Chamberlain, maker of garage door openers, remotes and parts, is now perpetuating the interoperability battle in the smart home world by cutting off third-party access to its MyQ API.
Users who use platforms like HomeBridge and Home Assistant to connect their MyQ devices to their smart home systems are left without a simple solution to open their smart garage door with their smart home.
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“Unauthorized app integration, originating from just 0.2% of MyQ users, previously accounted for more than half of the traffic to and from the MyQ system and occasionally constituted a significant DDOS event that consumed large amounts of resources,” said Dan Phillips, CTO at Chamberlain Group, MyQ. The manufacturer of the device, has announced in a blog post.
Philips explained that the decision was made to give MyQ’s more than 10 million users the “best possible experience”, leaving around 20,000 users without a working smart home solution on their MyQ devices.
As a HomeKit home with a MyQ garage door opener and one of those 20,000 users, we’ve relied on HomeBridge to integrate MyQ into our Apple Home ecosystem until now. MyQ has never worked with Amazon Alexa, although it is an Amazon Key partner. It dropped its modest support for Google Assistant last summer, and it discontinued an official MyQ Home Bridge hub to enable a HomeKit integration last year.
The decision to cut API access to third-party apps means that users who have developed solutions that lack interoperability with major smart home systems will no longer be able to.
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The solution to MyQ’s lack of support is HomeBridge and Home Assistant. These allow MyQ users to control their smart garage door opener via their platform of choice, open or close the garage via voice control via Siri or Google, and add automation to automatically close the garage after a set time.
Now, MyQ users are limited to using the MyQ app, IFTTT problematic integration, or one of Chamberlain’s authorized partners who pay a fee to work with MyQ’s smart devices. in “MyQ” works with partners are Vivint and Alarm.com — which require a monthly fee — as well as vehicle-specific integrations such as HondaLink, Tesla, Mercedes Benz through the MBUX voice assistant, and Volkswagen, among others.
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I set up a Siri shortcut to open the MyQ app when I say, “Siri, Garage.” This is not ideal and leaves me with a device that I paid for and cannot integrate with my smart home or use locally. But there are several MyQ alternatives in the market.
What smart garage door options are there?
While the Chamberlain Group makes many popular garage door openers such as the Craftsman and Liftmaster, other smart home devices can make existing dumb and MyQ garage door openers interoperable with smart home systems.
Meros makes several cheap and highly rated alternatives to it Wi-Fi Garage Door Opener Remoteincluding a compatible one For just $50 with Apple HomeKit. Unlike MyQ devices, they are not UL certified and will not flash lights or sound as a warning when remotely turned off.
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The Tailwind iQ3 Pro It’s a UL-certified device that’s currently on pre-order and works with Google Home, Amazon Alexa, IFTTT, Apple HomeKit and more smart home systems. Orders placed now are expected to ship in or around November. 15.
Eufy Security is a 2-in-1 garage camera E120 and also controls On sale now for $90, although it is important to check compatibility with existing garage door openers. Profit from it Eufy Security E120 It’s that it doesn’t require a monthly fee and works seamlessly with a Eufy security system, as well as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. This garage opener is also not UL-certified.