Alexa not recognizing Shlage locks (or garage door)

[schapper05 (Jason)]

@mbuckingham

How do I setup a virtual switch, and what does that actually mean?

This would be the same premise:

[DEPRECATED] 2015 Voice Assistant Run Routine FAQ--see 2017 FAQ instead

On October 1, 2016, Amazon added the ability to turn on a " routine" from Alexa. If you want to use that method, see the official support article. https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/210204906-Amazon-Alexa-SmartThings-Routines Note that the official method will not allow you to use echo to run any routine that includes a lock or a Smart Home Monitor armed state change or another device class that Alexa does not know. The method described below in this FAQ will, but it does require that you create a virtual switch. Although at present echo can only request that smartthings turn devices on, off or dim, by using a virtual switch, you can tell echo to turn that switch on or off, and then have all kinds of things happen in smartthings. For example, if you want to have echo tu…

The biggest differences between the two approaches are the syntax you use with alexa. With the Ask alexa it would be “Alexa ask smartthings to unlock door”

Whereas with a virtual switch it would be “alexa turn on door” Or you could use an IFTTT’s syntax ‘trigger’ with a virtual switch I.E. “alexa trigger door unlock”