How To: Use Wink with IFTTT

“If This Then That,” more commonly know as IFTTT, is a web service that connects all your favorite apps into one so they work better for you. “Recipes” are set up within IFTTT to trigger specific actions given a certain set of criteria. For example, you could create a Recipe that texts you the weather at the beginning of each day, or one that automatically saves every Instagram photo you post in a Dropbox folder. 

IFTTT also works wonders with the smart home. The Wink channel on IFTTT allows you to activate Wink Shortcuts through a variety of triggers, ranging from ESPN alerts to Google Calendar events. For example, using IFTTT, you can activate your smart home camera when your Google Calendar notifies you that it’s time to leave for vacation through a Wink Shortcut. 

Creating and utilizing the Wink channel within IFTTT is easy. Let’s follow along with the vacation example and start with how you sync with the IFTTT Wink channel:

Step 1: Download the IFTTT app and create an account (this can also be done via the web interface).

Step 2: Tap the “Recipe” button in the upper right corner. 

Step 3: Select the gear icon in the bottom right corner. 

Step 4: Select “Channels,” and you will see a menu with all of the compatible IFTTT channels. 

Step 5: Type in "Wink" and select “Wink Shortcuts.” 

Step 6: From this menu you can connect to the Wink Shortcuts channel within IFTTT. Once you press “Connect” you will be prompted to enter your Wink account email and password. When the connection is successful, the channel will display “Connected as ____”

Now let’s create the Recipe that triggers your Wink Shortcut to activate your smart home camera when the Google Calendar event "Vacation" starts. 

Step 1: Activate the Google Calendar channel within IFTTT.

Step 2: Select the gear icon in the bottom right corner.

Step 3: Tap the “Create a Recipe” button at the bottom of the screen.

Step 4: Select the “if +” sign and then tap the Google Calendar channel. You will want to select the event within your calendar that you want to have trigger the event. 

Step 5: Tap the “then +” sign and select the Wink Shortcuts channel. 

Step 6: Choose the “Vacation” Shortcut.

Step 7: Tap “Finish” and your Recipe is complete!

This is just one of many examples through which IFTTT + Wink Shortcuts can be used to further elevate what's possible in your smart home!

Wink-Enabled Nest Thermostats Now Work with Amazon Alexa

Wink + Amazon Echo users rejoice! Today we’re very excited to announce that you can now use Alexa to control your Nest Thermostat (or Thermostats) through Wink.

Last summer we unveiled our initial integration with Amazon that enables Alexa to control Wink-compatible lighting products, and were blown away by the response. We’ve been hard at work ever since adding additional functionalities (dimming) and now, a brand new product category in thermostats.

Connecting your Nest Thermostat with Echo is easy:

1. If you haven’t already, first set up your Nest account and name each thermostat you have (living room, bedroom, kitchen, etc.).
2. Next, connect your Nest account with your Wink app. Your Nest Thermostat will appear in the Wink app as “[location] + [name] + [the word ‘thermostat’]. "Home Living Room Thermostat,” for example.
3. Then, link your Wink account to Echo within the Alexa mobile app (Settings > Connected Home > Device Links > Wink). 
4. Finally, say “Alexa, discover devices.” This can take up to 20 seconds. Your Nest Thermostat will then appear in the Alexa app as [name] i.e. “Living Room” or “Bedroom.”  

From there, you can adjust the temperature day in and day out with an easy voice command.

If you know the specific temperature you’d like your home to be, simply say: “Alexa, set [name] to [XYZ] degrees.” An example would be: “Alexa, set upstairs to 70 degrees.”

You can also adjust the temperature incrementally by saying: “Alexa, [increase or decrease] [name] by [XYZ] degrees.” An example here would be: “Alexa, increase bedroom by 3 degrees.”

In order to conserve battery life on your Nest Thermostat, Nest limits the number of interactions per hour. After the limit is reached, Alexa will respond with "Sorry, the device [your thermostat name] is not responding."

We’ll soon be connecting Alexa with other Wink-compatible thermostats so stay tuned for more!

Introducing Wink’s First Compatible Water Sensor

Water damage is the second highest claim filed with insurance companies in the United States, according to the Insurance Information Institute. As anyone who has come home to leaking water can attest - whether it’s a puddle by the dishwasher or a rapidly expanding swimming pool in the basement - the experience isn’t an enjoyable one. 

With our latest app update, we hope to bring Wink users a little peace of mind in this department through our first ever water sensor integration with the leakSMART wireless and waterproof leak Sensor and leakSMART Valve.

Simply install and connect the leakSMART Valve to your home’s main water supply and then place the Sensors strategically throughout your home near appliances, plumbing fixtures, and pipe seams. Then, once both the Valve and Sensors are paired to the Wink HUB, a Robot can be enabled within the Wink app that will automatically shut off your home’s main water source if any of the sensors detect a leak. No matter where you are, you can breathe easy that your home is safe and sound.

In addition, you can set up alerts within the Wink app so you are notified when your leakSMART Valve is opened, closed, offline, or running low on batteries. Along with leak detection, the leakSMART Sensors can detect room temperature - especially useful for second home owners who want to check their home’s temperature remotely, adjust the thermostat settings, or remotely shut off the home’s water if it gets cold enough to freeze pipes. 

We’re always looking to bring new product categories onto the Wink platform that provide value to users and enable a more complete smart home ecosystem. With leakSMART + Wink you can say goodbye to your water worries!

Local Control Now Available for Wink-Compatible Lighting Products

UPDATE 6/15/16: We’ve been working hard to expand local control to additional product categories and with our latest HUB update, are thrilled to announce all Wink-compatible locks can now be controlled locally. As with lighting, this makes your locks not only more reliable, but faster than ever while maintaining the same high level of security you expect from Wink. 

When you turn a product on or off within the Wink app you want it to happen immediately. Understandable. It’s something our engineering team works hard at to make possible everyday. 

Today we’re excited to announce a new feature for all Wink users that takes those efforts to the next level - local control of your Wink-compatible, HUB-required light bulbs and switches.

This makes control of your lights in the Wink app MUCH faster and more reliable. Local control of Wink lighting products reduces latency by at least 50% to less than half a second. It also enables you to control your lights if the Internet goes down while you’re home. 

Here’s why:

Typically, when you control a product through the Wink app, your phone sends a signal to your Internet router, which then communicates with our server in the cloud, which then comes back through your router to the Wink HUB, and then finally to that product.

Local control removes the cloud layer from the equation, so that your phone can talk directly to the Wink HUB on your home network.

No need to opt-in, local control for your lights will just happen automatically so long as your phone is connected to your home’s Wi-Fi network. Simply update your Wink HUB with the latest version and you’re good to go.

Our local lighting control was designed with an emphasis on security and data integrity. For example, your activity feed will remain current and accurate even if you are controlling lights locally. We've built a strong foundation for local features within the Wink HUB and can’t wait to extend it to additional product categories and in-app functions.

Stay tuned!

How To: Use Robots and Shortcuts Together

In previous posts, we explained what Shortcuts and Robots within the Wink app are and how to set them up. What you may not know is you can actually link Shortcuts and Robots together for even greater control over your smart home.

Let’s go back to the "Leaving Home" Robot example we created in our How To: Create a Wink Robot post. For reference, this Robot turns all the lights off and locks the front door once you leave the house. It’s a fantastic setup, but what happens if your significant other, child, or roommate remains at home after you’ve left?

This is where creating a Shortcut that can enable or disable a Robot comes in really handy. Here’s how to implement this in the Wink app:

Step 1: From the home page of the Wink app, select ‘Shortcuts’ on the bottom of the screen (top of the screen for Android users).

Step 2: Tap the ‘New Shortcut’ icon and name your Shortcut "Company Here."

Step 3: Select ‘Make this happen’ and scroll to the bottom of the screen where you will see a complete list of your active Robots. 

Step 4: Select "Leaving Home" and set it to ‘Disable.’ 

This will stop the Robot from turning the lights off and locking the front door if there’s still someone at home when you leave. You’ll also want to create a second Shortcut to enable the Robot once whoever else is home leaves. Just follow the same process as above, and make sure you select ‘Enable’ instead of ‘Disable’ when you get to Step 4.

There are a ton of ways you can use Shortcuts and Robots together to make your smart home even more robust. In a future post, we’ll explain how these in-app features can be used to create your very own DIY security system.

How To: Create a Wink Robot

Wink Robots are a simple way to automate your home to run on its own. With a few taps in the Wink app, you can program your products to work together automatically based on triggers, such as location or activity.

USING LOCATION TO TRIGGER ROBOTS:

Let's say you want your lights to automatically turn off when you leave the home:

• Step 1: From the home page of the Wink app, select "Robots" at the bottom of the screen.

• Step 2: Tap the "New Robot" button. Then, name your Robot (let’s call this one “Leaving Home”) and choose the desired trigger for the Robot. In this case, the trigger will be you leaving your home.

• Step 3: Under "If this Robot detects" select "Something" and then "My location." You now have the option to choose if the Robot will trigger upon arrival or departure from the location of your choosing. For this example you would select departure.

• Step 4: Under "Then:" press "Make this / something happen." Similar to when you set up Shortcuts, you will see a complete list of the products you’re using with Wink. Select the products you are interested in having the Robot trigger and choose their desired state. Here, you would select “All Lights” and set their state to “Off."

• Step 5: The "For longer than" option is an additional feature that is not required when creating a Robot but can be very useful. If you want your lights to turn off, but only if you’ve left home for 15 minutes or more, select "For longer than" and your desired timeframe. 

USING PRODUCT ACTIVITY TO TRIGGER ROBOTS:

In addition to location, you can also use your products to trigger Wink Robots. Following the example above, say you'd rather the lights automatically turn on once your front door is unlocked:

• Step 1: Go into your "Leaving Home" Robot in the Wink app.

• Step 2: Under "If this Robot detects:" select "Something," then "Front Door," and change the settings to "Unlock."

• Step 3: Click "Make this happen" and select all lights to the "On" state. 

Get notified when a Robot is triggered:

We all want to know what is going on in our homes, especially when something out of the ordinary occurs. You now have the option to receive a notification when a Robot is triggered. To do so, simply go into the "Make this happen" button within Robots and choose "Send a Notification" or "Send an Email" so you're always in the loop.

Wink Robots may not retrieve your mail or pour your coffee in the morning, but they can make some of life’s little inconveniences a bit more manageable. 

How To: Create a Wink Shortcut

Shortcuts are a great way to easily access and control a group of Wink-compatible devices. They can make a lot of things happen within your smart home instantaneously with a single tap in the Wink app. If you’re not familiar with Shortcuts, here’s a step-by-step guide on how you can set one up.

Say you’re about to fall asleep and want to make sure the living room lights are turned off without having to leave your bed. Here’s how to avoid the trip downstairs by creating a Shortcut:

• Step 1: For iOS users, select "Shortcuts" at the bottom of the home screen within the Wink app (top of the screen for Android users).

• Step 2: Tap the "New Shortcut" button.

• Step 3: Then, name your Shortcut (let’s call this one "Good Night") and choose the desired action such as turning off the living room lights. To change the icon, tap the "Choose Icon" button at the top and select a relevant image. 

• Step 4: Click "Make this Happen." You will then see a complete list of the products you’re using with Wink. Select the products you are interested in adding to the Shortcut and choose their desired state. For this example, select "All Lights" and set their state to "Off."

• Step 5: You’re all set! Just don’t forget to save your Shortcut by selecting "Done."

Adding additional products to existing Shortcuts:

If you want to add other products to your "Goodnight" Shortcut down the line, you can do so in a pinch. Say that in addition to your lights going off, you want to make sure your front door is locked and bedroom thermostat lowers:

• Step 1: Select the "Shortcuts" menu on the home screen of your Wink app.

• Step 2: Press and hold down on your "Good Night" Shortcut to add products to it.  

• Step 3: Select "Edit Good Night."

• Step 4: Select "Make this Happen" and add both your front door and bedroom thermostat, selecting the desired outcomes for each product. 

Access your Shortcuts even quicker with Widgets:

Widgets allow for almost immediate access to your Shortcuts. Android users have the Widget Bar, which can hold up to five different Shortcuts in one menu. You also have the ability to place a single Shortcut on any page of your device in the form of a Widget. 

iOS users have a Wink Shortcuts Widget where you can scroll through any active shortcut. This is located in your notification window and can be accessed even if your mobile device is locked. 

Creating a Shortcut is easy, fast, and with a wide variety of Wink-enabled products at your fingertips, the possibilities for home automation are endless. 

Wink Integrates With ADT Canopy - New Security-As-A-Service

Security has always been a top priority at Wink. We strive to make our platform the safest and most reliable out there while giving users meaningful ways to monitor, control, and automate their home.

We’re excited to tell you a bit more about how we’re expanding that commitment.

Today at CES ADT - a leading provider of security and automation solutions - unveiled ADT Canopy, a new security-as-a-service that extends its best-in-class 24/7 professional monitoring services to wearables, life safety products, and the smart home.

As part of our ongoing mission to provide best-in-class smart home security, Wink is one of the first to be compatible with ADT Canopy. 
 
Wink users will find the solution integrated directly within the Wink app and can subscribe on a month-to-month basis, with no-term contracts and service options. From there, you can easily access ADT Canopy to manage your home security or connect to live help. 

ADT Canopy also has your back when you’re away. Say you’re on vacation somewhere remote, you can subscribe to ADT Canopy for the month you're away and stay completely covered. If your Wink-compatible door and window sensors or smoke/CO alarms detect abnormal activity, ADT Canopy will immediately spring into action. 

ADT Canopy + Wink gives consumers another window into their smart home through an on-demand security monitoring system from the most trusted name in the market.

For more information, check out the ADT press release here!

Ford to Explore Bringing Wink Into its Vehicles

Hello from Las Vegas! We’re joining 170,000 of our closest friends this week at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), a showcase for the latest and greatest in consumer technology, wearables, and of course, the smart home. 

The team is there in full force, meeting with partners, watching keynote addresses, exploring the exhibition halls, and checking out the latest and greatest product debuts.

Speaking of news, we wanted to share a pretty cool announcement with you.

Earlier this morning, Ford announced their intent to bring the smart home into the smart car through SYNC integration with Wink and other leading smart home companies. 

If you’re not familiar, SYNC is Ford’s integrated in-vehicle communications and entertainment system that allows drivers to make phone calls, control music, and perform other functions through voice commands. 

Wink will be made compatible with SYNC AppLink-enabled dashboards within select Ford models to enable drivers to easily control and automate their smart home on the road. 

For example, a driver nearing their house after work could have the option to either press a button on the dashboard or say a command that opens their garage door, turns on the lights, and unlocks the front door, all through Wink. 

We continue to broaden the Wink experience so you can use your smart home in more immersive, meaningful ways. Seamlessly connecting the car with the physical house expands what’s possible with the smart home, and we’re very excited about that.

Keep an eye out on our blog for more information on timing! 

In the meantime, you can stay up to speed on CES news throughout the week by following @TheWinkApp on Twitter and #CES2016.

How To: Create a Wink Schedule

You’ve purchased a Hub, a few lightbulbs, and maybe even a few other connected products and you’re left thinking; “What’s next?” 

While turning products on and off with the tap of a button may be convenient, creating a Wink Schedule makes home automation even easier. Wink Schedules allow users to maintain peace of mind that their devices will operate at a certain time in whatever pattern of days or weeks they choose. Scheduling can also be used to operate your connected devices via Wink’s   “Sunrise/Sunset” feature. With a schedule, you will never come into a cold house after work or leave the lights on at bedtime ever again! 

Creating a Schedule may seem tricky at first, but we’ll walk you through it in this example. Let’s create a ‘Leave for Work’ Schedule to turn all the lights off at 7:15am. 

Step 1: From the Wink App home screen, press the ‘Lights and Power’ icon to bring up all of your connected lights.

Step 2: Click the gear icon (three blue dots on Android) in the top right corner of the Lights screen. Scroll to the top of the page until you see the ‘Schedule’ button and select it. 

Step 3: Press the “+” sign in the upper right corner of the page. 

Name your Scheduled Event by typing ‘Leave for Work’ in the ‘New Event’ space. 

From this menu, you can also toggle your Wink Schedules on or off as needed. 

Step 4: 

• For iOS- Tap ‘Start’. From this menu you may select the date and time you’d like the Schedule to fire. 
• For Android- Tap ‘Date’ to choose the start date of the schedule. Then tap ‘Time’ to set when you would like the Schedule to fire. 

For this example 'Today at 7:15 AM'. 

Step 5: Since we want this Schedule to occur every day when we go to work, we are going to click the ‘Repeat’ button on the Schedule setup page. In this menu we will select each day we want the Schedule to occur. 

We are going to tap all weekdays in this example to ensure the lights turn off Monday- Friday. 

Step 6: Finally, we are going to choose our Schedule action. Select ‘Make this happen’ and you will now see a full list of connected products.

Step 7: Press the product that you are looking to automate and toggle the desired action.

Toggle the light to off by dragging the icon to the left for ‘Off’. Repeat this step for all desired lights. 

Step 8: Don’t forget to click Save/Done! 

You will now see this schedule appear on your calendar as a blue circle. There will be five other circles on the calendar because you have set the Schedule to trigger Monday through Friday. You can scroll through the Schedule calendar to see any events you have set for the current week or individual day, or click on the List page to see any active Schedules or previously fired Schedules. 

I want to turn something off at Sunrise, and back on at Sunset. How do I do that? 

Another popular feature involved in scheduling is the Sunrise/Sunset timer. Under the ‘Start’ menu in the Schedule setup page, along with the date and time scroller, you will see an option to select either Sunrise or Sunset for your Schedule time. On Android, this option can be found within the “Time” menu, directly under where you would select the time you’d like your Schedule to fire. 

If you would like to turn something on and off with a Schedule, you will create two events. One event will turn the product on, and one will turn the product off. 

A great example of this feature is outdoor or porch lighting. A user can create a schedule to turn the porch lights off at sunrise, and back on at sunset. To do this, they will want to create two separate schedules, one for ‘On’ and one for ‘Off’. 

Home automation may seem intimidating to a non user, but with the Wink app, creating a smart home is easy! With a plethora of products and tools available within one app, your imagination can run wild. Life can get crazy, but with Wink Schedules there is an easy way to ensure that you and your home are on the same page day in and day out. 

Flex To Acquire Wink

Today, we’re excited to announce that Wink has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Flex, the sketch-to-scale™ solutions company that designs and builds intelligent products for a connected world. The sale is expected to close later this month and concludes the corporate updates we made in September.

Flex has long been a strategic and supportive partner of Wink. They serve as the primary supplier of our hardware, including the Wink HUB and Wink Relay. Flex knows our business, our users, and our industry inside and out. There couldn’t be a better fit for Wink.

Once the acquisition closes, Wink will remain an independent company with its own management structure for day-to-day activities and operations. There will be no impact on how people use and interact with their Wink homes. We will continue to bring new features and partners to the platform. We will also continue to provide the same high quality customer support our users rely on.

Being part of the Flex family will give us opportunities to leverage their scale, resources, and expertise to bring the connected experience to more consumers in innovative ways. With Flex, we know we can make great strides toward achieving our mission of making the smart home accessible to everyone.

We’re thrilled about the next chapter for Wink, and the possibilities ahead!

How Smart Homes Can Save on Heating Bills

The air is crisp. The leaves are falling. Fall is here in full force. For many of us up north, that means facing a noticeable uptick in energy bills for the next few months as we crank up the heat in our homes.

According to the Department of Energy, heating and cooling account for nearly half of the average household’s monthly energy bill. Luckily, there are a few ways you can use your smart home to make that bill a little easier on the eyes, and your wallet:

• Install a smart thermostat: If you don’t have one already, now is the perfect time to buy a smart thermostat like the Carrier Côr. With Côr, you can set smart schedules so the heat isn’t on when you’re not home. It has a smart setback feature which lets the thermostat intelligently adapt beyond manual programming for greater efficiency, while still meeting ideal comfort levels. It even uses your home address to gather local weather data so it can make even smarter, energy-saving decisions!

• Check the settings on your water heater: Fun fact: most water heaters run 24/7 and at a scalding / unnecessarily high temperature. Adjusting the settings is easy and can go a long way to saving energy. If you’re in the market, pick up a Rheem EcoNet which can be adjusted from afar through the Wink app to lower your monthly bill even further.

• Create an ‘Energy Saving’ Shortcut or Robot: By bringing together your lightbulbs, Carrier Côr thermostat, and other smart products within a Wink Shortcut, it becomes much easier to turn off or adjust everything. With one tap in the app, you can lower the temperature and turn off the lights for bedtime. Or you can connect products together in a Wink Robot so that when you leave the house in the morning, your HVAC system knows to lower the temperature.

Hopefully this helps keep the wallet a bit fuller this winter!

EVEConnect Brings Wink to Tesla

We're committed to extending the possibilities our users have to interact with their smart home. Over the past few months we've brought the power of Wink to your wrist, through our new Apple Watch app, and voice control, through our growing compatibility with Amazon Echo. And we're just getting started.

You may not know, but the Wink API is completely open and available to developers that wish to build applications on top of the platform. We wanted to share a particularly interesting way that Evolved Vehicle Environments (EVE) used our APIs to bring the smart home to the car. Yes, the car - the Tesla Model S and Model X specifically.

With their latest product, EVEConnect, EVE has created a very simple and non-distracting interface that lets Tesla Model S and Model X drivers control smart products around their home, receive alerts, and automatically adjust their home settings with the car enters or leaves the driveway.

Here are a few examples of how this works:

• Automatically lock doors, close the garage door, turn off lights, and arm security sensors when you leave your driveway for extra peace of mind that your home is secure.

• Alternatively, have your home come to life as you arrive home (particularly handy for those days when you've got an armful of groceries).

• You can even save energy by having your thermostat auto-adjust as soon as you head to work.

Other custom apps EVE has created have been designed to take advantage of the 17 inch touchscreen inside Teslas, giving you the ability to check your Gmail, calendar, local weather forecast, and even your Instagram handle, at the touch of a finger.

Pretty exciting stuff!

We'll continue to work with EVE to add new Wink-compatible products and features to their app in the coming months. For now, you can control lights, locks, thermostats and smoke/CO detectors from brands like GoControl, Nest, Philips HUE, and Schlage.

Check out the full list of compatible products and learn more about EVEConnect here!

Wink now works with Canary

Today, we're thrilled to share that Canary has teamed up with us for their first ever third party integration!

With Wink, you’ll be able to connect Canary with hundreds of Wink-compatible products from trusted home brands for more ways to enhance your home's security. Canary will be compatible with the Wink platform as part of our next app update for iOS and Android users.

If you’re not familiar, Canary is an all-encompassing security system packed into a single device that you can control from your phone. If Canary senses anything out of the ordinary, you’ll automatically receive a notification with a recorded HD video of the event. Its algorithm-based motion detection learns over time to send you smarter notifications, so the longer you have it, the more effective it becomes. Canary even monitors air quality, temperature, and humidity!

Here are a few ways you can put Wink + Canary into action:

• Create a Robot in Wink so that every time Canary is armed, your front door automatically locks and the hallway lights turn off. Perfect for those mornings when you're rushing out the door for work.

• On the flip side, give the illusion that you’re home by setting up a Robot in Wink so that if Canary is armed, the lights in your front windows turn on.

• Disarm Canary when you walk through the front door at night to trigger your home to come to life. Without you having to think about it, your thermostat will start to crank up the heat, the lights in the living room will dim, and the blinds will raise, all through Wink.

Wink and Canary share a complementary vision for home security and this partnership will further our efforts to deliver a more holistic, interconnected, yet simple solution for users. We’re excited to team up and look forward to adding new ways to keep your home secure and connected down the road!

Pick up Canary today at The Home Depot or Amazon.com!

What We’re Dressing Up As For Halloween

We’re very fond fans of Halloween here at Wink. Pumpkin carving, haunted houses, candy, you name it. But of course, Halloween wouldn’t be complete without the costumes. We polled all the Wink employees to see how their creativity will manifest on the night of October 31st and suffice to say, they have a lot of ideas:

• Jackie plans to channel a recent close call while driving home from Wink’s Schenectady office by dressing up as a "deer in the headlights.”

• Gabe is dressing up as Tron because he fights for the users (assuming he can get enough props that sufficiently glow by Halloween).

• Allison is going to duplicate the success of her Young Justice group costume at this year’s New York Comic Con and go as Artemis. Why? She’s an archer who doesn’t have any super-human powers. She just trained really hard.

• Patrick is getting animated as Sadness from Pixar’s Inside Out. He reports that Phyllis Smith, the voice of Sadness, is his long standing spirit animal.

• Lauren read all five Game of Thrones books in a few short weeks, so it’s only fitting that she’ll be dressing up as Khaleesi aka Mother of Dragons aka Daenerys Targaryen.

• Matt’s been using Post-its to plan his upcoming wedding. He’ll be a human-sized Post-it on Halloween in case he needs to jot down any last minute reminders on himself.

Meet the Newest Wink-Compatible Products

We recently released a new app update for iOS and Android and with it, have brought two new products onto the Wink platform. We’re very excited about them and wanted to share a quick overview of the latest Wink partners!

iHome SmartPlug - Wink HUB not required

This WiFi-enabled wall plug lets you control small appliances up to 1800 watts, including lights, fans, and portable heaters, right through your smart phone. Its slim design fits any standard outlet so you can keep one outlet free, or plug in two.

Forget to turn off the coffee maker or TV before leaving for work? With Wink, you can turn appliances plugged into your SmartPlug on or off in a pinch. You can also integrate iHome SmartPlug with existing Shortcuts or Robots for even more home automation possibilities.

Carrier® Côr™ - Wink HUB not required

The Carrier® Côr™ is a smart thermostat designed to combine home comfort with reduced energy use. Its smart setback feature enables the Côr thermostat to adapt beyond manual programming for greater efficiency, while its energy reports give you in-depth information and tips on how you can save money. It even uses local weather data so it can make even smarter, energy-saving decisions.

Try setting up an “Away” Shortcut in Wink that automatically adjusts the temperature of your Côr thermostat while ensuring other energy-hogging devices are turned off while you’re not home.

Wink Integrates With Ecobee

Today, we’re really excited to let you know that the ecobee3 smart thermostat and remote sensors are now Wink-compatible!

If you’re not familiar, ecobee3 intuitively understands when to turn on your HVAC system based on your home’s unique energy profile, your schedule, and the weather outside.

What really makes it handy are the ecobee3 remote sensors. These little guys (one comes with your ecobee3 thermostat purchase and you can buy more) can be placed around your home and measure temperature and occupancy so you’re always comfortable in the rooms you’re actually using.

With Wink, you can integrate ecobee3 into existing Shortcuts and Robots or monitor and adjust your home’s environment through the Wink app in a pinch.

For example, a ‘Vacation’ Shortcut (especially helpful as we enter the busy holiday travel season) could be used to lower your ecobee3’s temperature, turn off the lights and ensure the front door is locked with one tap.

Grab one today at Amazon or Home Depot!

4 Ways to Make Your Smart Home Part of Halloween

Hard to believe, but Halloween is just around the corner. Whether you plan to be out trick-or-treating with the kids in the neighborhood, dressing up yourself, or hunkering down at home to hand out candy, there are a bunch of ways you can make your smart home part of the night!

Here are a few examples:

Turn your smart light bulbs orange: With just a few Philips Hue bulbs, you can really amplify your home’s Halloween spirit. Try adjusting those closest to your front windows to really get the mood going. Even better, if you have a porch, swap out the bulbs outside. Check out how Wink user Robert Czeizinger from Delaware is doing just that:

Use a door sensor to up the spook factor: If you have a sensor installed on your front door, try this party trick. Set up a Robot in Wink that triggers all the smart bulbs in the front of your house to turn on when the front door is opened (adjust them to orange for maximum effect). Then, make sure the lights are all off when a trick-or-treater approaches, slowly open the door when they knock, and voila! 

See who's at the front door before you answer: If you’re on candy duty, a smart doorbell like Ring can help you distinguish between trick or treaters and the inevitable ding dong ditchers. They feature a camera so you can see who’s at the door right from your phone...and decide if you want to get off of the couch.

Keep an eye out for pesky tee-peers: Let’s face it, they exist, and we may or may not have all done it at one point in time. If you have a smart camera, simply move it to a front window facing the yard. From there, you can quickly see what’s happening from your phone wherever you are.

If you have creative ways that you’re integrating your smart home into Halloween, we want to hear about it! Let us know in the comments.

Smart Home Glossary

With the smart home comes terms, phrases or descriptions that you might not be familiar with. So, we wanted to define, in easy-to-understand terms, five of the more common smart home terms you might encounter.

1. Hub: A smart home hub translates different protocols into a unified language so that all your smart devices can work together.
2. Geofence: Geofencing uses the GPS, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth in your smartphone to create a virtual boundary around a real world location. It can then be used to trigger something in your smart home to happen - like your lights or air conditioner turning on - as soon as you (and your phone) enter or exit that boundary.
3. Pairing: Synonymously known as ‘provisioning’ or ‘learning mode,’ this is the process through which your smart devices establish a line of communication with your hub, so that you can monitor and control them through apps like Wink.
4. Platform: A smart home platform is like the foundation of your house or apartment building. It’s the underlying technology layer upon which different products from different brands are integrated together (usually with the help of a hub) and then controlled through a single app. We at Wink consider ourselves to be a smart home platform first and foremost.
5. Protocol: A protocol is a set of standards and rules - we like to think of them as languages - that smart devices use to communicate with one another. Among the more popular protocols are Z-Wave, ZigBee, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and Wi-Fi.

Hope this helps! We’ll be adding to this list over time. If there are smart home terms you’d like to better understand, let us know in the comments section!

Ding Dong - Ring is Now Wink-Compatible

Today we’re really excited to announce that the Ring Video Doorbell is now compatible with Wink! Not only does this mark our entrance into the doorbell category, it gives Wink users a bunch of new ways to enhance their smart home security.

Ring Smart Video Doorbell

Ring lets you answer the door from anywhere using the Ring app on your smartphone. It features an HD camera to provide a clear view from your front door, two-way talk for clear communication, and sends motion-triggered alerts to notify you of arriving guests and deliveries. You can also review your recording history so you don’t miss any activity.

Ring Smart Video Doorbell in Wink App

With Wink, you can now integrate Ring with the products you already have to provide even greater peace of mind that your home is safe and secure:

• If you’re running late and receive an alert that your parents just rang the doorbell, you can visually confirm that it is indeed them through the Ring app, and then unlock the front door with Wink

• On the flip side, a “Lock Up” Robot could be set up so that if you mistakenly leave the front door unlocked and someone presses Ring, Wink will automatically lock it.

• You can even set up your Ring to trigger the front porch lights to go on when someone’s at the door!

Learn more or grab one today at Amazon or Home Depot