure that the devices are compatible with the Apple HomeKit platform and that the devices have HomeKit officially installed. Most SmartHome devices will include HomeKit in the initial setup process when you’re about to install them for the first time, but if not, there’s usually a place in Settings where you can set up HomeKit after installation. This process involves scanning the code on the back of the device with your iPhone.
Once your SmartHome devices are set up and HomeKit is ready to work on those devices, you can start controlling them with Siri on your Apple TV (or any other Apple device for that matter).
To do this, simply start by pressing and holding the Siri button on your Apple TV remote.
While holding the Siri button, say something like «Set thermostat to 73» if you want to change the temperature on your HomeKit-enabled smart thermostat. Or, if you have Philips Hue lights, you can say «Turn on the living room lights.»
Of course, to get specific information and tell which room to turn on the lights from, you need to set up HomeKit and set up different rooms. This can usually be done in the smarthome product app itself, or in the new Home app on iOS 10 devices.
