Many companies, from IFTTT to Philips Hue, use Works With Nest to automate your smarthome.
Those automations will break soon.
The “Works With Nest” program is anAPIthird-party companies used to integrate your Nest devices with your smarthome.
What does that mean for you?
Update: Google changed its mind,announcingthat Works With Nest won’t immediately shut down on August 31.
You won’t be able to create new Works With Nest connections after August 31.
The program allowed third-party devices to talk to your Nest devices so they could work together.
The idea is straight forward.
It could tell Nest to adjust the thermostat or start recording with your Nest Camera.
That makes some sense.
you might see this in action with a custom made app we made for a home-built smart mirror.
The app displays the current and set temperatures along with humidity data.
Josh Hendrickson / How-To Geek
From a privacy standpoint, that may be fine as we own the data.
Google is offering a replacement service called “Works with Google Assistant.”
The replacement service isn’t Works for Nest renamed; it will require effort for companies to switch over.
The experience will be different, both for the companies that implement it and you.
Instead, Google handles everything from data to control.
Your data stays with your Google account.
On the one hand, that provides more privacy and security for your data.
On the other hand, it does offload some work to you.
And they’ll lack the access to make any changes.
Instead, you’ll be required to set up routines in Google Assistant to accomplish those tasks.
IFTTT is silent on the matter.
If you have both accounts already, you’re able to merge them.
But you may not want to do that immediately.
The moment you make the switch, your Works with Nest integrations stop working.
You should check what integrations you are using, and what those companies are saying before merging your accounts.
After you do migrate, you’ll need toset up routines to control your devices.
If you never integrated your Nest with other smarthome products, this doesn’t affect you at all.
If you have set it up, your data will be in the hands of fewer companies going forward.
That’s good for your privacy, even if sole control of your data is also desirable for Google.
Related:How to Set Up and Use “Routines” in Google Assistant
