Earlier today, the popular web-based automation service If This Then That (IFTTT) formally announced that it has added support for the Nest Learning Thermostat an Nest Protect Smoke Alarm. This news comes just a few short days after Nest opened up it’s API to developers, and greatly expands the possibilities of both devices. This is great news for owners of both devices, as IFTTT gives users access to dozens of additional features long before the first “made for Nest” apps are likely to surface from independent developers.
For the uninitiated, IFTTT allows you to connect physical devices (things like lights, your phone, or even your car) to digital services like email, social media, and various other webapps. It also lets you connect physical devices to other physical devices, so you can do nifty things like automatically turn on a lamp when your WeMo motion detector senses movement, or have your connected air conditioner flip on when you open a door.
The new Nest channels give users the ability to trigger different actions based on the temperature of the house, or when the thermostat’s home/away setting changes. You could, for example, get an SMS alert when the temperature rises above a certain level, or set all of your lights to turn off whenever Nest is set to “away” mode. Similarly, the new triggers for Nest Protect allow you to trigger different actions when it detects smoke, carbon monoxide, or when its batteries are getting low.
You can check out some of Nest’s pre-built recipes, or dive in and make your own here.
