I had exactly the same reaction when I first got smart things, not because I can’t code, I can, but because physically it’s very difficult for these days as I am dependent on text to speech now.
The easiest thing, as Matt says, is to stick with devices on the official compatibility list.
http://www.smartthings.com/compatible-products/
Then do two more things:
- get the SmartTiles app. This will run a web browser so you can use it on the phone or tablet with Wi-Fi connection. This is a dashboard for your system, much more intuitive than the official app. You don’t set up rules with this, but it’s great for looking at the status of your devices and toggling things on and off. You can also customize the look of it if you want to. Just really nice. It’s free to try, and then you’re encouraged to donate if you find it useful. It’s very popular in the community.
- ) next, get one of the two third-party rules engines that work with smart things. One is for iOS only, and you get it in the regular App Store. It costs about ten bucks. The other is for Android only and also requires Tasker.
Both developers are active in the forums here and have their own topic threads where you can ask questions and make feature suggestions.
If you have android and you’re comfortable using Tasker, there is another third-party app, SharpTools (android only) which gives you a lot of different options. It’s not as graphically intuitive as smart rules, but it’s very powerful.
Once you have either of those, SmartThings is a lot easier to use. And smartthings support will be able to help you with any device issues.
I don’t know why SmartThings doesn’t include similar functionality in the official mobile app. Maybe the power of the system is still too reliant on community created device types? I had expected a full rules engine to come out with the V2 since the third-party ones have been out for a while but it didn’t happen. Someday, I hope.
One more option if you’re willing to copy and paste someone else’s code
The third-party options are very nicely polished and offer a lot of functionality and are easy to install.
If you want to stay entirely within SmartThings, or you want much more complicated multilevel rules, and you’re willing to copy and paste someone else’s code, there is a free community-created smart app that is very powerful. It’s worth considering if your issue is more that you don’t know how to code rather than that you want to stay far away from anything that looks like code.
Start by reading this overview FAQ on how custom code works in SmartThings.
Then if that sounds like something you’d be willing to try, here’s more about CoRE:
