Nest is inviting devs to create connected apps to control home devices

Jun 24, 2014 10:13 GMT  ·  By

Google wants to be there when the home automation trend kicks in and actually hopes to kickstart it. Nest, the company that Google has recently purchased, has launched a developer program that allows third-party apps and devices to communicate with Nest hardware to perform things that aren’t normally possible.

For instance, if you want to open your garage door as you’re heading home, you can do that by telling Nest through the Google Now interface. This already works with the help of Chamberlain garage door openers.

If you drive several Mercedes models, your car will also automatically tell Nest when you’re getting home and will start the heating or cooling at the right time to get the best temperature for you when you arrive.

Several Whirlpool models can also be controlled with the help of Nest if the smart thermostat notices you’re away from home by switching the washing machine to a refresh mode when the cycle ends so that the clothes stay fresh and don’t get wrinkles.

Perhaps the creepier partner is Jawbone, the smart bracelet that provides data about your fitness activities, but also about your sleeping patterns. The data can be integrated into Nest to help it better learn when to lower and increase the heat in the house.

The “Works with Nest” program will only grow from here and it will turn the learning thermostat into the center of the smart home. Since Nest has recently bought Dropcam, we could probably add home security to the list already.

Matt Rogers, the man behind Nest’s idea, says that the goal is to provide seamless and practical experiences in the home, while also selling more Nest devices.

Tech Crunch reports that sometime in the fall, Google now will become “Works with Nest” certified, which will allow Android users to command their thermostats from anywhere, and through this, the rest of the connected devices around the home.

The race to create automated houses has been going on for a while. The very rich already have access to high-end tools, but the rest of us aren’t so lucky. The solutions brought forward by Nest and Google are accessible to more tech lovers and the prices are only going to drop as time goes by and more and more people show an interest in the concept.

While the idea is incredibly enticing, the implications of connecting your home and home appliances to the Internet comes with a certain element of scariness. The privacy concerns of taking such a step are understandable and the fact that Google is behind this particular effort certainly isn’t helping things because no matter what the Internet giant does, there are a lot of people who will never trust it, partially or completely.