I have been messing around with smart home stuff for a while now, trying to get everything hooked up and talking to each other. One thing I really wanted to figure out was whether I could get my Blink cameras to work with Google Home. So, I did some digging and tried a few things out, and here’s how it went.
First off, I found out that Blink cameras are pretty tight with Amazon’s Alexa, which makes sense since Amazon owns Blink. If you’ve got the Blink SmartHome Skill in the Alexa app, you can control your Blink cameras with your voice and all that jazz. Cool, but not what I was going for, since I’m team Google Home.
Then I stumbled upon something called IFTTT. Never heard of it before, but it sounded promising. Turns out, IFTTT stands for “If This Then That,” and it’s basically a website that lets you create little automations between different apps and devices. It’s like playing with digital LEGOs. I figured this could be the way to bridge the gap between Blink and Google Home.
So, I created an IFTTT account and started poking around. The idea is to make an “applet”—that’s what they call these automations—where the “If This” part is something happening with your Blink camera, and the “Then That” part is something you want Google Home to do. For example, you could set it up so that when your Blink camera detects motion, your Google Home turns on a light or makes an announcement. Pretty neat, right?
After spending some time experimenting with different triggers and actions, I managed to get it working, sort of. It wasn’t super smooth, and there were some limitations, but I could get my Google Home to react to what my Blink cameras were seeing. It’s not a perfect solution, but it does the job.
Here’s a breakdown of what I did:
- Created an account on the IFTTT website.
- Searched for the Blink and Google Assistant services on IFTTT.
- Connected my Blink and Google accounts to IFTTT. This involved logging in and giving IFTTT permission to access my accounts.
- Created a new applet.
- Chose a Blink camera event as the “If This” trigger. For example, “Motion detected.”
- Chose a Google Assistant action as the “Then That” action. For example, “Turn on lights.”
- Saved the applet and tested it out.
It took a bit of trial and error, but eventually, I got it to work the way I wanted. Now, when my Blink camera spots someone, my living room lights turn on. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s a fun little trick that makes my smart home feel a bit smarter.
In the end, while Blink cameras don’t play super nice with Google Home directly, you can use IFTTT to create some workarounds. It’s not a perfect solution, but if you’re willing to put in a little effort, you can get them to work together in some interesting ways. So, yeah, Blink and Google Home can work together, just not straight out of the box. You need to do some extra tinkering.