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Google's OnHub router uses IFTTT to automate your life

Recipes make the router a bigger part of your connected home.

Google's $200 OnHub router arrived last year, delivering fast WiFi in a device that touted an easy setup and automatic security updates. In the months following its arrival, the company has also added features like guest mode and band steering. Today, OnHub became even more useful as Google announced that the device now supports automated recipes from IFTTT. For the uninitiated, IFTTT uses formulas called recipes to automate certain behaviors based on things like a device's location, time of day or some activity.

In the case of OnHub, you can set up IFTTT to send you an email when your kid gets home from school and their device connects to the router, for example. Because the recipes work with a host of apps and connected devices, you can make connecting to your WiFi network trigger things like turning on Philips Hue lighting when your phone is in range. There's also OnHub-specific recipes for things like prioritizing your Chromecast while streaming or giving a Nest Cam more bandwidth when it senses motion. IFTTT integration for OnHub is available now, so you can start setting up those tasks whenever you're ready.