Smartthings, gocontrol/linear garage controller and siri

[JDRoberts]

@Nottechsavvy

We have a Gocontrol/Linear garage door opener that is set up and works in the SmartThings app on my phone. However you need to open the app and do it by physically touching the buttons.

Is there a way I can use Siri to open/close the garage door? Eg. “Siri, close the garage door” or “siri, ask smartthings to close the garage door”.

I am not tech savvy but I can follow simple instructions, maybe even complex ones if the instructions are clear.

Siri works with HomeKit, SmartThings does not. However, there is a way to use HomeKit with SmartThings but it is very complicated, requires considerable technical skills, requires a separate device set up as a server, and if you were interested in that method you would probably be asking this question in a different way. But here’s the link to the video on that method if you are interested. Most people who are not already programmers won’t use it, though.

HomeKit Integration Video Tutorial (Unofficial Integration Using Homebridge)

I made a quick video tutorial on integrating SmartThings with Siri: Makes controlling SmartThing’s so much easier, I got tired of dealing with the slow iOS app. Takes 40 seconds to load! Instructions for Raspberry Pi Homebridge Install: https://www.mactechgenius.com/2017/06/07/smartthings-homekit-integration/

There is another much easier alternative, which is to use Siri to send a text message to the free IFTTT service and have that text message be the “if” in an IFTTT applet. This works fine, and it’s what we used to use before the Amazon echo came out, but there is a limit on the total number of messages you can use each month with the free service. It’s set, I believe, at 100 now, which might be enough for your use case or might not just depending on how often you were going to open the garage door.

That method is discussed in the following thread:

Voice Control Using Siri and IFTTT (not using HomeKit, just voice text)

Hi All - see the below instructions for executing simple SmartThings commands using Siri. The solution involves sending a text to an IFTTT phone number which acts as a trigger to turn on or off devices via SmartThings. You can setup a contact called ‘home’ and then send a message to ‘home’ (use command ‘Tell Home’) with the proper tag to trigger the event. I’d love feedback on the approach. I would rather use more natural language like ‘Tell Home to turn on the kitchen lights’ rather than ‘Tell home hashtag kitchen underscore lights’. Regardless, the approach below executes simple ST actions with use of Siri alone, which is pretty cool. BASIC SETUP Setup an IFTTT account Add the Smarthings channel to IFTTT - make sure to provide access to any devices that you want to control Add th…