With the Ideal Touch Connect now being compatible with Alexa, Jamie Hickman from our Product Management team has been testing things out to see what he thinks of the developments.
I already have the Ideal Touch Connect installed in my house and my wife and I use the app regularly to update the temperature (she mainly turns it up when I leave for work). Or to change a schedule setting, most recently when I left the heating on before going on holiday.
Connecting Alexa with my Touch Connect was a very simple process, I enabled the skills through the Alexa app, granted access by entering my Touch Connect password, the two apps paired and that was it. The whole process was probably about 30-40 seconds.
After everything had paired, as I do with any new technology, I then threw every command I had been given at Alexa. I had the Touch app open at the same time and each command was reflected in the app within seconds. The Touch unit takes a minute or two to update but the whole idea of using Alexa is so I don’t have to get up and go to the unit so it’s never been an issue. After 10mins of trying to make the whole thing fall over I gave up and let my central heating return to its original state.
Since then the weather has been up and down, some nights being sub-zero and some still holding on to summer in double figures. You could say the reverse for the days, some have struggled to reach 6° others haven’t dropped below 16°. Having the Touch controlled by Alexa has been great, a quick command to either turn the heating off on the warmer days or down when the heat is still left from the day. Or a going to another level of being lazy, turning the heating up before even getting out of bed on a weekend (really lazy I know but try it you’ll never go back).
Now, thanks to the Alexa compatibility update the house is always at the right temperature regardless of what’s going on and I don’t even have to lift a finger.