FAQ: Amazon Echo: The Official SmartThings Integration is here! (Initial SetUp FAQ)

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If I understand your question, echo does have its own IFTTT channel but it’s just for things like the shopping list and the to do list. So it doesn’t really help and if you do use it for home automation control then you can’t use the shopping list as a shopping list.

So yes the chain is:

Spoken command

Echo recognizes switch command

SmartThings flips virtual switch because echo tells it to

IFTTT triggers next event because smartthings switch changed state

Event occurs

So, for example, I now have an event to turn off the power to my TV and other associated entertainment center devices. This is a harmony activity.

So this chain is:

I tell echo “Alexa, turn on the TV”

Echo recognizes that as a command to turn on a smartthings-controlled switch named TV

SmartThings turns on the virtual switch called TV because echo told it to

IFTTT is subscribed to the events of that switch through a recipe that IF that SMARTTHINGS switch turns on, then tell Harmony to turn on the activity “Power.” So it recognizes that the virtual switch was turned on, and tells harmony to turn on the “power” activity.

Harmony turns on the TV. :sunglasses:

I know that seems like a lot of steps, but it all happens in literally a second or two, and it works great. I really like it.

I I have posted the exact details of my Alexa/SmartThings/Harmony setup in Projects:

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