Which Smart Water Shutoff Pairs With Your Devices?

You found out your insurance provider offers a discount for installing a smart water shutoff system. You did some homework, and you’re leaning towards one product- but there’s one more vital question to ask. Is that product compatible with your existing voice assistant or smart home hub?

At Mother, we’re changing the way people experience home plumbing- with a focus on prevention instead of costly repairs. As you discover the benefits of automatic smart shutoffs and leak prevention devices, we’re here to provide answers to the real-world questions that come with installation.

(Who wants to spend $500-$600 to find out their new smart shutoff doesn’t work with their Siri?)

In this quick guide, we’ll show you how four major smart water assistants pair with your existing smart home tech. You’ll make a more informed purchasing decision.

Live in Dallas? Trust Mother to protect your home with smart water shutoff valve installation. We’ll make sure it’s compatible with your voice assistant and smart home hub.

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Smart Water Shutoff Compatibility Table

Don’t have time to read the whole article? No problem- here’s a handy table that shows which smart shutoff brands are compatible with your existing smart home products:

*Flume 2 offers smart hub integration for your irrigation system through Orbit.

The products and smart home tools we researched

For this guide, we focused on the four most commonly researched, purchased and installed smart water shutoff systems on the market:

1. Flo by Moen Smart Water Shutoff
2. Phyn Plus Smart Water Assistant + Shutoff, 2nd Generation
3. Flume 2 Smart Home Water Monitor
4. LeakSmart

We identified the proprietary app that connects each of these products to your smartphone or tablet.

Then, we studied their user manuals and plumber education guides provided to Mother by the manufacturers. We looked for their compatibility with these types of smart tech:

1. Voice assistants
2. Smart home hub integration tools
3. Apple HomeKit

We separated Apple HomeKit into its own category for a simple reason: none of these four products has native integration with it. (There are ways for very tech-savvy people to pair them indirectly- but that’s not comfortable for the average person.)

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Flo by Moen Smart Home Compatibility

Flo by Moen is all about direct integration- it doesn’t force users to navigate tricky third-party apps to connect with their smart home devices.

This has pros and cons: it pairs pretty easily with the devices on its compatibility list, and it’s darn near impossible to hook it up to the ones that aren’t (even if you’re a tech junkie).

• Dedicated App: The Moen Smart Water App is your primary control point.
• Voice Control: Full control via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. “Alexa, turn the water off with Flo” works just fine.
• Key Integrations:
• Ring: Flo is officially integrated with Ring, and management through Ring is rather simple.
• Alarm.com / Nice: Flo pairs with these security monitoring systems. Great if you want your alarm company to react to potential leak events.
• IFTTT: IFTTT stands for "If This, Then That”. It’s a free web-based service that allows you to create automated connections between different apps and smart home devices. For example: have it turn a bedroom light on if there’s a leak overnight.
• Apple HomeKit: Flo by Moen is not natively compatible with Apple HomeKit. Some products can tie in through third-party services like IFTTT or Zigbee- but it’s more difficult for Flo to do so.

Phyn Plus 2nd Gen Smart Home Compatibility

Phyn’s 2nd generation model of the Phyn Plus doubled down on AI technology to monitor water flow and water pressure. There’s a ton you can do through the app- as far as smart home integration, it’s almost identical to Flo by Moen.

If you’re choosing between Flo and Phyn, this likely won’t be your decision point.

• Dedicated App: Use the dedicated Phyn App for learning, daily checks, and detailed usage analysis.
• Voice Control: Full control via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
• Key Integrations:
• IFTTT: Don’t have Alexa or Google? IFTTT is your best bet to connect Phyn Plus with your voice assistants and smart home hub.
• Alarm.com: Similar to Flo, Phyn Plus allows for integration with professional home security services through Alarm.com.
• Apple HomeKit: Not natively compatible. Phyn is not natively compatible with HomeKit. But if you’re familiar with IFTTT, you can get at least limited control of Phyn Plus. Not perfect, but better than nothing.

Flume 2 Smart Home Compatibility

Flume 2 straps to your water meter- this means it’s not directly a smart shutoff valve. Think of it as a data center that alerts another product to physically shut off the water.

Flume’s unique setup means it interacts with your smart home devices in a slightly different way than Flo and Phyn do. Voice assistants

• Dedicated App: The dedicated Flume App provides all real-time monitoring and leak alerts.
• Voice Control: Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant- but you cannot ask them to shut off the water. The Flume 2 simply monitors your water usage and status.
• Key Integrations:
• IFTTT: Using IFTTT is critical to Flume’s success. It’s the easiest way to connect a leak alert from your Flume 2 to the separate shutoff valve you purchase. If you aren’t great with tech, then the benefits of Flume 2 become a bit too complex.
• Orbit: Provides a link for users who want to see their irrigation data in relation to their overall home water use.
• Apple HomeKit: Not natively compatible. However, tech-savvy DIYers can attempt to integrate it with Home Assistant using Flume 2’s API. (If you don’t know what that means, don’t worry- most people don’t, and it’s another indicator this probably isn’t the right product for you.)

LeakSmart Smart Home Compatibility

If you’re looking into LeakSmart, you’ll see a lot about “Zigbee hubs”. Smart hubs use a different “languages” to communicate with their attached products- Zigbee is simply one of those languages.

We mention this between there’s a required LeakSmart Hub you’ll use on top of the app- that hub uses Zigbee to send and translate signals between LeakSmart’s sensors and its valve.

(That means you don’t need WiFi to create a local Zigbee network with your LeakSmart Hub- just to connect it to your mobile app and other devices.)

• Dedicated App: LeakSmart App, plus the required LeakSmart Hub.
• Voice Control: Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, which you’ll connect to via the LeakSmart Hub's cloud connection.
• Key Integrations:
• Zigbee: The LeakSmart valve and sensors use the Zigbee protocol through the LeakSmart Hub. This is the major difference between LeakSense and products like Phyn and Flo, which use Wi-Fi directly.
• Apple HomeKit: Not natively compatible. However, if you’re using LeakSmart you’re probably pretty good with tech. You can integrate indirectly if you use a device like Homebridge that bridges Zigbee devices to HomeKit.

Leak Prevention That’s As Smart As Your Home

Most popular automatic smart water shutoffs and monitoring systems are compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant- and none of the “big four” we reviewed natively integrate with Apple HomeKit (and Siri).

Ultimately, most homeowners with a limited knowledge of third-party tech products will feel most comfortable with products like Phyn Plus and Flo by Moen. Most of your engagement will come via the dedicated app, with the occasional request or alert through your Alexa.

DFW residents: ready to leak-proof your plumbing? Call us 24/7 and we’ll answer all your smart water shutoff valve installation questions.

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