Amazon Echo / Alexa + Nest: Use Direct Integration or Smartthings?

Devices & Integrations
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1

Now that Amazon has direct integration with Nest…which is better to do? Can you control more with the direct integration than through Smartthings? Or vice versa?

2

Seems to be the same functionality. Why bother doing it through ST, cut the middle man out, less can go wrong…

3

That’s the thought I was having, but wanted to make sure the functionality was indeed the same.

4

I do everything direct that I can, even if I also have a separate hook up to the hub. For example, from the beginning I connected the Phillips bridge directly to echo rather than through smart things.

Doing it that way has been much more stable for me. Nest has committed to working with echo, so they have their resources assigned to that integration. There is no official nest/SmartThings integration, and the unofficial one is actually a violation of your terms of service with nest. So you’re not going to get much help from them if anything does go wrong.

https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/204733384-Will-SmartThings-work-with-Nest-

This integration violates Nest’s Terms of Service, so proceed at your own risk. SmartThings doesn’t officially endorse or maintain this or any other Community-created integration.

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5

Interesting. Didn’t know that.

6

I dont know how they can say that they dont support it. If you look in the list of ST device handlers Nest is there.

7

I go direct with echo to nest, not only that I did the same thing with my hue bulbs. I got tired of ST messing up all the time so I just connected them directly to the echo.

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8

They don’t support it in the sense that they don’t officially condone it and they don’t provide technical support for it.

They’re not saying that someone can’t write custom code that won’t integrate with it. Obviously someone can. And Has. But use of that code violates your nest account’s terms of service, as the official support page linked to above says.

9

I could see them in a definite grey zone there. They have it in their default list and it is not a normal End user DH so they have supplied it therefore they can be held liable. Its like saying Hey I just gave him the drugs I didnt sell it to him or tell him to use it.