Managing recording options with multiple Homes

[unspent-homey]

Hello world,

I am trying to set up my HomeKit cameras in 2 different apartments but struggling with setting up the “when home” and “when away” settings.

I would like the cameras to stream only when I am home and to record when I’m away.
But as soon as I enter any of the 2 apartments, it disables recording for all cameras in both apartments - instead of just the ones in the apartment I walked into.

Using the same iCloud account, I have in the Home app:
- Location #1: set as Home 1, have there one Apple TV 4K and one Eufy 2K Pan & Tilt indoor camera
- Location #2: set as Home 2, have there another Apple TV 4K and two Eufy 2K Pan & Tilt indoor cameras

All cameras are set to Streaming when home and Streaming + Recording when away.
The locations are miles away from one another.

What setting am I missing so that only the cameras of the home I walk into change status?
Thanks!

 

[doogald]

Hmm, not sure, as I don't do any of this myself (though I also have two homes.) Have you tried to set the location to the actual address rather than choosing "home" (or is that what you say you are doing)?

(The reason that I don't do location based triggering is because in both homes there are people without iPhones who may be home or not at any given time.)

 

[unspent-homey]

Thanks for replying @doogald. Not sure I understand, where would I define the address?
I am referring to the « Recording options » screen that has 2 options: behaviors when home and behaviors when away.

And I imagine it knows where I am based on the position of my phone (which shares my location to iCloud).

 

[doogald]

I was wondering if you could use automation to set a scene based on specific location, and then have the scene trigger whether recording or streaming happens? (Again, I don't do this, and have not HomeKit cameras - just an old Logitech Circle 2 camera that I haven't converted to HK yet. It basically watches my basement in my second house for flooding so I don't really need it to do what you need to do.)

 

[EdwinG]

Thanks for replying @doogald. Not sure I understand, where would I define the address?
I am referring to the « Recording options » screen that has 2 options: behaviors when home and behaviors when away.

And I imagine it knows where I am based on the position of my phone (which shares my location to iCloud).

You set up the address in the automation options.

Here, “Home” represents what I have set as “Home” in my personal contact card.

 

[unspent-homey]

Ah got it, thanks!

But automations do not work with cameras, you cannot tell it to stream or record or anything else - unless there is a way I’m unaware of.

These are defined within the camera panel, and the only 2 options are: what does the camera do when home and what does it do when away.

Upon further toying with all the settings, I noticed something else in the settings of each home. You will see:
- the name of the home
- the list of people who get access to it
- the number of accessories
- the number of hubs

Each home shows the right number if accessories (1 camera for one, 2 cameras for the other), but both homes show both Apple TV’s.
I feel that may be why me getting to either home triggers the cameras to switch from recording to streaming at both places.

Any idea on how to only show one Apple TV in the hubs list of each home?

 

[EdwinG]

Ah got it, thanks!

But automations do not work with cameras, you cannot tell it to stream or record or anything else - unless there is a way I’m unaware of.

These are defined within the camera panel, and the only 2 options are: what does the camera do when home and what does it do when away.

Upon further toying with all the settings, I noticed something else in the settings of each home. You will see:
- the name of the home
- the list of people who get access to it
- the number of accessories
- the number of hubs

Each home shows the right number if accessories (1 camera for one, 2 cameras for the other), but both homes show both Apple TV’s.
I feel that may be why me getting to either home triggers the cameras to switch from recording to streaming at both places.

Any idea on how to only show one Apple TV in the hubs list of each home?

Have a look on the affected Apple TV, in the Settings app under AirPlay and HomeKit. There should be a Home Hub section telling which home and room it’s assigned to.