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Improve Your SmartHome Automation with Yonomi

IFTTT is easy to set up but full of limitations. And while Stringify allows for complexity, it can be intimidating because of its streams, chains, and modes. Yonomi is a great alternative to make simple routines more difficult to create.

What makes Yoni different

Yonomi (pronounced You Know Me) starts very similar to IFTTT. You connect devices, services, and accounts to access the app. And then you set up the automation (called subroutines here) in a «when it happens, do this action» way.

The difference between Yonomi and IFTTT is that you can have multiple «when» triggers, and Yonomi adds a «but only when» clause. So, for example, you might have your door locked when you leave the house, but only if it’s a weekday and before 8:00 am. The only downside is that you can combine multiple «but only» clauses (e.g. whether it’s a weekday and before a certain time), multiple «when» triggers are always treated as an OR scenario.

Also, Yonomi has taken a completely unique path when it comes to integrating Alexa and Google Home. With Alexa, all routines you do in Yonomi show up as devices in the Alexa app. This allows for a more natural syntax and you can integrate Yonomi routines into Alexa routines. With Google Home, Yonomi has taken care of the syntax. Reference to Yonomi is not required, and besides being able to say «activate (procedure name)», you can use «Enable» and «Disable» with the same procedures. This means that if you have an All On and All Off routine, you can tell Google All Off and All On to manage your devices.

Beginning

Once you download the Yonomi app for iOS or Android, you will need to create an account. Yonomi then makes things incredibly simple by immediately trying to discover any devices on your Wi-Fi network that it can connect to. Just follow the instructions to complete the connection of any accounts or devices. Then add your geofence address. If for some reason not all of your accounts or devices were automatically discovered, you can add them manually.

First, click on the hamburger menu in the top left corner.

Click «Accounts and Hubs».

Click the plus in the lower right corner.

Select the account you want to add and then provide the credentials. If you have other devices that don’t require credentials, or you’ve added new devices to an existing setup, you can search for devices. Just click the hamburger menu again and then click «Find new devices».

Yonomi should automatically find any new devices on your network. Yonomi supports Wink, Nest, Withings, Honeywell, Schlage and more. Once you’ve got everything connected, you’re ready to start creating powerful routines.

Creating a routine

If you’ve created an applet in IFTTT, creating a subroutine in Yonomi should feel familiar, although it involves a few extra steps. We will demonstrate creating a routine to lock the door when leaving the house for the day.

To start creating a subroutine, click the Subroutines button at the bottom of the application.

Here you will see all current procedures and you can click the plus to add new ones.

Start with the name of the routine, and then click the plus in the When section.

Click the «Location» button.

Click «I’m leaving the place.»

Returning to the normal screen, click on the gear on the right and select your home location.

Once you’ve selected your home location, tap the «Add an action» symbol below the «Perform these actions» section.

Select the lock device you want to use. Here we select the lock that we have already installed and named it «Front Door».

Select the «Lock» option.

Now back to the main page «Create a regular program» and we’re going to set the «But only if» condition. Click the «Add condition» plus button in this section.

Click «Date and Time».

Click «It’s a weekday.»

To add a second condition, tap Add Condition plus again. We select the «Date and Time» category again, and this time we add the «It’s ahead of time» option.

Then click on the gear to the right of «It’s before time» to set the correct time.

When you’re done, click on the checkmark to complete the process.

Now, when you leave the house, if it is a weekday and before 8:00 am, your door will close. If you’re the last person out the door, you don’t have to worry about leaving the door unlocked anymore.

Of course, this is just one of the many scenarios you can customize, but it’s a pretty good example of a general activity that you can improve with Yonomi. Seamless integration with many devices, the ability to use multiple «when» triggers, and the addition of «only if» conditions make Yonomi a pretty powerful app to help automate your smart home.

Yonomi is not perfect. Like any other automation app, it cannot tell if you are the only person in the house. And the inability to combine multiple triggers in an «AND» sequence does not allow him to realize his full potential. It has nothing to do with it yet. Wink integration is available, but Smartthings is not (although the list is growing).

But Yonomi’s intelligent voice assistant integration and ease of use is a serious competitor among other automation applications. If IFTTT isn’t powerful enough and Stringify seems intimidating, Yonomi might be the solution you’ve been looking for.

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