The Chamberlain MyQ Garage (MYQ-G0201) is the leading smart garage-door controller available, largely due to the huge popularity of Chamberlain garage-door openers (and those sold by its professional install brand, LiftMaster). The MyQ was the first smart garage-door controller to be manufactured, and it’s one of the simplest smart-home devices to install and set up. If you are looking for a way to control your garage door remotely and check on its status, and would like some basic integration with major smart-home systems such as Wink and Nest (Apple HomeKit compatibility is promised soon), the MyQ Garage is the best option.
In our tests, the install took under 15 minutes, with the only pain point being drilling some screws into the garage ceiling for the mounting bracket. First we mounted the door sensor to the door itself, using the included Velcro strips (you can use screws if you prefer), after which we attached the bracket for the main unit to the ceiling, near the door and near an outlet, using screws. We then slid the MyQ Garage into the bracket, plugged in the power supply, and proceeded to connect it to Wi-Fi with a smartphone and the free MyQ app. It really is a plug-and-play device, and it’s the only model we tested that doesn’t require any wiring, so you have no need to mess with your breaker. You will need a smartphone, Android or iOS, to set it up, and if you have poor Wi-Fi reception in your garage, you may need to purchase an extender, but the MyQ Garage does a pretty good job with a weak signal. We contend that anyone can set up the MyQ Garage in 15 minutes, as long as they’re handy with a drill.
Once installed, the MyQ Garage lets you open and close the door through its app from wherever you are. You tap the graphic of a closed garage door to open, and on the image of an open door to close. When you open the app, the graphic reflects the current state of your door and how long it has been in that state in minutes and hours. The device also emits warning beeps and flashes an LED light when the door has been triggered to close remotely (but not when opened). This feature is important for alerting someone in the garage when it is being closed remotely, and is a UL requirement for “unattended operation” of garage doors.
Within the app you can create as many customized alerts as you want for when the door is open and closed, and when you are alerted about it via push notification or email. Two especially useful alerts can notify you if the door has been left open for longer than a specified amount of time and inform you of the status at a particular time—say, between 7 p.m. and midnight. This type of alert customization is a feature that only MyQ and GoControl (through a smart-home hub connection) offer. The MyQ app also provides a full history of the activity of the door and allows you to add doors from different homes. Security features include the option of enabling TouchID or a passcode to log in to the app, access the account, or open the doors.
For home-automation enthusiasts, MyQ integrates with a variety of smart-home systems, (like MIGHTY MULE MM562 )including Nest, Wink, and Xfinity Home. Chamberlain is also the only garage-door opener maker that’s an Apple HomeKit partner, although HomeKit integration requires additional hardware. MyQ can also integrate with the Google Assistant on smart devices, like the Google Home, but you’ll have to pay for an integration service ($1 per month or $10 for a year).
Nest integration includes the Nest Cam and Nest Learning Thermostat. When you link the MyQ app to your Nest account, you get an icon for your thermostat and camera in the app; with one tap you can set your thermostat to Away or Home, access a video feed of your camera in real time, and get motion alerts. If you want to access previous footage, you can sign up for Nest Aware (starting at $10 a month or $100 a year), which gives you the ability to receive an alert if it senses a person, play back video recordings, and use the new Sightline feature to see snapshots of potentially important events.
We also tested the MyQ Garage with the Wink smart-home hub, and we were able to use Wink’s Shortcut feature to open and close the door from our smartphones. For example, we set up a “leaving” routine in which pressing the shortcut button in the app opened the garage door, shut off the connected lights, and set the smart thermostat to Away. We also tried a “welcome home” routine, where the garage door opens, the lights turn on, and the thermostat turns to a preset temperature. With shortcuts, however, you do have to press a button in the app to activate them, as geolocation sensing (which is available through Wink) is disabled by MyQ for security reasons.
According to Alarm.com, MyQ also works with its system, but Chamberlain would not confirm this with us. If the claim is true, it would make MyQ compatible with a whole bunch of security systems, including LiveWatch, our top security system pick.
If you already have a Chamberlain or LiftMaster door opener installed, the MyQ Garage is the clear choice for you (most of the other controllers we tested probably won’t work with your opener). Also, if your opener is a 2013 model or newer, it is probably MyQ enabled already, so you’ll need to buy only the Internet Gateway for MyQ Enabled Garage Door Openers to get the remote functionality; at less than half the retail price of the MyQ Garage, this device is definitely your cheapest option for retrofitting your door with smart controls. You can use this compatibility guide (PDF) to figure out what will work for your setup.
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