Best Smart Home Gadgets
Whether you’re a neat freak or someone who lives in perpetual chaos, there’s something for everyone when it comes to smart home gadgets. These smart devices make life easier by automating tasks and helping us keep track of things that are important to us. With the rise of voice-activated digital assistants like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Microsoft Cortana, smart home devices have become more commonplace than ever before. From Wi-Fi thermostats that can be controlled with your smartphone to motion sensors that alert you when someone is in the house, there are numerous ways to automate your home so you don’t have to stress about forgetting an errand or locking the front door. Here are some of the best smart home devices you can use in your home today.
1. Doorbells with built-in security cameras
Doorbells with built-in security cameras are a great way to keep an eye on your home when you’re not around. Many of these doorbells are equipped with motion sensors, so when someone approaches your door or a delivery person drops off a package, you’ll get an alert letting you know. Doorbells with security cameras are useful for more than just keeping an eye on your front door. You can use them to keep an eye on your backyard and make sure no one is trespassing or messing with your property while you’re away. These cameras can also help provide peace of mind if you’re away on vacation, letting you keep tabs on what’s going on at home.
2. Smart Hubs
Smart hubs are the heart of any smart home setup. They allow you to connect all of your smart home devices to one central hub, so you can control everything with just your voice or a click of a button. From your smartphone, you can control the lights in your home, change the thermostat, lock the doors and more. Most smart hubs use a virtual assistant like Amazon’s Alexa or Google Assistant, so you can ask these systems to control your devices for you. Other smart hubs use an app on your smartphone to control your devices. Hubs can also help you create schedules for your devices, so your lights can come on at a certain time each day, or your thermostat can automatically adjust to a certain temperature when you’re not home. Smart hubs are a great way to get started with a smart home setup because they let you connect a wide variety of devices and let you control your home with just a few clicks or voice commands.
3. Voice-activated assistants
If you’re looking to get started with a voice-activated smart home setup, the best place to start is with the devices themselves. Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home devices are perhaps the most widely used smart devices today. These home assistants let you control your lights, thermostat, and a wide variety of other devices. With just your voice, you can control almost any device in your smart home setup. You can also use these devices to set alarms, receive news updates, get information about the weather, play music and more. These devices also let you use voice commands for almost any function you can think of. If you have an Echo or Google Home device, you can set up custom skills to perform certain tasks. For example, you could set up a “goodnight” skill that lets you turn off all the lights and close the blinds at the end of the day.
4. Smart Lighting
Smart lighting lets you control the lights in your home with your voice or a click of a button. These lights can be controlled via an app on your smartphone or you can use a virtual assistant like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to control them. You can program specific lights to come on at certain times so they’re automatically on when you come home or they turn off when you go to bed. Smart lighting also lets you use different lighting scenes to create a mood in your home. You can set the lights to a “relax” mode, “energize” mode or any number of other settings. You can also create schedules for your lights so they turn on and off at specific times. Smart lighting is a great way to add some style and convenience to your home. You can set the lights to different colors, brightness levels and modes to create the ideal mood for any occasion.
5. Wi-Fi Thermostats
If you’re looking for a way to save on energy costs, a Wi-Fi thermostat is a great investment. Wi-Fi thermostats let you control the temperature in your home from anywhere, no matter who’s home or not. You can set a specific temperature and get notified if the temperature in the house starts to rise or fall outside of the desired range. Wi-Fi thermostat systems also let you program specific temperatures for certain times of the day, so you’re not wasting energy when no one is at home. If the temperature outside changes and you’re not home to adjust the thermostat manually, a Wi-Fi thermostat can adjust the temperature in your home to compensate for the temperature change.
6. Smart Lock
Smart locks let you control who has access to your home. These locks let you grant specific people access to open your front door, or they can keep unwanted guests out of your home completely. They also let you create specific schedules for who has access to your home, so you don’t have to worry about giving access to your house sitter or cleaning crew when you don’t want them inside. You can grant access to specific people for a certain amount of time, letting you give someone access to your house without giving them a key that could be lost or stolen. Smart locks can also alert you when someone comes and goes, letting you know if someone tried to access your home when they weren’t supposed to be there.
7. Smart Home Security
Smart home security systems give you peace of mind when you’re away from home. These systems let you keep an eye on your home from anywhere in the world through a smartphone app. Many of these systems let you know when someone is at your door, what time someone entered or exited your home and when your kids come home from school. They also let you arm and disarm your home security system with a click of a button, so you can stay safe even when you’re on the go. Smart home security systems also let you view a live feed from the cameras on your home, so you can see what’s going on even when you’re out of town.
