One of the best parts of owning and operating an entire home of smart products is getting to watch all of your devices seamlessly connect and communicate with each other. And with the advent of Matter, it’s going to become even more seamless for one device brand to handshake with another. In a nutshell, Matter’s implementation means you’ll be able to install and operate equipment from multiple companies, with controls and customization housed under one application.
That’s all well and good, but where does that leave the true brand devotees? If you’re a fan of keeping your smart home exclusive to one device maker, you’re not alone. Oftentimes, remaining loyal to a singular brand will net you a slew of benefits when it comes to monthly subscriptions, whether that’s extended warranties for all your hardware or expanded cloud storage for video recordings.
The only trouble you’ll find is when you’ve outfitted your home with every piece of tech that one company makes but are missing an essential piece of the smart home puzzle.
Ring’s missing piece
For example, Ring, the Amazon-owned smart security brand, makes everything from video doorbells to floodlights and motion sensors. There’s even an autonomous drone due to hit the market soon.
But what about smart thermostats? Unfortunately, Ring devotees will be sad to learn that the company does not produce their own web-connected thermostats, nor does Ring offer any official support for third-party thermostat companies. Yes, this is a bit of a letdown, especially for a brand that is owned by one of the biggest names in smart home innovation.
That being said, is there a way to get Ring’s suite of security products to work with other smart thermostats, even if the methods themselves aren’t signed off on by the folks at Ring? The answer is yes. Read on to learn how.
The IFTTT backdoor
As outlined at the start of this explainer, there’s nothing more satiating than getting all of your networked smart home devices to work together. But what about when one brand won’t agree with another? Let’s look at the Ring thermostat debacle to unpack things further.
While Ring doesn’t offer official support for any smart thermostats, you can still use a handful of tools to “force” a handshake between device families. Take Nest, for instance, the Google-owned lineup of smart products. With a little bit of programming through IFTTT, you can get your Nest thermostat to pair with certain Ring video doorbells. Honeywell is another company that you can pull this trick off with.
Using IFTTT, you’ll set your Ring doorbell up as a kind of triggering device. If your end goal is to power on your thermostat the moment you walk through the door, you can use a ringing of the actual Ring doorbell as the initiating command for your IFTTT routine. With the doorbell set as the trigger, the “that” portion of the formula would be your Nest thermostat kicking on.
Use Alexa Routines for Ring integration
Another way you can bypass Ring’s lack of thermostat support is through Alexa’s Routines functionality, an easy-to-use tool built right into the Alexa app. Alexa Routines allow you to group multiple smart home device executions under a single command or trigger.
For this example to work properly, you’ll need to ensure your smart thermostat is Alexa-compatible. The Ecobee 3 Lite is a great Alexa-ready option.
Once the smart thermostat is installed and connected to your network, grab your phone or tablet, and launch the Alexa app. Tap Settings > Routines. Next, click the Plus symbol to begin building a new routine.
The first part of your routine will be a smart home device trigger. Let’s say you’re operating a Ring outdoor camera. For surveillance gear, you could set things up so that a trigger is initiated whenever the Ring camera detects motion. Then, you’ll choose the resulting action that will occur once the Ring product does its job. For this example, we would choose the Ecobee thermostat, allowing you to power on/off and adjust the temperature based on your Ring device’s notifications.
Is there a Ring thermostat coming soon?
At this time, Ring has made no official announcements regarding smart thermostats. That’s not to say that the company won’t be producing one in the future, but at this point, it’s hard to say when or if the tech will ever be available.
On the one hand, we can remain hopeful, as Ring’s Amazon acquisition positions the security company alongside some of the most intuitive voice assistants on the market. Who knows? Perhaps someday soon, whether we expect one or not, a Ring-branded thermostat will be available for pre-order.
