A smart garage opener like Chamberlain’s MyQ door opener can be an ideal accessory for any smart home. We’ve recently added the myQ-G0401-ES with an additional door sensor for our second garage door to our home. So far, we’ve had nothing but good things to say about the myQ.
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The MyQ is the most cost-effective and great value add to any smart home. It can open and close your garage door with any Old garage door openers with the MyQ app. Still, it lacks native compatibility with Voice assistants like Alexa and Google assistant. Closing your garage doors with voice control is one of many incredible uses for Alexa. If you want to integrate MyQ with Alexa successfully, you’re in the right place. Keep reading to learn more.
The Simple Answer is this!
The Latest MyQ smart garage controller works with Alexa via Smart home integration apps such as IFTTT and simple commands. We went the IFTTT route for our home, and it’s straightforward, you do not need to be tech-savvy to get this done. While this approach has its limitations, there may be a valid reason for this. Read on to learn the best practices to connect your MYQ to Alexa using IFTTT and all considerations.
How to connect Your chamberlain smart garage door opener to Alexa Using IFTTT
To connect your Chamberlain MyQ to Alexa, you’ll need to create a free account on IFTTT and then activate the Chamberlain MyQ channel. You can then use IFTTT recipes to connect your MyQ controller to Alexa. For example, you could create an applet or modify an existing one that closes your garage door using Alexa by issuing a voice command with a particular phrase.
I attempted to use “Alexa Trigger Open Sesame.” Still, I fell short of doing this because IFTTT can only issue Close commands to close your garage door. There maybe be a valid reason for this. We’ll dive deeper into why you would not want to use Alexa to send open commands to your garage door.
So, instead, I use the Phrase “Alexa Game over” to close my garage door. On the other hand, my wife is a full-blown adult and went with, “Alexa, Close my garage door.”
Requirements to connect Myq with Alexa using IFTTT
- Your smartphone or tablet
- The MYQ App and the IFTTT app
- Amazon Alexa Account credentials and create an IFTTT Account; you also need your MYQ account credentials Handy.
Once these bases are covered, you’re ready for MyQ and Alexa.
Step one to connect MyQ with Alexa in IFTT:
Open your MYQ app on your phone or tablet, tap works with, then choose IFTTT.
Step two :
Hopefully, you’ve already downloaded the IFTTT APP on your device and signed up with an account. You should be able at this point, to launch IFTTT.
Step three:
Instead of recreating the reel, search for MyQ, and the applet in the screenshot below will appear. We’ll make guide you on how to customize this for your needs.
Slide it to the right to connect, and it should default to your amazon account.
Step four: Configure the IF and the THEN fields
Pick your phrase of choice and confirm the Amazon Account.
Ensure the settings are correct and pick the phrase you plan to use with Alexa. This is the exact phrase to close the garage door using voice commands to your Echo or other Alexa device.
Note: If you own two garage doors, you must repeat this step with a distinct phrase for each door. Assign the phrase to the right garage door you plan to close with your Alexa devices.
Step five:
To test the command you’ve just set in the close garage door applet, send a voice command to Alexa. Open your Garage door using the MYQ app, then Say, “Alexa, trigger.” “The Phrase you picked.”
If everything is correctly set up, you should hear your garage door closing, and that’s all it takes.
If you’re having issues setting up this command, scroll back to the basic requirements to ensure your MyQ is compatible with Alexa in step one.
Why it’s actually a good idea that you do not set up voice commands for MyQ and Alexa to open the garage door
Regardless of voice assistant compatibility, The ability to open any point of entry with simple voice commands raises a big red flag. For the same reason, it’s a bad idea to unlock a smart lock and not even supported to unlock your phone with voice commands. You should avoid implementing it for your garage doors.
Still not convinced? Allow me to paint a more straightforward picture
We have a 2-year-old who loves the baby shark song. He has not fully developed speech yet, but one morning we heard him screaming at the echo device in our bedroom, “Alexa, Play Baby Shark!” We laughed, but it’s normal behavior as they are copycats like parrots at this age.
Let’s say we use Alexa to open our garage door with voice commands. After a while, our two-year-old toddler will pick this up and try it on his own and starts sending this same command to Alexa, and the worst thing is, we may not even hear it when he does. Our toddler is a trusted member of our family, but this doesn’t stop him from creating a security loophole on our property.
The worst-case scenario is an intruder issuing voice commands from outside your home to Alexa to get your garage door to open.
Based on this analogy alone, we’ve stopped exploring options to open our garage doors with Alexa. The MyQ App works just fine for this operation. Suppose you’re still looking to set this up. In that case, you can buy a different smart garage door opener that natively integrates with Alexa or google assistant. You can also use the simplecommands app instead of IFTTT to open and close your garage door.
Final Thoughts
The MyQ Chamberlain garage door opener is still one of the best options on the market, even though it doesn’t natively integrate with voice assistants like Alexa and Google. You can use workarounds to connect MyQ with Alexa using IFTTT. Still, using voice commands to open your garage is not recommended because of potential security risks. Still, if you’re set on using voice commands to open your garage door, follow the following advice. Make sure you have a backup plan, such as a nightly routine to check if your garage door is open to close it accordingly.
Once it’s time to tidy up that garage, Read our garage cleaning and decluttering tips.
Thank You for reading to the end, Have a Happy Smart Home!
