FAQ: How to migrate from Wink to SmartThings

Most people will find out for themselves that the new app is slow, often crashes, cumbersome, still has many bugs, time consuming, order of Things crash to default often etc and generally is not a pleasant user experience. As a daily driver, to actually interact with, the Classic app performs far better, snappier, more reliable, faster to respond etc etc The user can decide for themselves.

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It will be a really easy decision when Classic is relegated to manual device control only, can’t integrate to Alexa, can’t integrate to Google Home, etc.

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HOMEBRIDGE INTEGRATION

If you are already familiar with using homebridge and you just want to know how to set it up with smartthings, talk to the folks in the following thread:

[RELEASE] Homebridge SmartThings v2.0

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USING WINK RELAY WITH SMARTTHINGS

There’s no easy official way to use a wink relay device with smartthings, but there is a community-created custom integration which a number of community members are using. Note that this method will require that you have a smartthings hub on your account, it cannot be used in a “hub optional“ configuration.

[BETA] Wink Relay - Custom SmartThings Integration

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KIDDE SMOKE DETECTORS

Kidde uses its own frequency and as far as I know Wink was the only hub that had that radio. In any case, SmartThings does not, so no direct integration is possible. :disappointed_relieved:

You can do the same method described for Nest Protects above: buy an acoustic sensor that works with SmartThings and is specifically designed to listen for UL listed residential smoke alarms. These work quite well.

That way you could create automations in the smartthings app to, say, turn on your lights when your Kidde smoke detector sounds an alarm.

The acoustic monitor is just a sensor connected to your SmartThings account which listens for any UL listed residential smoke alarm. They work fine. Here’s the one that has an official smartthings integration:

(The Alexa guard feature has similar functionality, but then integrating it with SmartThings would require yet another cloud round trip, which would concern me during a fire emergency. If you have ADT or Ring Alarm monitoring it could be a good option because of their additional Alexa integration, but otherwise I myself would probably use the Ecolink instead for SmartThings integration.)

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MyQ

There is no official integration for Chamberlain MyQ garage openers with SmartThings. The closest thing is a community written integration pasted below. A couple notes on this integrations:

  1. for the best integration, it will require a separate z-wave or zigbee tilt sensor for your garage door
  2. Support in the new app might be limited. Full support is in Classic, which doesn’t have full functionality for new users migrating from Wink which can lead to confusion.
  3. This will require copy/pasting code into the SmartThings Groovy IDE.
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I am new to SmarThings, I am a wink convert or in the process of migrating. I have questions for a few of my devices, Schlage Deadbolt BE469, Wink Ceiling Fan, and possibly some direction on some tapt, and possibly outlink outles. I have got most of it going. i am just unsure if there is a better handler then what i used which is mostly GE device handlers. Thanks in advance.

For your lock you may want to check out this device handler particularly since your lock has many advanced features and also fixes a few issues with the stock one: [RELEASE] Universal Enhanced Z-Wave Lock Device Handler

For programming the lock check out Lock User Management (LUM) which is a very powerful and flexible app: [RELEASE] Lock User Management (LUM)

For your switches you’re better off using the stock device handlers since they don’t have any special features or settings which can be helped through a custom handler. The added advantage is that the stock switch device handler runs locally on the hub and is faster/more responsive. It can also work with local automations (in future) incase your Internet is out.

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Thank you, Rboy… I am familiar with scripting. I am just unfamiliar with Smarthings and the device handlers and such. So far I have had no luck getting my ceiling fan set up although I believe I added the custom app…

The first post should provide you with FAQ links and an overview of the various concepts (with links) within SmartThings. If you’re having trouble with a specific integration or custom app it’s best to post in the original topic as it’ll get more response from users of that app/integration.

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So i got the gist of device handlers and app methodology. Thanks!

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Thanks for putting together this guide guys. Everything was going fine, well except for the initial hickup on MYQ but since i have it connect to Alexa via smartCommands I soldiered on. That is, until i came to Lutron and found out that I will need to buy yet another hub to make the Lutron devices work with Smartthings. Well since i am in no mood to buy yet another hub i have for now abandoned the idea of migrating to Smartthings and gone back to wink paying them a ransom of $5 a month. Damn it !!! Curse be upon all these idiot companies insisting upon producing their own proprietary devices.

Ring Devices

As always, the model number matters. There is an official integration for some of the ring devices, particularly the first two generations of the doorbell. Beyond that, some of the models work and some don’t.

Doorbells and Cameras

There are official “supported by smartthings“ integrations for the models on the following list

( note that a wired camera and a battery camera are two different models, and one might work while the other doesn’t.)

Beginning in mid 2019, smartthings shifted to a different business model for integrations, and it is now up to the individual device manufacturers to create their integrations. Those will only work with the new V3 app. There have been different reports in the forum about which Ring models work under that integration and which don’t, so hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me on these specific models will be able to write a Ring integration post and then I will delete this one (@jkp ?)

RING SMART LIGHTING

There’s no direct integration for the ring smart lights, but you may be able to use echo as a “man in the middle“ through Alexa routines.

RING SECURITY DEVICES

Again, you can use Alexa routines as a “man in the middle“ for some devices, like the ring sensors.

For a deeper integration with the security system, see the following thread. This is a community created integration using custom code.

Ring Alarm released! (Integration project in post 13)

I also appreciate the guidance provided here! Monty - I have 3 Lutron Caseta switches and before I bought the Smartthings hub (and before I found this forum) saw that Caseta was compatible. Wasn’t til I got on here that I found I needed a Lutron Bridge for them to be compatible. Bit the bullet and bought one and it works flawlessly. Even though the Bridge was more than the hub, I was so mad at Wink, I vowed not to pay them a cent. They made me even madder that after I decided to move on, they “extended” the time before bricking their device.

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this is also the only currently viable solution for people who have the wink-enabled kiddee smoke detector (i have one).

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Yes, that is covered in post #12 above. :sunglasses:

Get a Notification if Something is Left On, Open, or Unlocked for X Minutes

This was a very popular use case in Wink, but unfortunately as of this writing the official smartthings features do not support this kind of notification. You can get a notification when something is opened, but not when it has been open for awhile.

Fortunately, because smartthings allows customers to create custom code, there are four or five different ways to do this. Some will require paying a license fee for a third-party app, others are free but have a more complex set up.

See the community FAQ:

FAQ: Get a Notification if Something is Left On, Open, or Unlocked for X Minutes (2020)

@Brad_ST

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@RBoy has apps for that. They are all worthy.

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Yes, those are one of the options listed in the new FAQ. :sunglasses:

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Hi @milandjurovic71, you may be aware of this already but your personal gmail address is listed up next to your username.