There are quite a few companies that have chosen to use IFTTT for their integration. iRobot, Neato, and Husqvarna are prime examples. Up until just a few days ago that decision seemed like a reasonable choice because it allowed both technical and non-technical people access to their API and it was free to consumers.
Not every smart home enthusiast has software development skills that would allow them to leverage a complex API so IFTTT broadened the population of people who could integrate with a company's products. I believe Hubitat owners tend to be more technical. I expect that there are a lot of, for example, ST owners who aren't.
I completely agree that $120 per year to integrate a product into a smart home is going to change a lot of consumers' minds on which products they want to purchase. What we haven't heard yet is how companies are going to react and whether they will start to offer other avenues for integration.
I should also add that this is going to play out over the next year. IFTTT has given current users a 1 year pay what you want option. I expect a lot of users will choose to pay a minimal mount for the coming year and use that time to find alternative ways of controlling their existing products or purchase different ones. It also gives companies that have chosen to use IFTTT as a way to publish their APIs time to come up with a strategy that addresses the needs of their customers.
I expect that IFTTT will also be seeing what happens and may change their pricing in response to market pressures.
Iiiiiiinteresting. I’ll have to check that usage out. I didn’t want to commit to Home Assistant for my main system, because I was unclear as to what you’d need for zigbee and z-wave devices, but I didn’t think about using it alongside for its software integrations.
I hacked something together to use a virtual dimmer as an intermediary between an Alexa Routine and the Ring devices. Basically you map dimmer values to each camera/doorbell, then just set the motion/doorbell event in Alexa to set the dimmer to the appropriate value. Working so far, but definitely ugly
I have some devices that I just can't get to work without IFTTT, right now I am down to my Eufy Doorbell and Broadlink.
The problem really is, that there are too many devices are just not made to really talk to home automation, heck even most of them just talk to Smartthings or Wink,. gahhh.. This paywall thing is so bad.. I might just setup IFTTT on each tablet thoughout the house, and have them just HTTP to my HE to push a Vswitch..
as I said earlier. I would pay for IFTTT to get about 10 , but not $10 a month!!! perhaps $10 a year, but $120 a year!! HECK NO!!!!!
If you have an Android device and willing to pay $4 for Tasker app (if you don't already have it) then you can link your Eufy Doorbell to HE thru Tasker. See my post #26 above with link to another thread that explains in detail.
It's more complicated than IFTTT but I can guarantee you that it is faster than IFTTT especially if going thru your phone while at home. I use a old phone that is always home so I can use local Maker API calls. Let me know if I can help. Good luck!
We should be wary of all cloud services free or otherwise at this point. I'm not suggesting everyone drop all their cloud stuff but maybe use those services on the periphery or as bonus functionality rather than included as an integral part of a home automation strategy.
I see until October 7th you get to name you price per month for the first year. What should a reasonable price for this service be? His suggested $9.99 / month is way to high if you are only using the service for secondary automations/integrations. I have a virtual Jitsi server that I run for teleconferencing that only costs me $3 to $4 per month depending on usage and that has much more load than saying a simple webservice/java aggregator.
So what would be a fair price? I would say about $1 to $1.50 per month.
I could see that being tolerable to many. I personally detest monthly fees, so I wouldn't actually use this. But $15 a year or thereabouts seems reasonable for what you are getting. $120 a year does not.
