The physics operating at the nanometer scale in antiferroelectric devices has provided a pathway for new voltage programmable, passively operated pyroelectric sensors. Zr_1-xHf_xO₂ thin films of 8 and 6 nm thickness are incorporated into workfunction engineered capacitors to provide non-volatile switching of pyroelectric and non-pyroelectric states. The different operating principles of the voltage control of the pyroelectric response between ferroelectrics and the antiferroelectric pyroelectric switches are demonstrated. Simple ± 2.5 V voltage pulses can turn the pyroelectric effect on and off in the workfunction engineered ZrO₂-based thin film antiferroelectric capacitors. Zero-field pyroelectric coefficients with magnitudes of up to 108 μC m^-2 K^-1 were measured in the pyroelectric on-state. Hf-doping lowered the endurance of the nonpolar off-state with switching cycles, where degradation was observed to begin at 10⁴ – 10⁶ cycles. The loss of the nonpolar state and the convergence of the on-state and off-state pyroelectric coefficients after 10¹⁰ cycles was attributable to an irreversible phase transition to the ferroelectric phase, in agreement with the ‘wake-up’ phenomenon widely observed in HfO₂ and ZrO₂-based films. Undoped ZrO₂ exhibited the best cycling endurance with an off-state pyroelectric coefficient magnitude of 10.3 μC m^-2 K^-1 after 2*10¹⁰ cycles, demonstrating the potential for long lifetime pyroelectric devices. The robust demonstration of the operating principles and performance of these programmable antiferroelectric pyroelectric sensors establishes a new design framework for high speed and reconfigurable pyroelectric systems.