Sharing a smart home with multiple digital assistants isn’t bad

We’re finally approaching the end of 2021! I don’t know about you, but perhaps the biggest change I made to my smart home this past year was transitioning to Apple HomeKit. When I started out on my digital assistant journey a few years back, it was with the Amazon Alexa platform. Then once Google got into the market, I moved over to Google Home. I dabbled with Samsung SmartThings along the way, too. And technically I’m still transitioning to Apple Homekit, both because it’s expensive to swap out every connected device and because I like to keep an eye on all of the platforms.

In the meantime, I’ve learned that having multiple digital assistants and platforms in the smart home is not so bad. I’d also say it’s not ideal, for reasons I’ll get into later. But after being dead set against having two or more digital assistants in my house, I am ending this year with a notably different perspective.

I mention this because I imagine some of your have felt “locked in” to your platform of choice at times. Maybe you have Amazon Alexa running your house but you want a Google Nest product. Or you have Google Home and think a Ring doorbell would be nice. Indeed, none of these products integrate across smart home platforms. But with multiple digital assistants — either through smart speakers, smart displays, or even apps on your phone — you can use them.

For example, although I’ve swapped my doorbell from Nest to a HomeKit-compatible model from Logitech, I don’t need the doorbell to integrate with my Nest lock. When someone rings the front door, Siri lets me know on my HomePod, my family’s iPhones, and our Apple Watches. Using them, we can have a two-way conversation or sneak a peek at our visitor. And if I want to let the visitor in, I can ask Google to unlock the door from my phone by voice or a tap, or from any of the Google Nest displays that we have around the house.

Theoretically, I could do the same with a Ring doorbell and my Nest x Yale lock. I still have an Amazon Echo Dot or two so I would be able hear the doorbell, plus I could view the video in my Amazon Alexa app or a FireTV. Then I could tell Google to unlock the door.

Again, this isn’t ideal. But it’s not as painful as I had imagined it would be. In fact, it’s not bothering my family, either, and I thought they would be hugely aversive to controlling different devices with different digital assistants.

My wife uses Siri on her phone and her watch to open or close our garage door, for example, as well as to greet visitors who ring our doorbell. And when it comes to her office lights, which are made up of five Wyze bulbs, she asks Google to turn them on or off. Surprisingly, she doesn’t care who completes her voice commands. (I find that curious because when I don’t complete a task, she always reminds me that she asked me to do it.)

Many connected devices that work with Amazon Alexa work with Google Home as well. The outliers are specific to those brands, like Nest and Ring. But most other products? They often support both ecosystems. And that means you can use either one or both digital assistants to control them.

A good example is my Ecobee thermostat, which works with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit. So even if I switch platforms again, I won’t have to replace the thermostat. And I can use any of the three assistants to modify the temperature, irregardless of which app, speaker, or display I’m using. The same goes for the Philips Hue lights in my office, which will also work with the Nest smart display and the HomePod mini on my desk.

It isn’t all rainbows and butterflies, however. I have multiple apps for multiple camera views, for example. And connected devices using either Zigbee or Z-Wave aren’t quite as “cross-assistant-friendly” as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi devices, HomeKit in particular. I’ve migrated away from the two Z’s over time, so that doesn’t really impact me. And if you have either Zigbee or Z-Wave in your smart home, you’ve got a bridge or hub of some sort and generally pick one digital assistant.

Of course, the hope and expectation is that the new Matter protocol will alleviate any pain points brought on by switching digital assistants or smart home platforms. Matter devices should provide the same, or a very similar, experience regardless of the platform or digital assistant you use.

We initially thought Matter would be ready in 2021, but it’s clearly a 2022 solution. And it’s going to take some time before there are a raft of Matter-certified devices on the market from which to choose. So it may not be until 2023 or later that folks will be able to have a house that runs on Matter. Until then, I will continue to welcome my various digital housemates, which is something I never thought I’d do.