Today I saw that “Manythings” has been added as a channel to IFTTT. Recipe options are limited. The native app does not have any presence functionality included. Did anyone try to integrate this yet (thinking of something similar to the Nest integration?!).
The Manything idea is great: use an “old” iOS device as a security camera via Wifi and save some $'s by not buying a dropcam or netcam. It works as promised and records and notifies every time there is motion… But irrespective if you are home or not.
I was checking out that app yesterday. Considering you can pick up refurb or used ipod touches for way cheaper than Dropcams, it may make a lot more sense to go this route than with dropcams. Their monthly service is way cheaper as well.
I have this setup through IFTTT and Smartthings. 2 actions: my phone presence is no longer dedected starts recording, and when it is dedected again, recording stops. Only been doing this for 2 days, but seems to be working great.
Thank you for the hint! I looked into how Manything works a bit more and I think the way you set it up with IFTTT works! Good thinking… Good idea!
Now here is my problem and how I solved it: I live with my wife and kids and only want Manything to record when nobody is home. (I am not “big brother”!). I have set up Smartthings to go to AWAY mode when all the presence sensors are gone, IFTTT can only trigger Mamything based on one presence sensor.
I went to the smartthings developer site and created a virtual switch I.E.a switch that does not have any physical device connected to it. I created the recipe to turn that switch on when the mode changes to AWAY and turn that switch off when mode changes to HOME. Then I used that switch to trigger IFTTT.
Go here to sign up for developer access to Smartthings: https://graph.api.smartthings.com
Then go to “my devices” and create a new device. You have to fill in a couple of fields, does not matter what you put in them, except the “type” where you select “on/off button tile”. Then you click create and you will have a new thing in the dashboard of your phone app. You then create a shortcut for your new device on the switch tab.
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Your virtual switch can be turned on and off but unless you link it to something , it does not do anything.
This was a great tip! I followed the instructions to create the device, and I also set the Hello, Home “Goodbye” and 'I’m Back" actions to turn it on and off. However, the IFTTT script doesn’t fire, even if I activate she switch manually. Any debug hints?
I just programmed the virtual switch to tun off when everyone leaves and on when someone comes home (Using the gears icon on the shortcut tab).
Ifttt starts the manything camera when the virtual switch is turned off, and stops it when it is turned on (yeah, I know this is not intuitive but I did not make an effort to create a custom app)
I noticed that IFTTT is a little buggy with smartthings though. I had to disconnect and reconnect the smartthings Chanel in IFTTT twice before it worked. Now it’s been running fine for about a month without any problems though.
Thanks - I’ll keep poking. I just noticed that the alias I created on the Switches tab doesn’t track the underlying virtual device, so something’s not right.
Their response: Hi, thanks for the suggestions. We’re not yet working on SmartThings integration as we’re focusing efforts on our Android version and some other new features. But your idea of opening up our API privately to SmartThings developers in an interesting one and we’ll be discussing it further internally, thanks again for sharing your ideas.
So basically, If you want it, let them know. Squeaky wheel.
As mentioned by others in this thread, I’ve created virtual switches in Smarthings (one for each Manything camera) and attached them to triggers in IFTTT. Seems to work well so far. It requires two IFTTT recipes for each camera. One for On and one for Off.
In lieu of an official API from Manything, if you wanted to created a bunch of virtual switches, you could control a great deal through IFTTT. You’d basically have to create a switch for each Manything action. One thought I had was to create a sort of visual alert or panic button where if you trigger it, you could turn on the flashlight of all of your Manything cameras.
Bit of a long-winded workaround, but hey it works. (I think)
Well unless it’s a bad April Fool’s Joke, Manything is introducing a dramatic new pricing plan.
Free plan goes from Unlimited cameras with 30 days of cloud recording to 1 camera with 4 hours of cloud recording. Yowzers… That might be competitive if I didn’t have to supply my slightly outdated iOS devices.
