There must be something in the air…at about the same time @bravenel was writing this, I added two topics on Lights and Switches because, as Bruce says, it’s definitely not obvious how to use shortcut groups.
SHORTCUT GROUPS WERE REPLACED IN THE SEPTEMBER 2015 VERSION OF THE MOBILE APP BY “SMART LIGHTS,” AN EVEN MORE POWERFUL AND MUCH MORE INTUITIVE WAY OF SETTING UP LIGHTING RULES.
I will leave this post up for a few more weeks to give everyone time to transition over to the new mobile app. But pretty much everything below this line will no longer apply once you do you have the new mobile app version.
Instead, see the “How to Group Lights” article in the community-created wiki.
http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=How_to_Group_Lights_Together
And
This could all change in the future, but as of March 2015 there are a few functionality differences between Shortcut Groups and Hello Home Actions I thought it would be helpful to document. Please add more if you know of them.
All of the following apply to features of the standard mobile app, not custom code.
Trigger after inaction on motion sensor: Available through SG, not available in HHA
Turn off after a specified number of minutes available in SG, not HHA
Trigger a light from a motion sensor you can do this in both, but they have different names. In a shortcut group, it is “turn on when there is motion.” In HHA, it is “turn on when things start happening” and for the HHA, it is only available if you are also changing the mode. The advantage of using in an HHA is that you can…