If you have a smart home or plan to, you will eventually come across IFTTT. It’s inevitable, so you might as well get familiar with it.
What it does and why you need it:
IFTTT stands for IF This, Then That. It’s a simple 1 action = 1 event concept that’s very useful for smart home devices and routines. It all starts at IFTTT.com
IFTTT uses recipes and channels to accomplish tasks around your home. You can think of channel as device brands or service, like Nest. A recipe is the combination of channels to create a desired outcome.
You’re going to need IFTTT if you have actions or routines at home that can’t be accomplished through your smart home devices. For example, you may have a Scout Alarm and Lifx lights. It’s possible that they don’t talk to each other. That’s where IFTTT steps in (assuming both have IFTTT channels).
When at IFTTT.com, you create recipes based on the channels (products) you have in your home. For example, if you have Hue lights and an Amazon Echo, you can create a recipe between those two channels. Since recipes are 1 action creates 1 reaction, your event might be something like, “When I tell Alexa to start party lights (IF this), then put Hue lights in color loop(then that).” It’s that simple.
Even though each recipe is a 1-to-1 event, that doesn’t mean you can’t create a limitless number of recipes that trigger from the same IF statement. Your IF might be “when I leave the house (via android channel)”, then
recipe 1) turn off lights,
recipe 2) turn up thermostat.
The possibilities are limitless.
Questions? Let me know.
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