There is no escaping the fact that you need to be pretty smart yourself in order to set up a smart home. One way to simplify that is to use IFTTT recipes. If This Then That is a set of scripts, called recipes, that can automate a huge range of devices, programs and aspects of our lives. One such area of life where the system really sings is the smart home.
While smart home devices are smart anyway, an IFTTT recipe takes that smart and supercharges it. They really need to be seen to be believed and I encourage everyone to try them out. Here are my top 10 IFTT recipes for your smart home.
Visual cues
Visual cues is a recipe that blinks your Philips Hue lights in conjunction with a timer. For example, if you set a cooking timer with Amazon Echo, this IFTTT recipe will blink the lights in the room you’re in as a visible reminder.
Visual cues recipe.
Social notifications
Similar to Visual cues, Social notifications also blinks your lights, but this time when your social media actions are triggered. For example, you could blink your lights blue when you’re mentioned in a tweet or red when you’re mentioned on Instagram. You can do the same for any notification type.
Social notifications recipe.
Winter is coming!
Winter is coming! monitors the outside temperature and can automatically turn the heating up or down depending on how it changes. If you live somewhere that gets cold, this is definitely one for you.
Winter is coming! recipe.
Save water
Save water is an alternative to buying a smart sprinkler. It can work with weather monitoring to check to see if the weather warrants watering your lawn and either switch the sprinkler on or off. Great for saving big on your water.
Save water recipe.
Get a hot coffee when you wake up
This is a personal favorite of mine. I mean, who doesn’t want to be woken up to the smell of fresh coffee in the morning? This recipe will work with a FitBit fitness tracker and a WeMo plug to spin up your coffee maker as you awake.
Get a hot coffee when you wake up recipe.
Toggle lights on when you return home
Toggle lights on when you return home does exactly that. It will switch on your Philips Hue lights automatically to greet you when you arrive home. It works great when it gets dark in the evenings.
Toggle lights on when you return home recipe.
Lock your door behind you
Lock your door behind you is a recipe for those who are forget like me, of those who consider keys so last century. It uses your phone and smart lock to secure your home without you doing a thing.
Lock your door behind you recipe.
Send notification when Nest detects motion
Send notification when Nest detects motion does exactly that. If you use motion detectors and Next, this recipe will send you an SMS or push notification if you use the IF app.
Send notification when Nest detects motion recipe.
Lights on at sunset
Don’t want to get up and turn on the lights when the sun goes down? Lights on at sunset is a recipe that works with Philips Hue to automatically turn on when the light levels drop. It’s the ultimate home automation trick.
Lights on at sunset recipe.
Stop teens stealing your booze
Stop teens stealing your booze is designed to do exactly that but you can also tune it to protect your food cupboard, refrigerator, wardrobe and more using a motion sensor. I have suggested this to college buddies who use it in their dorms.
Stop teens stealing your booze recipe.
Looking for other Smart Home Articles? You might interested in my Top 10 Smart Home Android Apps and my Top 10 Smart Home iOS apps.
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