Moen levels up its Alexa integration and adds Google and Siri at CES 2019
Talking to your shower will be easier than ever.
If you say " Alexa , good morning," Amazon's smart assistant can turn on your lights, play the news, set the temperature of your connected thermostat and more. Now, it can even turn on the shower and set the water to your perfect temp.
Moen is upgrading the voice control options of the U by Moen Smart Shower at CES 2019. You can add the shower to Alexa's groups and routines, and you'll soon be able to control it with Apple's Siri and Google Assistant.
Moen actually announced the integrations with Alexa and Siri at the last CES. Alexa functionality is live now and works pretty well, but the upgrade lets you add your Moen shower to grouped commands called routines as well as groups of smart devices such as those in your bathroom. Saying good morning can then turn on your shower. You can then group your shower with your smart devices in your bathroom and turn them all off at once with another command.
The Siri and Google Assistant integration will roll out to existing smart showers this winter and spring respectively. You'll be able to turn your shower on and off, change the temp and activate your shower's presets using all three assistants.
In addition to the new voice options, Moen's debuting a new Matte Black finish for the U by Moen Smart Shower which will be offered alongside the existing Beige option. Moen's smart showers aren't cheap -- a four-outlet version costs $2,200 and a two-outlet shower is $1,160 -- so the extra finish is a smart addition that will allow the shower to blend in with more design choices.
We liked Moen's smart shower when we reviewed it in 2017. It's definitely a luxury purchase, but if you're going to splurge, the smarts are actually convenient and the upgraded voice options will make it even better.
In addition to the smart shower improvements, Moen announced a partnership with Flo -- a startup that made a smart leak detector. The new Flo by Moen detector looks a lot like the original Flo, but that's not necessarily a bad thing as the original Flo was a competent but expensive monitor that could come in very handy if a leak strikes. It attaches to your water line and can supposedly detect a leak as small as one drop per minute. It can also shut off your water in the case of a more drastic leak.
Moen hasn't yet announced a price for the leak monitor.
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