Tuesday, October 24, 2023

How I worked around Alexa deprecating IFTTT support

Alexa just announced that they are deprecating the IFTTT support so I figured I would explain how I worked around that problem with some enginuity and existing gadgets in my house.

First I changed my IFTTT applets to take a Web Request trigger instead of Alexa and make note of the URL required to invoke it.

Using my Hubitat hub, which still does have Alexa support, I then created virtual devices for all the IFTTT integrations I want (Pretty sure SmartThings also have virtual devices). Easiest is to use a virtual Switch. Then you create a rule when the switch turns on which makes a HTTP request to the IFTTT web request trigger from the previous step. Secondly in your rule you also need to change the switch back to off immediately so that it can be turned on again without having to turn it off manually first.

Finally you allow Alexa to control your virtual switches which allows you to turn it on in Hubitat using your Alexa which in turn causes the IFTTT applet to run. Once you have the switch in Alexa you can also tie the button to whatever routines you might want in Alexa as well.

After I did this I myself I discovered the Virtual Smart Home service which allows you to do the exact same thing as above but without the requirement of your own smart home hub.

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