Nest Adds Third Party Integration with New ‘Works with Nest’ Program

Nest Labs, creator of the Nest Thermostat and Nest Protect Smoke Detector, announced early Tuesday a new “Works with Nest” developer program, allowing other devices, appliances, and automobiles to integrate and communicate with Nest products for the first time.

For years, people have been talking about home automation. There are universal remotes, digital wall panels and apps that let you control the devices in your home. But ‘Works with Nest’ is more than just an on/off switch. It’s about making your house a more thoughtful and conscious home.

‘Works with Nest’ makes it possible for your Nest devices to securely interact with the things you already use every day, both inside and outside of your home. Because when we connect these different parts of your life, we can work behind the scenes to deliver personalized comfort, safety and energy savings. Effortlessly.

Examples of upcoming third party Nest integration include linking with connected Mercedes-Benz automobiles so that your Nest thermostat can prep your home temperature for your arrival, transmitting Nest Protect smoke alerts to LIFX smart LED bulbs which can flash red warning signals, and automatically enabling a “refresh” mode on connected Whirlpool clothes dryers when the user is out of the house, ensuring that clothes stay wrinkle-free at the end of a cycle.

Works with Nest also introduces support for If This Then That (IFTTT), a popular service that lets users set up custom events and actions, and Google services that will let users set their temperature via voice commands and utilize smartphone tracking to trigger custom climate settings.

Now that Nest is owned by Google, the privacy implications of allowing access to the company’s devices are significant for some users, especially following the company’s acquisition of home surveillance company Dropcam late last week. Nest co-founder Matt Rogers hoped to assuage some of those fears by telling The Wall Street Journal that third parties won’t have automatic access to Nest device and user data, and that customers would have to opt-in before companies like Google could gain access. “We’re not becoming part of the greater Google machine,” he told the newspaper.

Customers will likely have to update their Nest device software to gain access to new integration options when they become available. Those interested in developing for the Works with Nest program can visit the Nest Developer Program website to view documentation and API information.