Smart IR Remote Control

Works great and easy to connect to window ac

I got my IR-only devices working with google home voice commands. I had to do a lot of not-quite-intuitive things to get everything to work: 1) My manufacturer was not in the very limited list so i had to map each button purely manually. But the buttons registered fast! 2)on linking to google home the devices show up but arent quite functional as on/off options. This actually makes sense as the devices dont have a on/off status to report. A dead-end!! 3)you need to set up- "Scene automation" in this device's app as prep for- 4) inside google home you'll need to set up Routines there that call the scenes you made in the app. But this is all clever and necessary to ger a simple IR devices to work.

4 stars is mainly because of the smart life app. Starting with the good, as another person said, this is what harmony should be, and I can't agree more. Price wise is unreal this things works better than ir blasters that cost 2 and 4 times more than it. I tried a broadlink mini and then a harmony hub before trying and loving this one. It has enough devices in it that most everything is in there that you would need. It's small but it works really well. Integration into alexa is the main reason as to why I like this one so much. Harmony's integration is simply terrible and the broadlink mini I never even got on my wifi. I really like automation you can do in the smart life app for multi commands on multiple devices that get picked up by alexa as scenes. I got the one with temp and humidity because why not, and it's really accurate. The ifttt I played with and works fine, but don't intend to use it much. The cons on this device starts with the smart life app in general. I personally don't like it because it feels cluttered. You can't group things and I have a several devices in it now like lights and switches along with two of these ir's now and all the remotes that I set up in the ir. So it's an eye sore of an app with all the devices and remotes on the front page. Personally I prefer structure so it's a con for me anyway. Roku isn't an available device you can select in the setup and the DIY/Custom learning function is painfully irratating. You click the button to learn then it just randomly goes away, after a couple tries it will finally stay up and try to learn the button. Best advice, if you are using that is just keep trying to add it over and over and over again until it finally works and adds because it eventually will. Regarding roku ultra's, you are out of luck on the ok button fully working. Roku in general integrates ok into alexa but has some issues mainly with prime video and voice commands. The blaster was able to learn the ok button but it doesn't work when it's in prime video for some reason through the blaster, I can use the learned one in the main menu and it works in netflix and a couple other apps though which was weird. Best guess is the ok button is sending multiple commands and the blaster is only picking up one. I have an older universal remote that the roku ok button works fine on also, but never could get the ir blaster to learn what the universal remote was sending at all.

** Instructions for adding any button to an Alexa routine at the bottom of my review ** PROS - able to be added to Alexa routines - small and sleek - able to control devices spread all over the room - uses standard usb-c (cable included) - my devices were already in the database - can add buttons not in the database CONS - none, but it would be nice to add the device straight to the Alexa app, and control all functions straight from the routines menu, but I don’t think any IR device can do this yet. OVERVIEW WOW, this device is awesome, especially when you consider the price. I was surprised by how small the device is (I attached a size comparison with a pen). Setup was pretty easy, I just followed the instructions in the manual, and then connected the smart life skill to use the device with Alexa. MY USE CASE I have this controlling 3 devices: projector, TV, and soundbar. My goal in getting this was to easily transition between using my PS4 while sitting at my desk on my TV, to laying in bed on my projector, and vice versa. This worked out perfectly by using an Alexa routine (see attached video). I was a little worried that a device like this would only emit IR in one direction, similar to a remote, however, it was able to reach 3 devices on separate sides of the room. Amazing! I even pushed it behind my TV and it still works. INSTRUCTIONS TO ADD ANY BUTTON TO AN ALEXA ROUTINE I highly recommend you screenshot this section for later if you intend on using Alexa routines with this product. 1. Setup the device as shown in the manual 2. Add your device to the smart life app, most devices are already in their database, if it isn’t, choose the most similar device. 3. Once the device is added, open the remote for it. If there’s a button that you want that’s not included with the default remote, add a custom button. This will have you point your remote towards the device and hold the button to add, works perfectly. 4. Once all the buttons that you want are on the remote in the smart life app, then go to the smart tab in the smart life app and click on the tap-to-run menu. Here you’ll have to create a tap-to-run task for each function that you would like Alexa to receive. 5. Once you have all the tap-to-run tasks working within the smart life app, go to the Alexa app, and search for the smart life skill and connect it to your account. 6. In the Alexa app, go to the devices tab, click the “+” in the upper right hand corner, tap add device, then scroll to the bottom and tap other. This will pull in all the tap-to-run tasks into Alexa. Alexa will recognize them as scenes, therefore, you will find them in the scenes menu. 7. Now you’re ready to create your Alexa routine like normal and just add the appropriate scene to your routine. ** if you found this helpful please let me know by clicking ‘helpful’ **

This device worked great with the free version of IFTTT to control an IR remote electric shade by voice as well as toggling home theater on and off via voice (perfect when used in conjunction with a Logitech Harmony remote). As of October 2023, Alexa no longer supports IFTTT. I understand this is not this device manufacturers fault, but their item description is very misleading. Still works great in the app but I bought explicitly to add voice control to several IR remote controlled devices.

Very good

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