Home office lights

This guide will help you integrate your HomeKit-compatible smart lights with Airbounce to enhance your home office setup.

Experimental: This functionality is currently in the labs. Your feedback is appreciated as we continue to improve it!

Why integrate HomeKit with Airbounce?

By connecting Airbounce to your HomeKit smart lights, you can:

• Visually indicate call status: Easily show if you’re muted, unmuted, or on a call.

• Enhance communication: Let your family or roommates know your status without interrupting your workflow.

• Create a professional environment: Maintain a clear signal of your availability during work hours.

How it works

Airbounce leverages Apple Shortcuts to communicate with your HomeKit devices. By creating specific shortcuts, Airbounce can change the lighting in your home to reflect your call status—whether you're muted, unmuted, or on a call.

Getting started

1. Ensure compatibility:

   • Verify that your smart lights are HomeKit-compatible (e.g. Philips Hue, etc.)

   • Ensure Airbounce is installed and up-to-date.

2. Connect HomeKit with Airbounce:

   • Download the Shortcut template
   • Add the Airbounce Shortcut to your Home shortcuts library

   
3. Configure Airbounce:

   • Go to Airbounce's Quick Setup settings and navigate to the 'Enhance Your Home Office Lightning' steps.

   • Review the permission settings and grant the permission if necessary.

   • Enable the 'Sync HomeKit Lights' in the Airbounce's menu bar

4. Customize your Shortcut template

   • Open the Home app on macOS (or using your iPhone, when connected using same Apple ID).

   • Modify the downloaded shortcut template, adjusting the light settings for different call statuses (muted, unmuted, on a call).

   • Note: Do not change the input text values: "Idle", "Muted", "Unmuted" as those are parameters are passed from Airbounce into the Shortcut.

5. Test your setup:

   • Make a test call to check if the lights change according to your call status. (e.g. muted, unmuted, idle – not on a call).

Shortcuts templates

Download

• Muted/Unmuted/Idle – A template that updates three colors—red when muted, green when unmuted, and light blue when idle.

Customization

For detailed information, check out the official Apple Shortcuts guide.

Airbounce uses three key input parameters to control your HomeKit Shortcut, which adjust your smart lights based on your call status:

1. Idle - Indicates when you’re not on a call. Typically used to set a neutral light color or turn it off.

2. Muted - Shows when your microphone is muted. The default is red color.

3. Unmuted - Represents when your microphone is active. The default is green color.

These string values are passed to your HomeKit shortcuts, which you can customize in the Shortcuts app to match your preferred colors for each status.

Apple Shortcuts Events permission

To ensure smooth operation, Airbounce requires permission to use Apple Shortcuts events. This permission allows Airbounce to automatically update your lights when you change your call status in Airbounce.

Setting up

1. Grant permission: When setting up the integration, make sure to grant Airbounce access to your Apple Shortcuts events.

2. Create Shortcut: Follow the setup instructions in Airbounce to create and customize shortcuts for your HomeKit devices.

Troubleshooting

• Permission issues: If your lights aren’t responding, check your Apple Shortcuts settings to ensure Airbounce has the necessary permissions.

• Lights not responding: Ensure your HomeKit devices are connected to the same network as your Mac and that Airbounce has the necessary permissions.

• Integration issues: Restart both Airbounce and your HomeKit devices. Check for software updates for both Airbounce and your HomeKit-enabled device.

---

Need more help? If you encounter any issues or have questions, reach out to [e-mail].