Rooms - what's the purpose?

The subject is the question. I've been searching all the Hubitat docs I can find for what the value is of identifying devices with rooms? Thanks for helping, especially if I missed some big article somewhere about this.

it's a new feature. Not sure if the docs have been updated or not. Simply put its two fold. First it allows you to group stuff within configuration so that things are easier to find. On the app side it groups switches in an easy to read menu so that you can control by room at a glance

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I did read in one of the responses from Hubitat staff that it is only a first step, there will be more to come that will make use of the rooms feature.

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Ok. Thanks guys. Yes, hopefully more to come. The Hubitat development team has been on a roll, so hopefully they have something cool planned here. Appreciate the response.

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The first step was to lay the groundwork for future expansion. Currently, only the mobile apps take advantage of the new rooms structure, to populate the "Devices" tab.

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And if I am remembering right, devices in Rooms are what populates the widgets for mobile app.

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I read this somewhere else also. I am not using Rooms, but had no issue creating widgets.

While they are primarily used by the mobile app, which I personally don't use,
I still feel it helps me a lot.

Sometimes I don't remember a device name but I always know the room they are at so I use the rooms page instead of the devices page. I go to rooms, expand only the one I'm interested on and open the device from there.

Sounds silly but are little things like this that when combined result on a great user experience.

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I am hoping that the rooms can be selected when choosing devices for a dashboard.

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It's basically the same organization structure used by others (a la Homeseer) for years. I've tried using it with that system years ago, but found it was mostly just an extra step that was only marginally useful. Maybe I'm just more suited to a studio/loft style.

Kind of trying to figure this out myself right now. I was under the impression that rooms worked as groups for devices, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. For instance I just finished installing 3 smart switches in my kitchen. Each named Kitchen whatever they are above. I then placed them all together in my kitchen room. However when I asked Alexa to turn on the kitchen, she responded that the kitchen can’t do that. If on the other hand, I call out each light by name, it works. Would love to know how to set up a group called kitchen that I can have her turn them all on or off by just saying “Kitchen” but I have yet to find where and how to do this.

@sdbmwbiker

You can use the built in "Groups And Scenes" apps to group the switches/lights/dimmers that you want Alexa to treat as a group. The group app adds the new group as a devices. Then expose the group device to Alexa via the Amazon Echo Skill.

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They do not, at least not at the present time. Hard to say what they are thinking for the future of Rooms, but it is supposedly the groundwork for new features.

That is one way, and probably what I would do, or possibly use a Scene. There are some subtle differences.

Groups can turn a whole set of things on and off. But if you use a Hubitat Scene instead of a Group, you also could turn on a set of dimmers to a particular level, add in some switches, turn a RGB bulb on a color, and still get the benefit of turning the whole group off, just like Groups can.

I think you also can put all the devices in rooms in Alexa and get something similar. But it probably will be much more consistent if you use Hubitat. And you would be able to put this new Hubitat Group/Scene device on a dashboard, or run a rule on it with a button, time of day, motion, or whatever. So there are a lot more options.

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Yeah I discovered that app shortly after I posted my above response. Loaded it and grouped those kitchen switches to a group that I labeled as Kitchen. Still having the same issue with Alexa though even after adding the group to her control group. She still is telling me the kitchen can’t do that when I ask her to turn it on or off. I did find that if I use the Alexa app on my phone and tap the group the toggle button there works. Voice commands however thru my echo devices or voice thru the Alexa app still isn’t working.

That can be done in the Alexa app. Put all your kitchen lights in a group called kitchen and then ask alexa to turn on the kitchen

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Creating a group called "kitchen" is the first step, but you still have to add "kitchen" to the Amazon Echo Skill App before it will work.
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