In my home that hosts two dogs, two rabbits and a cat, maintaining air quality is essential to stopping both allergies, not to mention the smell. All of this is compounded by outside air quality issues, and things can quickly get out of control.

Having an air purifier that fires in the kitchen while cooking can also save your life, especially in an apartment equipped with whimsical smoke detectors.

An ideal solution would be to use a HomeKit compatible air purifier. It would be a single device capable of monitoring the air quality, automating it and responding to other automation rules and triggers for it. Home application. It would also respond to Siri commands.

Unfortunately, as shown by the list of HomeKit accessories listed on the Apple website, the number of HomeKit certified purifiers is quite limited.

We will turn a "stupid" purifier into a smart purifier and know how to automate it with HomeKit to help you live healthier lives at home.

To start

We will go through different levels of automation. From the strictest necessary to the most intelligent. To get things done, you'll need a basic air purifier and a HomeKit smart plug.

When you search for yours, you want a two-step filter. You want a larger pre-filter that removes larger materials such as animal hair and a high-efficiency particulate air filter (HEPA) for smaller particles such as tobacco smoke, hair dander and more. pets, etc.

Blue Pure Air Purifier 211+

We did a lot of research on air purifiers and chose the Blue Pure 211+ for a variety of reasons. It looks great and has a modern and unpretentious design. It also has replaceable liners that can be washed and offered in a variety of colors.

It is easy to use and focuses all its efforts on cleaning and removing odors from the air rather than on a "smart" half-cooked technology. This makes it perfectly suited to our own needs.

We have been using the Blue Pure 211+ for a long time and find it incredibly efficient and essential to maintaining the cleanliness and smell of our home.

For a smart plug, we use the iDevices switch. We like this because it is easy to use, monitors electricity consumption, operates on Wi-Fi and has a colorful night light that can also be controlled via HomeKit.

We love the iDevices switch with a HomeKit night light

By connecting the Blue Pure 211+ to the switch, you can easily turn on or turn off the purifier in the Home application or by using Siri.

The purifier is connected to the iDevices switch and can be controlled via HomeKit

Simple automation

Once the purifier can be effectively controlled from HomeKit, the next step is to add automation and reduce manual control dependence. There are several ways to do this, especially when you come home from work at a particular time or go geofencing.

The purifier will start whenever the last person leaves

We recommend that you turn on the purifier whenever the last person leaves the house and turn it off when the first person arrives to operate it regularly.

Alternatively, the purifier could work at night while you are in bed. If the purifier is in a common room at night, you probably will not be in this room and it will work freely without the noise disturbing your sleep.

To do this, perhaps include a "good night" scene for Siri to turn off the lights, close the blinds, close the garage door, adjust the thermostat, lock the door and turn on the purifier.

Advanced automation

Beyond the basic automation, the purifier can be reactively controlled depending on the air quality of the room being paired with a HomeKit air quality monitor. There are several monitors of quality HomeKit air. We recommend the Eve Room 2 or even the OneLink Safe & Sound.

Trigger the purifier according to the quality of the air

An automation rule can be configured so that the purifier activates as soon as the air quality in the room falls below a given threshold. It is the most important financial investment, but it is the most practical and can keep your air at any level. you prefer.

Clean house

The Pure Blue Air purifier 211+

It's unfortunate that there's not a lot of HomeKit purifiers, and although an alternative plug-and-monitor solution is not as simple as a ready-made solution. It is certainly effective.

However, there are advantages to this path, including monitoring the power consumption of the purifier, a convenient night light that could be activated by a motion sensor, and the Siri control for otherwise "dumb" but extremely powerful purifiers. The Eve Room also has a screen and other advantages over an integrated air quality monitor, thus justifying the investment.

Air quality is not the most obvious application for smart home, but it can make a profound difference with little effort.