August greets Halloween with new smart lock and doorbell cam abilities
August is rolling out new features for its smart locks and doorbell camera, to help people handle the Halloween rush — and create some spooky effects for the trick-or-treating crowd. The abilities work with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and IFTTT — and can be set up immediately through each of their apps
Google Assistant
Want to unlock your front door on its own? With the August Smart Lock, you can now say, 'Hey, Google, unlock the front door." Google Assistant then requests a security code — one you've created in the app — and the door unlocks.
Perhaps you're enjoying one of the "Halloween" movies too loudly in the other room. Not a problem — you can have Google Assistant tell you when someone has rung the doorbell, just by opening your Google Assistant app, go to Settings, and the Home control. (And if you want to see what other devices work with Google Home, you can check The GearBrain.)
Amazon Alexa
Amazon Alexa users can also tap into the new features, with Alexa now telling you "Someone is at the front door," when the doorbell is rung. Alexa can also make smart lights flicker and change color to create a spooky effect, or even play a specific song. (Perhaps "Thriller?")
August's doorbell cam, which reacts to motion, can also trigger these steps once you've enabled August's Alexa Smart Home Skill, and the set up the routines in the Alexa app. The August Doorbell Cam Pro can also live stream people at your front door through video-enabled Alexa devices like Echo Show and Echo Spot. (The ability to actually talk to someone through those devices is coming in several weeks says August.) (And if you want to see what other devices work with Amazon Echo, you can check The GearBrain.)
IFTTT
August just unlocked automations through IFTTT specifically for its doorbell cam — from lighting, notifications, music or any kind of recipe you can cook up, scary or not. (Here are some of GearBrain's IFTTT favorites.)
Need more details? Instructions on how to set up these specific features, available now, are below.
Google Assistant
- Launch the Google Assistant app > go to Settings > Home control > press the blue Add devices button and select August.
- Enter your August account information.
- To unlock your door, set a PIN code on the next screen.
- To enable visitor announcements when someone rings your doorbell, select Yes
when prompted to link your doorbell cam to the Google Assistant.
Note: If you wish to activate these features and have already linked your account, you must unlink the August account first and then re-link it.
Amazon Alexa
Visitor Announcements
- In the Alexa app, enable the August Smart Home Skill in the Alexa app (if you haven't already done so)
- Select your August Doorbell Cam device
- In the Announcements section, turn on the Doorbell Press setting
Routines
- In the Alexa app, go to the Routines section
- Create a new routine and choose Device and select your doorbell cam
- Add the action that you want to follow the doorbell button press or motion
detection event
IFTTT
- Using the IFTTT app for iOS or Android, go to My Applets , and create a new
applet
- Press +this , search for August, select your preferred trigger and doorbell
- Then select +that and choose any related action that you would like to occur after
your doorbell button is pressed or motion is detected
- You can select multiple actions if you would like
