Alexa Simulated DTH after IDE depreciation

Does anyone know what will happen to the Simulated Alexa Switch after the IDE is deprecated? Or is someone working on making the use of these possible when the change comes?

I use quite a few of these in routines and was just curious.

1 Like

I have asked this specific question multiple times over the last eight months, if individual customers will be able to create custom virtual switches once the IDE goes away, but I have never received an answer. :disappointed_relieved:

Or even if there will be an official version that is both a virtual Sensor and a virtual switch so it can easily be used to trigger Alexa routines.

Hopefully someone else knows.

It’s not as much of an issue for me now that flic buttons can be used to trigger echo routines, but I know that’s not an answer for all use cases.

@Brad_ST @jody.albritton @SamsungZell @blake.arnold

2 Likes

Hey there! @Terri_Baker and @JDRoberts, Unfortunately we are unable to speculate about future releases of Products, Updates and Features. The Labs feature (US) currently has the option to add Virtual Switches, it will display a list of your current switches and allow for creation or deletion of Virtual Switches. Labs can be located in the Smart Things Menu Tab>Labs>Virtual Switch.

Note: Some features may only be available for certain devices, models, or countries. Features may be removed or changed without noticed.

I completely understand your frustration, but I wanted to provide the steps to create a Virtual Switch using the Smart Things Labs feature when available.

I hope this message finds you well!

^SamsungZell

The Labs app for virtual switches creates the device using the Groovy device handler. So while useful, it too will need to be updated to whatever the new hub-based device handler development system it.

@Terri_Baker you most likely won’t hear any hints from Samsung employees on it until they are ready to launch it. There’s been been some posts on outside forums of SmartThings compliant brands with hints that they are indeed working on it. Hopefully we hear more at SDC 2021 (or whatever the Samsung developer conference equivalent for 2021 is).

2 Likes

It’s not available for the iOS version:

Also, unless something has changed, the labs version does not create the kind of virtual device that the OP is asking about.

Alexa routines can only be triggered from a sensor, not a switch. So the version that people currently use has both capability switch and capability sensor. So when you turn on the switch with an automation, the sensor looks like it opened and that can be used to trigger the Alexa routine. That’s the kind that people will need in the future for this use case.

1 Like