In recent years, one of the most significant advances in technology has been the advent of smartwatches. Products like the Apple Watch and Moto 360 are often advertised as fitness devices. But did you know that they can also be used to make your home more automated?
With the Do from This If That That (IFTTT) apps, you can control smart things like lights, thermostats, and motion detectors from your wrist.
What is IFTTT?
First introduced in 2011, free web service allows ordinary users to create chains of assertions called «recipes» that are triggered based on changes to other web services such as Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
What you need
You can add or create recipes using the IF by IFTTT app. However, here we are focusing on the DO button from the IFTTT app. as this is where smartwatch compatibility comes in. This application can be found in the App Store and through Google Play. Make sure your smartwatch is compatible with any of these stores.
For iOS users, the choice is, of course, the Apple Watch. For Android users, make sure your watch is compatible with Android Wear. These will be current generation watches, including the LG Watch Urbane, Moto 360, Huawei Watch, Fossil Q Founder and ASUS ZenWatch 2.
How to do it
For our discussion, we will focus on iOS and the Apple Watch. However, the steps presented here also work with Android Wear with some minor differences.
To find a recipe, go to the DO app on your iPhone. Click on the recipe icon in the lower right corner of the screen. Under the text «My recipes» click the «+» button. This step opens the Add Recipe page, organized by collections, recommendations, and channels. You can also use the search icon to search for recipes more broadly.
Now it’s time to have some fun with our wrists.
Amazing things you can do with your smartwatch
Control your lights
There are already several DO recipes for Philips Hue users. These include: turning on/off the hue backlight, dimming the light, and flashing. To add them to your list of recipes, just click on them and follow the instructions. Each of these will require access to your Philips Hue account. You also need to specify the light sources controlled by the recipe. For example, all lights or just individual ones.
Once the instructions are complete, the recipe becomes available in the DO app on your watch.
Want to create a new DO recipe? Find Philips Hue under Channels and then click Create New Prescription. Choose from nine actions, including Turn Light On, Change Color, and Change Random Color.
Other lighting applications are also available on the DO app, including LIFX and WeBo.