Hmm, interesting idea—but wouldn't that get annoying after a while? I mean, I tried something similar with my garage door setup.
Yeah, I get what you're saying about the constant confirmation prompts. I had a similar experience with my smart lights setup. At first, I thought it'd be great to have Alexa ask me something like, "Are you sure you want to turn off all downstairs lights?" Seemed logical—especially to avoid accidentally plunging the whole family into darkness when I just meant the kitchen. But after a week or two, it started feeling like Alexa was questioning my judgment every single time. Got old fast.
I ended up switching to a quick visual cue instead—like the Echo screen briefly showing what's about to happen before executing the command. It's subtle enough that it doesn't interrupt the flow, but noticeable enough that I can catch mistakes before they happen. Maybe something similar could work for sensors? Just a thought...
"But after a week or two, it started feeling like Alexa was questioning my judgment every single time. Got old fast."
Haha, totally relate to this. I had a similar issue with my smart window sensors and Google Assistant. At first, I thought it'd be awesome if it verbally confirmed whenever a window was left open—seemed like a great safety feature. But after the third time hearing "Did you know the bedroom window is still open?" when I was just trying to enjoy some fresh air... yeah, it got pretty annoying.
What worked better for me was setting up subtle notifications on my phone instead. Now, if a window stays open past bedtime or when I'm leaving home, I get a quick alert—no nagging voice needed. Plus, it's nice not having the assistant interrupt movie night just because someone cracked open a window upstairs.
Visual cues or quiet notifications definitely seem like the sweet spot here. Voice prompts are cool in theory, but in practice they can feel intrusive pretty quickly.
I get what you're saying about voice prompts getting intrusive. I set up Alexa with my window sensors thinking it'd be handy, but after a few days, it felt like having a nagging roommate. I switched to using colored smart bulbs instead—green if everything's closed, orange if something's open. It's subtle enough not to interrupt anything, but noticeable when you glance around the room.
"Plus, it's nice not having the assistant interrupt movie night just because someone cracked open a window upstairs."
Exactly. Nothing ruins a tense movie scene like Alexa chiming in about the laundry room window. I'm curious though, has anyone tried pairing window sensors with routines that automatically adjust thermostats or air purifiers? Seems like it could be useful, but I'm wondering if it ends up being just another gimmick...