How to Build a Connected Smart Home With Stringify

The problem with investing in smart connected devices like Wi-Fi light-changing colors, internet-connected surge protectors, and wearables like Fitbits is that you need a dozen apps for all of them. Stringify is an iPhone app (Android is on its way) that ties it all together. Imagine: one application to manage them, one application to automate them. Here’s how to set it up.

How Stringify works

If all this talk of “automation” sounds familiar, it’s because Stringify is similar to another favorite service, If This Then That . Think of Stringify as a more customizable version of IFTTT, more like If This, This, This and This, Then That and Tha t. Its purpose is twofold: to control and automate smart appliances and Internet-connected devices to do whatever you want them to do.

Stringify supports many different services and physical devices, all of which you can find on the app’s download page . You can get to know Fitbit , Philips Hue bulbs , Nest and Netatmo devices , and digital services like Google Drive , RSS feeds, Reddit , Slack, and many more. Personally, I’ve tested Stringify with Amazon Echo , LIFX bulbs , auto car adapter, Misfit flash link, and Quirky Pivot Power Genius Extender . The more connected devices you have, the more useful Stringify will be to you.

Each device is capable of performing one of two actions in Stringify: a trigger or an action. A trigger is a rule that starts an automation process. An action is what happens after a trigger fires. You can configure Stringify to have multiple parameters trigger an action, or to trigger multiple actions. It really depends on you, and if it sounds very simple it is because it is.

For example, you can set it up so that when you get home after 5:00 pm, you have a Wi-Fi enabled light, a Nest thermostat, and a plugged in power strip makes your kettle boil for afternoon tea. … Sure, it’s a bit absurd, but it makes automating all those stupid connected devices a lot easier and surprisingly fun. There are no programming rules for each of these in their own applications or tools. I’ll give you some more examples of what you can do with Stringify at the end of this post, but let’s take a look at setting up your first “stream”.

Step one: connect all your devices to Stringify

Let’s start with the most tedious and terrible part of using any such app: approving and configuring your devices. First download the Stringify app and create an account. Then you need to authenticate every device you have. This means that you need to log into your account on every service or connected device that you want to have access to in Stringify. If you have a lot of them, it may take a while, so take it easy, open your password manager and get started.

1. Tap the Things tab.
2. Tap Create.
3. Find the device or service you want to add in the list. When you find it, tap it.
4. Click Connect (you can also click Available Triggers and Actions to see what Stringify can control on the device before configuring it).
5. If you have connected a device, you will be redirected to the authentication page. Enter your username and password for your device or service to authenticate.

Your device or service is now in Stringify. Go ahead and repeat this process for whatever you want to connect.

Step two: create your first “stream”

Once all of your devices are set up, it’s time to create your first “stream”. Stream is a set of Stringify automation rules. Again, think, “If this and this, then this and that.”

Let’s create a sample stream that turns off my TV if I don’t reach my activity goal by a certain point in the day. The rules are simple: if I am at home and have not reached my daytime activity by 6 pm, turn off the TV outlet. I know this is tough, but you have to do what you have to do to get motivated to exercise, right?

1. From the main Stringify screen, click Streams> New. This is where you are greeted by the main screen of streaming design called the canvas. Click “+” to add multiple devices.
2. In the “Select Things” menu, tap all the devices or options that you want to include in the stream, and then tap “Add” when you’re done. In my example, I am using location (like my physical location via GPS on my phone), the Misfit Flash Link fitness tracker, and the Pivot Power Genius Extender .
3. All the elements you added are now in the bar at the bottom of the screen, press, hold and drag to move them to circles on the canvas in the approximate order of their use. We put triggers on the left, actions on the right. In my case, one column contains Location and Misfit, and the other contains the power supply.

Once your canvas is set up, you will need to tweak each setting.

Step three: set up triggers and actions

After you drag each item onto the canvas, you will notice a spinning gear icon. This means that some type of parameter must be set before using the element. Remember that each element can only do one of two things: launch something or perform an action. For example, if you are using a location trigger, you need to choose which location triggers the action. Here’s how to set the parameter:

1. Tap one of your spinning gear icons. For this example, let’s touch the Pivot icon to set up the action in our flow.
2. Tap the trigger or action that you want to turn on. For Pivot, I set it to “turn off socket 1” because this is where the TV plugs in.
3. Repeat this process for all of the items on the canvas.

Going back to my example, I configured it like this:

• Location: If I am in some place (at home).
• Inconsistency: If the daily goal is not reached by 6:00 pm.
• Pivot Power Genius: Turn off Socket 1 (TV)

There are tons of different settings you can play with here, so take your time tweaking them so you can see exactly what each of your devices is capable of.

Step four: tie everything together and turn everything on

Once you’ve got all your options set for all devices or services in your stream, it’s time to tie everything together. To associate a trigger with an action, simply drag your finger from trigger to action.

Things get a little more complicated when you have multiple triggers or multiple actions. For example, in our example, we want two parameters to be executed before the action happens: I need to be at home and I need to skip my activity target. To do this, drag your finger from one trigger (in our example, this is the Location trigger) to the action (Pivot) and release. If the connection is successful, you will see a yellow link icon. Otherwise, the link icon is red, which means there is a conflict somewhere. If everything is ok, swipe from the second trigger (Misfit in our example) to the link icon that just appeared. It has to do with two triggers together. You can repeat this basic process to link any actions or triggers together.

When you’re done creating all of your links, tap the box at the top to name your stream, then tap the Turn on stream box to turn it on. Congratulations! You have just completed your first thread.

Some additional examples of useful streams

So we went through the process of creating a simple stream with a very basic set of parameters. But like IFTTT, what you can do with it is really only limited by your imagination. Stringify has tons of ideas listed on their website to help you brainstorm, but here are a few of my personal favorites.

• In the dark, illuminate the path : This sets the supported motion sensor to search for motion at night. When he senses something, your lights turn on at reduced brightness. This is great for those wandering into the bathroom or living room late at night to see if you’ve locked the door where you don’t want to be blinded by turning on the lights at full power.
• ” Training” : as a trigger used Amazon’s Alexa, so when you say, “Alex, tell stringify, to start training,” your home gym lights, the music starts and your training is registered in Google Calendar. Then a timer is set for an hour. When that hour expires, everything turns off again.
• Leaving home for work : This is one of the craziest (but still rewarding) tasks I’ve ever seen. It is configured in such a way that when on a weekday between 7 and 8 in the morning, and you leave the house, all the sockets turn off, the lights of two different brands go out, any music is suspended, and a set of dimmers turns off. When this is all done, you will receive a notification that “your house is off.”
• Light Awakening : This mode is suitable for tea lovers. When it’s 5:45 a.m. on a weekday, the backed-up light goes out slowly and the Pivot Power Genius outlet plugged into the electric kettle starts boiling water for your morning cup.

There are, of course, countless other options here, and some of them may even work for other purposes if you change the times or replace certain devices. Take your time, play with the different settings and experiment with different actions. You never know if you can really find the perfect smart home combination for the gadgets you already own.

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