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If you looking for the best garage door opener on the market, most of the time you will get pointed to Chamberlain. However, since the release of MyQ garage, there has been a lack of other smart home products. For example, if you have an Alexa, there is this problem: Does Chamberlain MyQ work with Alexa?
The short answer is yes and no! The base model, Chamberlain MyQ does not work with Alexa by itself. But Alexa is an IFTTT supported services that will allow users to connect it with the right applet to close the garage via MyQ subscription service for LiftMaster.
Unfortunately, Alexa can’t open the garage door due to security reasons by Chamberlian LiftMaster.
What Does the Chamberlain community Say?
I did tons of research and it was very difficult to find out any real reason behind the lack of support to Alexa.
What continues to pop up in my search, Chamberlain had an Alexa skill but chose to remove it in order to charge a fee.
But recently, Chamberlain announced as of June 26, 2019, all premium subscriptions will be free for a limited time and no credit card is required to subscribe. This includes any third-party partners such as Google Home, IFTTT, Comcast and etc.
With that being said, who really knows why Chamberlain has not allowed Alexa as a third-party partner.
Chamberlain or its support team has not provided a statement on the matter.
Should I still buy Chamberlain MyQ Garage Door Opener?
Absolutely, Chamberlain is still considered the number one brand when it comes to garage door openers.
But if this is an issue for you to purchase a Chamberlain MyQ garage door opener there are other options on the market.
Nexx Garage Door Opener with Alexa support
The Nexx garage door opener is a Wi-Fi enabled companion device for your garage door. Which works with a variety of brands of garage door openers out there and here is the complete list of compatible and incompatible garage door openers that it’ll work with on their website.
It has most of the same features as the Chamberlain MyQ garage door opener but it actually works with Google Assistant and Alexa to open and close your garage door. Also, there’s no subscription fee.
Unfortunately, if you are Apple user, it lacks the support of having Homekit and Siri to open or close your garage door. It seems to be no middle ground when it comes to these smart home garage door openers.
But don’t let that stop you because it also comes with pretty cool convent features such as Geofencing.
What is Geofencing? it’s a location in latitude and longitude, a radius around that location and a time for which it’s active.
For example, when you arrived at a specific location (radius) such as your house. Your app will use your smartphone location to allow the garage door to raise as you drive up to it.
Geofencing Triggers – Open Garage Door
Most apps use Geofencing through IFTTT but Nexx Garage doesn’t need IFTTT recipe setup as the technology is already integrated into its app.
The complaint I mostly hear about the Nexx garage door opener that it’s not a plug and play consumer electronic device. Now, you don’t need a lot of technical knowledge to set up but if you are not the DIY type, you should hire a professional.
As far as the community thoughts on the Nexx garage door opener, it has way more pros than cons. You can see from Amazon; it has over 2200 reviews from customers and a 4.1 out of 5 stars at the time of this post.
Overall it seems to be a great option if you want to have the functionality of Alexa support for your garage door opener.
Final Note
The good news there are other options on the market such as IFTTT services and Nexx garage door opener if you want Alexa support to work with your garage door.
The bad news Chamberlain MyQ still doesn’t support Alexa directly but it’s still a great garage door opener.
Hopefully, that day will come with a software update but until now I suggest the alternative options.
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It's great to see that you have come across my website. I hope you explore it thoroughly. The website caters to regular consumers who have an interest in home automation. I am based in the Tri-state area and enjoy the latest smart tech along with my wonderful wife and three energetic boys.
