Zigbee support

Would love to see native zigbee support.

[jay (support)]

It's already on the feature request list, though I'm not sure it's going to be relevant for long once Matter devices start shipping. In the meantime, there are a few ways to integrate Zigbee devices, just search around here on the forums a bit.

Jay, thanks. Don’t disagree about Matter but want to install some roller shades now. From what I can tell it looks like all the zigbee hubs that people have used with Indigo require MQTT. Really want to avoid another spof or place to look when something goes wrong. The roller blinds I wanted to try (smartwings) also had an Alexa version which might provide some protection with Matter.

I recently added two Echo Gen4 (spherical) devices. They both have Zigbee hubs, which seems an odd 'standard' for Amazon to embrace, since I also have a Ring Security system and its sensors are either Z-Wave, Z-Wave+, or some variation. Now, we have Matter coming on board?

What is going to survive? I've never used Zigbee, but does it use IP?
Is Matter a way to render existing devices obsolete or is it just another protocol to render all existing 'standards' obsolete?

The majority of my control devices are Insteon and a slightly fewer number are Z-Wave, but I do have VeSync and a few other IP/WiFi devices. Anyone wish to prognosticate about where home control protocols are going?

[jay (support)]

Zigbee does not use WiFi - you have to have a dongle for it just like for Z-Wave and Insteon.

We learned a long time ago to avoid guessing where the market is going.

@sarhcat

I suppose we need to remain open/compatible with as many protocols as possible...this could take years to settle down.

Have you tried using zigbee on your echo's with Indigo? I've read that the zigbee in Echo's are there for Echo use vs external use (if that makes sense).
The articles I've read are several months old so would like to get your feedback.

I have done nothing with the Zigbee hubs in the two Echo4s, since I have no Zigbee devices and Indigo does not support the Zigbee protocol. When Jay mentioned that a 'dongle' for Zigbee is required, I suppose that means that the Echo4s would be the Zigbee dongles in this case. They would appear to need to be supported as interfaces, which Indigo does not, at this time. I'm not sure there is yet any value in the Zigbee hub, with regard to Indigo.

I bought the new Echo4 devices as a Prime Day deal and traded in my 3rd gen Echos, so the upgrade was very inexpensive. I wish there was a 4th gen Echo without the Zigbee interface, but I paid essentially nothing for a capability for which I have no use. I still can't figure why Amazon decided to add Zigbee, which their extensive Ring product line does not use. Strange.

[jay (support)]

When Jay mentioned that a 'dongle' for Zigbee is required, I suppose that means that the Echo4s would be the Zigbee dongles in this case.

No, I mean a USB dongle like the Z-Stick, etc. AFAIK, Amazon doesn't have any APIs for accessing the Zigbee component in the Echo devices, meaning that there is no way Indigo can directly control any Zigbee devies that talk to the Echo.

If you want to interface to Zigbee, you can either 1) interface to a hub that supports Zigbee and also has an API (i.e. Hubitat Plugin, Hue Plugin, Sylvania Lightify Plugin - there are also a couple of home assistant plugins but those haven't been update for the next release of Indigo) or 2) connect some other bit of software that talks to a Zigbee interface and that can bridge that to Indigo (there are some MQTT-based solutions others have posted here on the forums).

It would be possible to build an Indigo plugin that talks to a Zigbee USB interface that would directly control Zigbee devices, but TBH demand just isn't that great. And, as was my point earlier, I expect that Matter will eventually replace Zigbee. We have no plans on supporting Zigbee ourselves. Z-Wave offers 95% of the device types that users want (supply chain issues notwithstanding), so for now that will remain our focus.