A disadvantage of a smart home is that it is difficult for house guests to use the technology. But one advantage of Apple's HomeKit protocol is that you can share control of your home with others, regardless of their location. Why would you want to share Home Control? When you're at home, or even a different location, there are a number of ways to control your Apple-friendly smart home. The HomeKit protocol allows you to communicate with smart home devices, such as a smart lock or smart lamp, by using your Apple device like an iPhone. As you might have imagined, problems arise when someone who doesn't share your Apple ID also wants to control smart home devices. It only takes a few steps to give others the ability to control your smart home, as long as they have their own Apple device. So when friends or family spend time at your home, they can easily interact with all your devices.

Invite someone to control your Apple HomeKit Home The first step to allowing someone else to control smart home is to send an invite. To get started, open the Home app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Then select the More button and choose Home Settings. If you have more than one home, choose the home you want to share, then choose Home Settings. Image Credit: Apple Then select Invite People. On the next screen, you need to enter the other person's Apple ID that they use with iCloud. To accept the invitation, the other person must open the Home app and select More. Then, after choosing Home Settings, select View under Invitations. Finally, choose Accept and then Done. Image Credit: Apple

To control that home, select the More button and the name of the home.

Control remote access for other users By setting up an Apple Home Hub, you can control smart home devices when you're not in range of your Wi-Fi network. If you've already set up a Home Hub, you can adjust permissions for anyone you've invited to control your home. Select the More button in the Home app to customize remote access. Then select Home Settings. In the People section, choose the person to customize the controls. There are two options. In Remote Control Accessories, you can choose to allow users to interact with HomeKit devices from anywhere when they are turned on. When disabled, the other person can only control accessories within range of your Wi-Fi network. You can also select whether invited users can add or edit HomeKit accessories and other automations in Add and edit accessories.

Stop Sharing Home Controls To ever stop sharing home controls with someone else, here's how. Select the More button in the Home app. Under People, select the person you want to remove from the home. Select Remove Person. An invited guest can also leave a home. Click More > Home settings in the Home app and choose the home you want to leave. Then select Leave Home and then Leave.

Troubleshooting Home Sharing There are a few steps you can try if you're having trouble sharing Home Control with others. Make sure the person you invited is using the latest Apple software and is signed in to iCloud. Also in Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud, make sure Home is enabled under Apps with iCloud. Finally, make sure you and the other person haven't blocked each other's Apple ID or phone number.

Bring Apple Smart Home Control to Others With just a little work, it's easy to share control of your smart home, so anyone you choose can enjoy the technology. And it's even easy to customize remote access for others so they can control devices when they're not in range of your home network.