I’m way late to the home automation game.

My usage is very basic but emblematic of my style

One thing: I can absolutely see where a HomeKit thermostat would come in handy. I did in fact once attempt to replace ours, but it’s an older style of wiring that I’m not messing with.

All of my automations control the two HomePods Mini I have. The first Homepod I bought is in our bedroom; we use it as a white noise machine to replace the din the window air conditioner makes during the summer months. My custom, for years, would be to say, “Hey Siri… play white noise.” And that she would.

And that was pretty much all I did with it.

I decided to get another HomePod mini for my “office,” such as it is, for music and maybe some voice-command action while I worked. I started by automating it to play music when anyone came home, and then pause when they left. It just seems to play most of the time, though, which is fine.

My second automation was a little more specific. I set up the bedroom HomePod to play white noise starting at 10 pm on Monday through Friday, and then switch to music at 6:40 am, which is around when Rhonda and the dogs are rousing. It plays music until 9 am, at which time it pauses. For some reason, I have it resuming music an hour later. Not sure why I did that. I’ll have to update it.