Now you can chat to your house: Thington AI personal assistant lets you control your home

App communicates through text messages to find out your preferences
Complies connected devices into one interface and controls can be shared
Select people on your 'Guestlist' will have access only when at your home

Published: 17:31 EST, 7 October 2016 | Updated: 18:52 EST, 7 October 2016

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Smart homes may soon be equipped with an AI concierge to help you manage all of your connected devices.

San Francisco firm Thington has revealed a free iPhone app that pairs with smart lights, cameras, and other devices in the growing Internet of Things to provide centralized control, which can be securely shared with select people.

The Thington Concierge chatbot will ask about your preferences and even help you set up your smart appliances so they work with each other, making for a safer and more efficient network.

WHAT IT CAN DO

The app can communicate with users through text messages, allowing it to find out specific preferences on the setup of each device by simply asking you a question.

To adjust the brightness of your smart lights, for example, you could command it to ‘Change the settings,’ ‘stop doing this,’ or ‘leave it as it is.’

It also comes with a feature called ‘Guestlist’ which allows you to share controls with family and friends when they’re at your house.

And, it will scope out friends in the area through Twitter, as well, and will make suggestions on who you might want to add to your Guestlist.

According to Thington, the app so far works with Nest, WeMo, LIFX, Philips Hue, Automatic, and NetAtmo devices, with more soon to be available.

Thington Concierge complies your connected devices into one interface, making it much easier to control and personalize your smart home.

‘Thington can tint your lights in the evening to help you sleep, alert you with a photo if there’s movement at your home while you’re out, or even make your home reflect the lights on the Empire State Building,’ according to the firm.

The app can communicate with users through text messages, allowing it to find out specific preferences on the setup of each device by simply asking you a question.

To adjust the brightness of your smart lights, for example, you could command it to ‘Change the settings,’ ‘stop doing this,’ or just ‘leave it as it is.’

It also comes with a feature called ‘Guestlist’ which allows you to share controls with family and friends when they’re at your house.

This access will only be enabled when they’re physically there, according to the firm, and once they leave, the controls disappear.

The Thington Concierge chatbot will ask about your preferences and even help you set up your smart appliances so they work with each other, making for a safer and more efficient network

According to Thington, the app so far works with Nest, WeMo, LIFX, Philips Hue, Automatic, and NetAtmo devices, with more soon to be available

The bot will scope out friends in the area through Twitter, as well, and will make suggestions on who you might want to add to your Guestlist.

While smart devices are ultimately intended to make your home safer and your life easier, the confusion of integrating numerous products can have the opposite effect.

But, the ‘home AI’ aims to remove these challenges.

‘You shouldn’t have to be a programmer to get the most from smart devices in your home,’ says Matt Biddulph, who co-founded the app along with Tom Coates.

‘With the Thington concierge we’re working really hard to open up safer, more secure and more personalized homes of tomorrow to everyone – by giving everyone their very own smart assistant.’

Thington Concierge complies your connected devices into one interface, making it much easier to control and personalize your smart home. The app can communicate with users through text messages, allowing it to find out specific preferences