Step 4: Add to Apple Home

In this step you add your appliances to the Home app on your iPhone or iPad. You do it by scanning the QR code of the child bridge you turned on in Step 1. The child bridge is added to the Home app separately from the rest of Homebridge.

Find the QR code

1. Open the Homebridge UI, as in Step 1.
2. In the side menu, click Plugins.
3. On the Home Connect Local card, click the three dots, then click Child Bridge Config. Some cards show a QR code icon for this instead. When you hover over it, it says Connect to HomeKit.

The window shows a QR code, with an 8-digit setup code below it. Under the code it says “Not Paired · Scan to add to HomeKit”. Keep this window open.

If the window says “Return to this screen after Homebridge has restarted to view the pairing QR code.”, Homebridge is still restarting. Close the window, wait a minute, and open it again.

Add it in the Home app

1. On your iPhone or iPad, open the Home app.
2. Tap the Add button, the + sign.
3. Tap Add Accessory.
4. Point the camera at the QR code on your computer screen. If the camera does not pick it up, the Home app lets you type the 8-digit setup code instead.
5. The Home app warns that this is an uncertified accessory. Apple has not certified Homebridge, so this is expected. Tap Add Anyway.
6. Choose the room your appliance is in.
7. Follow the screens to name the accessories. Then tap Continue, and then Done.

Your fridge or freezer now appears in the Home app.

What you get

Each appliance becomes one accessory with several tiles. A fridge-freezer, for example, can get:

• a thermostat for each compartment, called “Fridge” and “Freezer”
• a door sensor for each door, such as “Fridge Door”
• alarm sensors, such as “Fridge Door Alarm”
• switches for modes such as “Super Cool”, “Eco Mode” and “Vacation Mode”
• lights, such as “Interior Light”

Your appliance only gets the tiles its own profile describes, so two appliances can look different.

Two things can look odd at first:

• The thermostat shows the temperature you set, not the temperature inside. The appliance only reports its setpoint, the temperature it is aiming for. It never sends a measured temperature.
• Alarms are door sensors. An alarm that is going off shows as “Open”. The Home app may list these tiles under Security rather than with your appliance.

What you get in Home explains every tile.

How you know it worked

• The thermostat tile shows the temperature your appliance is set to. If your fridge is set to 4 °C, the tile reads 4 °C.
• Open the appliance door. The door sensor tile changes to Open. Close the door, and it changes back to Closed.
• In the Homebridge UI, the Child Bridge Config window now says “Paired” under the QR code.

You are done. If a tile shows “No Response”, or an appliance is missing, see Troubleshooting.