Controlling your home from your phone
Your home is your castle, and a castle must be protected at all times. Of course, you’re not always at home. You’ve got to go to work and you need vacations to get away from work!
So how can you keep a watchful eye over your home and make sure your precious belongings are safe when you’re away? Two words: home automation. You may have heard about the acquisition of a company called Nest for $3.2 billion by Google. Nest is a company that makes “smart” thermostats and smoke alarms, but they are just one of many companies revolutionizing the home automation industry.
Home automation has been around for a long time, but the emergence of smartphones and Wi-Fi has made the technology more convenient and affordable. It might sound like science fiction, but you can now control all of the appliances in your home right from your smartphone.
We still haven’t reached the day where the dishes do themselves, but these 4 Wi-Fi home automation apps and technologies can make your life easier.
Answer your door from anywhere in the world
When you’re on your next tropical vacation, not everyone will know that you’re away from home. People may drop by your house and ring the doorbell expecting to see you. With Video Doorbell, you can answer your door from the palm of your hand. VideoDoorbell is a Wi-Fi enabled doorbell camera that allows you to video chat with visitors through your smartphone.
Have you ever missed an important package because you were just a few minutes late getting home? With VideoDoorbell, you can let the delivery man know that it’s safe to leave the delivery at your door.
Adjust your thermostat from your phone
Forgetting to adjust the thermostat when you leave your house can be a big waste of money. Smart thermostats are making this scenario a thing of the past. With technology like Nest, convenient control of your home’s thermostat is now right at your fingertips wherever you are.
With a programmable smart thermostat, you can control the settings from your Apple or Android smartphone. Best of all, its sophisticated automation technology continually learns to pre-heat/cool your home based on your habits so that you are comfortable at all times. The last thing you want after a long day at work is to come home to a freezing house. With a Wi-Fi enabled thermostat, you can take total control of your home’s temperature settings.
Your thermostat isn’t the only appliance you can control from a smart home app. Here is a list of the best smart appliances to help you continue the modernization of your home.
Get real-time updates on your smoke and carbon monoxide levels
Fire and carbon monoxide are two of the biggest safety hazards in your home so it’s comforting to have the ability to monitor them from anywhere with a smart home app. Nest also created an alarm that syncs with your smartphone to alert you if the smoke or carbon monoxide alarm goes off. Nest Protect includes features that give you real-time updates about smoke and carbon monoxide levels. It can also notify you when the batteries are low in your alarms.
Feed the fish from France
Beyond your home and garden, home automation technology can even protect another precious belonging: your fish! Apex aquarium monitoring gives you complete control over your tank from your smartphone. From ozone control to automated feeding, this device eliminates the need for a Nemo-sitter on your next holiday and takes the marine biology guesswork out of your aquarium.
