Long storey short just purchased a new house and starting my smart things journey so to speak. I’m a system integrator by trade but always been on a commercial scale so nothing like ST.
I’m currently trying to plan a system and looking for the best alarm options with can integrate into ST. The best I think I’ve found so far is the Ring system but can’t seem to find a definitive answer of how well it integrates with ST and what it allows you to do?
Has anyone managed to do it and how well does it work? alternative options are also welcomed
There are unfortunately no alarm systems that integrate well with smartthings since the ADT/smartthings dual logo system has stopped being sold in most places.
There are a bunch of systems, including Ring and abode, which can be Partially integrated by using either Ifttt or Amazon routines or Homebridge as an intermediary. However, in the first two cases you become dependent on the cloud, not all features are available for integration (in particular, some will not allow you to arm the system, only to disarm it, with these methods) and you can’t share sensors between the systems. Also IFTTT used to be free but it is now charging a subscription fee if you have more than three rules, so that makes it a less attractive option.
Some people have hacked together some various types of integrations, But again these may only be partial And they may stop working from time to time.
You can find the reports that people have posted on the various integrations they have set up by going to the community – created wiki, going to the quick browse page, looking down near the bottom of that page for “project reports” and choosing the security projects List. However, be aware that ones which worked with the classic app may no longer work now that the classic app is being discontinued. So always check at the end of the thread to see if there are recent comments.
The truth is, most purposebuilt security systems, including ring, are UL listed, and they don’t want to get anywhere near another system which is not UL listed for security. Because it can affect their reliability and increase the number of false alarms. And smartthings is not and cannot be UL listed for security: it doesn’t meet the minimum requirements. (For one thing, it doesn’t have cellular notifications; all smartthings notifications require That the Internet be available.)
So most of us just end up running a separate security system and don’t do too much with integration. The ring system is very popular for understandable reasons, but the integration is limited.
Thanks for such a detailed response… I think that about sums it up haha.
Yeah I saw that iftttare changing the plans so I jumped on the pick your own price while it’s still an option.
Chances are I’ll go down the ring route as a lot of the other devices are Amazon owned so I think it would be nice to keep it under the same umbrella.
I’ll take a look at the wiki you mentioned as presumably this will also be the best place to find other working integrations which could be implemented.
Personally, I think Amazon/Ring is getting ready to take away what Samsung/SmartThings has always said is their primary user base…the average non power user. Those are the customers with about 30 devices, (contact switches, motion, a few lights) , and are not attempting custom code, and/or unsupported, non native devices.
The recent Amazon/Ring announcements seem to be aimed directly at that group. As for that matter, if I can eliminate the special scenes and “virtual device” triggers that I use in SmartThings to interface with Alexa, then I’ll fit very nicely into that group.
An afterthought…the new Amazon/Eero router, available in November has a support for ZigBee
I agree with you on Amazon/Ring/Eero devices. With addition of zigbee support on many devices, that can be use as hubs, they will take over. Just compare what they support, or what works with them, there is no reason not to succeed. Almost all cameras are supported on Echos, and wifi smart devices are too, and most importantly everything works. Voice announcements and control works. Security and cameras are working too. Currently they don’t have complicated routines, but that would change.
50% of devices are z-wave, including deadbolt that keeps me with Smartthings for now. Otherwise most of complicated or simple automations stopped working here, and that is making many people looking for alternatives…
