If you have an IFTTT recipe that triggers your motion sensor, you can have an IFTTT recipe that in turn triggers your smart lights to flash.

Our top five recipes for smart home automation include:

  1. Philips Hue: This applet lets you control your lights and appliances with voice commands.
  2. Nest: This applet lets you create custom schedules and automate actions with Nest thermostats and smoke detectors.
  3. Wink: This applet lets you control your home’s devices with voice commands and motion sensors.
  4. Arlo: This applet let’s you monitor your security cameras from anywhere in your house with a single command.
  5. AWeber: This applet let’s you schedule cooking, cleaning, or other tasks using recipes from the AWeber website

The recipes in this section are divided into different sections based on their primary function. There are so many different applets and recipes, it’s impossible to recommend a single best recipe for each section, so instead you will find links to those recipes we feel serve as the best representation of what IFTTT is capable of.

The Best IFTTT Recipe Ideas for Home Security

IFTTT can give you assurance that your home is safe and protected, even when you’re not there. You can tell Alexa to arm your security system, and set up an applet to automatically close the privacy shutter on certain security cameras when you get home. ..

If you’re worried about whether you locked the door when you left, IFTTT can help. A SmartThings-compatible smart lock can sync with an Android phone to lock the door the moment the phone goes out of range. If you use iPhone instead of Android, there’s a version of this applet that works with any phone type. ..

The Best IFTTT Recipes for Smart Lighting

The scenes in old movies where a home’s lights come on when the owner walks through the door have inspired many people to create a similar setup in their own home. IFTTT makes this more than possible with an applet to trigger a specific Smart Life scene when you get home. If you haven’t installed smart lighting in your home, you can still benefit from it as long as you have a WeMo smart switch. This IFTTT recipe automatically turns on any light connected to the smart switch.

Uber drivers can use your Philips Hue bulbs to turn on and off when they arrive, as well as to flash a light when they’re driving.

To create a nighttime routine that turns your lights a soft color before shutting them off, you can use IFTTT.

The Best IFTTT Recipe Ideas For Smart Thermostats

When the weather cools down, it’s time to crank up the heat. But like many people, you’re likely concerned with keeping energy costs low. Use this IFTTT applet to switch your Ecobee to your preferred temperature when you get home. ..

Nest’s thermostat can be a useful tool if it sends an alert when it drops below a certain temperature.

This IFTTT recipe will tell you when your Netatmo thermostat needs more juice.

The Best IFTTT Recipes For Smart TVs

Google Home can help you change the light ambience in your home with just a quick phrase. You can use this applet to get the perfect light atmosphere for your home.

This recipe turns off the TV with a word.

Both of the recipes were for Google Home, but what about Alexa users? You’ll still need a Harmony Hub, but you can still turn your TV off with just a phrase. And depending on what it is you want to do with your television, Alexa can do a whole lot more.

Come Up With Your Own IFTTT Recipe Ideas

IFTTT is a website that has hundreds of recipes for you to use, but they are all user-created. If you don’t find one that fits exactly what you’re looking for, you can make your own.

You can use IFTTT to create custom recipes that automate tasks on your computer or phone. For example, you could set up an IFTTT recipe that turns on your lights when you get a text message, or sets a timer for a specific amount of time when you finish eating a meal.

Once you’ve done that, go to ifttt.com/create. Click the “+” sign beside “This” and choose the service you want to use. This is the first step. The next is to choose a trigger; for example, if you select Google Assistant, you can choose to “say a simple phrase,” “say a simple phrase with a number,” or a combination of the three. You’ll be given the option to enter the phrase with a few alternatives, and you can even choose a different language for input.Once you’ve done this, click the “+” beside “That.” You will repeat the above process, but you will choose the action the above trigger performs. It might sound a bit complicated, but it’s intuitive once you give it a shot.