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What is a smart home?
A smart home is a residence that uses internet-connected devices to enable the remote monitoring and management of appliances and systems, such as lighting and heating.
Smart home technology — also often referred to as home automation or domotics from the Latin word domus, meaning home — provides homeowners security, comfort, convenience and energy efficiency by letting them control smart devices, often using a smart home app on their smartphone or another networked device.
A part of the internet of things (IoT), smart home systems and devices often operate together, sharing consumer usage data among themselves and automating actions based on the homeowners’ preferences.
How does smart home technology work?
A smart home isn’t a collection of disparate smart devices and appliances, but rather ones that work together to create a remotely controllable network.
All devices — such as lights, thermostats, security systems and appliances — are controlled by a master home automation controller, often called a smart home hub. This hub is a hardware device that acts as the central point of the smart home system and can sense, process data and communicate wirelessly. It combines all the disparate apps into a single smart home app that homeowners can control remotely. Examples of smart home hubs include Amazon Echo, Google Home and Wink Hub. While many smart home products use Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to connect to the smart home network, others depend on wireless protocols such as Zigbee or Z-Wave.
Smart home devices can be either programmed to follow specific schedules or commands or they can be set to respond to voice commands through home assistants such as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. For example, a smart thermostat can learn the homeowner’s habits and automatically adjust the temperature based on their specific schedule.
Examples of smart home technologies
Nearly every aspect of life where technology has entered the domestic space — including lightbulbs, dishwashers and other appliances — has seen the introduction of a smart home alternative:
Smart TVs. These TVs connect to the internet to access content through applications, such as on-demand video and music. Some smart TVs also include voice or gesture recognition.
Smart lighting systems. In addition to being able to be controlled remotely and customized, smart lighting systems can detect when occupants are in the room and adjust lighting as needed. Smart lightbulbs can also regulate themselves based on daylight availability.
Smart thermostats. Smart thermostats, such as Google Nest, come with integrated Wi-Fi, letting users schedule, monitor and remotely control home temperatures. These devices also learn homeowners’ behaviors and automatically modify settings to provide them with maximum comfort and efficiency. Smart thermostats can also report energy use and remind users to change filters.
Smart door locks and garage door openers. Homeowners can use smart locks and garage-door openers to grant or deny access to visitors. Smart locks can also detect when residents are near and unlock the doors for them.
Smart security cameras and systems. With smart security cameras and doorbells, such as Ring, residents can monitor their homes when they’re away. Smart motion sensors can identify the difference between residents, visitors, pets and burglars and can send notifications to authorities if suspicious behavior is detected.
Smart pet and lawn care. Pet care can be automated with connected feeders. Houseplants and lawns can be watered using connected timers.
Smart kitchen appliances. Brands such as LG, GE and Samsung offer smart kitchen appliances of all sorts. These appliances include smart coffee makers that can brew a fresh cup automatically at a programmed time; smart refrigerators that keep track of expiration dates, make shopping lists or even create recipes based on ingredients currently on hand; slow cookers and toasters; and, in the laundry room, washing machines and dryers.
Smart household monitors. Household system monitors can, for example, sense a power surge and turn off appliances, sense water failures or freezing pipes and turn off the water so the home doesn’t flood.
Smart plugs. These connect to wall sockets to transform simple home devices, such as lamps and ceiling fans, so they can be controlled remotely via mobile apps and voice assistants such as Alexa.
Smart home pros and cons
Smart technology offers numerous advantages, ranging from the convenience of running household appliances such as the washing machine while at work, to the comfort of remotely adjusting the thermostat on a chilly winter day.
Common advantages of a smart home include the following:
Provides assurance. Homeowners can monitor their homes remotely, countering dangers such as a forgotten coffee maker left on or a front door left unlocked.
Accommodates user preferences for convenience. For example, users can program their garage door to open, the lights to go on, the fireplace to turn on and their favorite music to play once they arrive home.
Offers peace of mind. IoT devices enable family members or caregivers to remotely monitor the health and well-being of seniors, allowing them to safely remain at home longer, rather than moving to an assisted residence.
Improves efficiency. Instead of leaving the air conditioning on all day, a smart home system can learn homeowner behaviors to ensure the house is cooled down by the time they return home.
Saves resources and money. With a smart irrigation system, the lawn is watered only when needed and with the exact amount of water necessary. With home automation devices and a smart system setup, energy, water and other resources are used more efficiently, which helps save both natural resources and money for the consumer.
However, home automation systems have struggled to become mainstream, in part due to their technical nature. Common disadvantages of a smart home include the following:
Requires a reliable internet connection. An unreliable internet connection or a network going down in the event of an outage can leave the devices and gadgets connected to a smart home inoperable.
Perceived complexity. Some people have difficulties or a lack of patience with technology. Smart home manufacturers and alliances are working on reducing complexity and improving the user experience to make it enjoyable and beneficial for users of all technical levels.
Lack of standards. For home automation systems to be truly effective, devices must be interoperable regardless of manufacturer and use the same protocol or, at least, complementary ones. As it’s a relatively new market, there’s no gold standard for home automation yet. However, standard alliances are partnering with manufacturers and protocols to ensure interoperability and a seamless user experience.