Do you have different brands of smart switches and plugs and want one common place to control them from instead of clicking on different apps to control your devices? I do! I have a few Wemo switches but I just recently added a new Kasa smart switch to my list, check out my review. So Enters the and their Button Widget in all its simplicity and epic programming glory.

Personally, I like IFTTT and I highly recommend it to anyone. It’s so simple to make programs called Recipes to control your world by using a simple programming term – IF THIS THAN THAT. It is amazing, not only for creating an easy way to control your devices but it’s just an all-around cool way to control almost anything connected to the internet. IFTTT is the IoT “Internet of Thing” perfect companion! You can create a recipe that turns all your smart devices on or off with literally the press of a button on your phone or device. You can also do other things that don’t include smart devices. For example, you’re on a terrible date or in a long meeting that seems to be lasting forever – open the widget on your phone and with the push of a button, you’re getting a phone call that you absolutely must take in another room, far far away from whatever or whom ever you need to make a flee from.

I am going to go through the steps I took for setup with my iPhone but most of the images and steps detailed here will be similar to setup on any other device. You can also have an account created for the home so anyone can use it. My wife uses my account on her phone. It’s easier for her to have the one IFTTT app with her custom selected recipes to control only the things she’s interested in. This keeps down the confusion and frustration of guessing what app turns off the ceiling fan or changes the AC to home mode. Tech is made to keep things simple.

Let’s get started with the setup! Start by downloading the IFTTT app (App Store link) and go through the steps to create an account at IFTTT.com. Once you’re signed in, take some time to browse around and check out some Applets and user-created Recipes that are great for synchronizing and simplifying your digital world. Some of these Applets are created by users looking to link several actions together with a common function.

I am going to be searching and downloading the “Button Widget” in Applets. This will be the app that shows up in your Widgets section of your phone with buttons to named with your smart switch action. I scrolled halfway through the pre-configured Applets to find a button “New Applet” that will take you the “New Applet” screen and the “If This Then That” recipe builder. This is where you turn that awesome statement into some action. My recipe will include the Button Press feature from the Button Widget for my “if”. My “that” will be the TP-Link Kasa Applet for my smart switch. Simple, am I right, the hardest part is finding your selection in the sea of options available. The greatest part is those Recipes and Applets have increased exponentially since I first signed up a few years back! Okay, moving on, I will be choosing the toggle option for this setup of my smart switch. The toggle option doesn’t look at the switch for status or feedback, it just sends a signal to your app to change its current state to the opposite and it’s a fast signal too, with barely any lag noticed. Since this was my first time using the Kasa Applet, I was required to sign into my Kasa account to allow IFTTT to access to my light switch and to connect everything up so I can control it through the app. I selected my bathroom fan switch that I want to control and select the “Finish” button.

The only thing left to do is activate my newly created widget. The iPhone widgets can be found by swiping all the way right where you usually find your news and weather feeds in the “Today View”. Scrolling down from there will take you to the edit button where you can add the IFTTT Button to your widgets screen and also change the layout for easy access and navigation. Now you should see your new button ready for its first run! Give that new gem a press and verify your setup is indeed working as designed and celebrate a successful program build and execution.

Thanks for reading my post and I hope you have enjoyed this as much as I did writing it. If there is something I left out or questions that need answering, don’t hesitate to leave me a comment below. If you enjoyed this post and look forward to more, please subscribe.