In Apple's Home app, you can add your HomeKit accessories to different rooms for organizational purposes. Once you've done that, you can group together similar rooms into zones which allows you to control them all at once, either by room or by zone. Keep reading to learn how it works.

how to add rooms to the home app

How to Add Rooms to the Home App

Before you can add rooms to the Home app you need to add some HomeKit accessories to it. Once you've done that, you can follow the steps below to add rooms.

  1. Launch the Home app on your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Press and hold on an accessory.
  3. Tap Settings.
    how to add rooms to home app
  4. Tap Room.
  5. Tap Create New and enter the name of your room, or choose from the suggested room names.
  6. Tap Done.

Once you've assigned a room to an accessory, that room will appear in the above list of available rooms to make it easy to add further devices. You can access rooms you've set up by tapping the Room tab and then tapping the menu button in the top-left of the screen.

How to Group Rooms into Zones

Grouping rooms together into a zone, like upstairs or downstairs, allows you to control several rooms using a single Siri command. For example, you could simply say "Hey ‌Siri‌, turn off the lights downstairs" when you're making your way up to bed for the night.

  1. Launch the Home app on your ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌.
  2. Tap the Rooms tab at the bottom of the screen.
  3. Tap the menu button in the top-left corner of the screen.
    how to add zones to home app 1
  4. Tap Room Settings and then select a room.
  5. Tap Zone.
  6. Enter the desired name of your zone or choose a suggested name.
    how to add zones to home app 2
  7. Tap Done.
  8. Repeat steps 3 to 7 to add more rooms to the zone.

Organizing your ‌HomeKit‌ products into rooms and zones is essential for setups that include a large number of ‌HomeKit‌ devices, and it's really useful for ‌HomeKit‌ products like lights, where you might want to turn out all of the lights in a room or in the entire upstairs at one time.

Related Stories

Apple Introduces New MacBook Upgrade Program for Business Partners

Monday November 29, 2021 7:38 am PST by Sami Fathi

In association with CIT as the financing partner, Apple has launched a new Mac Upgrade Program for small businesses and Apple business partners that allow companies to easily distribute and upgrade their fleets of MacBooks at an affordable price to all of their workers. As outlined on CIT's website, shared by Max Weinbach, Apple Business Partners can distribute the 13-inch MacBook Pro,...

Best Cyber Monday Deals for AirPods, Apple Pencil, iMac, More

With Black Friday over, Cyber Monday 2021 is now in full swing and you can find many of the same sales as last week on Apple products like AirPods, Apple Pencil, and iPad Pro. In this article we're focusing on the best Cyber Monday discounts on Apple products like these and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we...

Cyber Monday: Original Apple TV 4K Drops to $99.99 for Amazon Prime Members

We've been tracking Apple product and accessory deals for Cyber Monday 2021 today, and now Woot is offering a solid discount on the previous generation 32GB Apple TV 4K. You can get this device in new condition for just $99.99 if you're an Amazon Prime member. Note that this sale will last for one day only. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a...

Best Black Friday iPhone Deals Still Available

Cellular carriers have always offered big savings on the newest iPhone models during the holidays, and Black Friday 2021 sales have now carried over into Cyber Monday as well. Right now we're tracking notable offers on the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro devices from AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. For even more savings, keep an eye on older models like iPhone SE. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate...

Best Cyber Monday Apple Accessory Deals Available Today

We started sharing deals on Apple products for Cyber Monday 2021 earlier today, and now we're tracking deals and bargains available from all of the best Apple accessory companies. Similar to Black Friday, you can expect Cyber Monday savings from Twelve South, Nomad, Belkin, Casetify, and many more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and...

New iPhone SE Reportedly on Track for Release in First Quarter of 2022

Tuesday November 30, 2021 8:08 am PST by Joe Rossignol

Apple plans to release a third-generation iPhone SE in the first quarter of 2022, according to Taiwanese research firm TrendForce. If this timeframe proves to be accurate, we can expect the device to be released by the end of March. As previously rumored, TrendForce said the new iPhone SE will remain a mid-range smartphone with added support for 5G:In terms of product development, Apple is...