How to set up smart home devices

Whether you’re a homeowner or a renter, the appeal of a smart home is undeniable. Picture this: using your phone to unlock your front door, stepping inside as the lights illuminate automatically, and instructing your virtual assistant to brew a cup of coffee. When you’re away, a robotic vacuum ensures a clean space, your intelligent thermostat adjusts the temperature to save on energy costs, and you can oversee it all through your phone via indoor and outdoor security cameras.

You can’t just snap your fingers and magically automate your whole house, but setting up and handling a bunch of smart gadgets is a breeze these days. With a handful of ready-to-go products, you can turn that dream smart home into the real deal. Ready to dive in? Here’s your starting guide.

Controlling your smart devices

You can boss around most smart home gizmos using Wi-Fi and their handy mobile app sidekick. So, grab a fresh gadget, hook it up to your home Wi-Fi, snag the app, and you’re good to go!

Some gadgets go for the more universal wireless vibes, like Zigbee and Z-Wave, to chat it up with a hub (Keep an eye on Matter too—it’s the new kid on the smart home block). The cool thing about a hub is you can bring all your smart stuff together in one app. No need to juggle separate apps for your lights and thermostat, you can handle it all in one spot.

Certain items play nice with various standards, but not every platform is open and universal. With a gazillion products spread across numerous ecosystems, creating a smart home might seem like tackling a mind-bending puzzle. Yet, like any task, breaking it down into bite-sized chunks can make it more manageable. Our advice? Kick things off with one or two gadgets.

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Make old devices smart with smart plugs

Before you go splurging on fancy smart gadgets, here’s a nifty hack: grab yourself a smart plug. It turns regular stuff like lamps, fans, and coffee makers into smart doohickeys that you can boss around with your phone. Stick ’em in a socket, get the app, link up your non-smart gear, and bam! Now you can use a smart plug to give them a bit more pizzazz—just don’t expect your plain white bulbs to start throwing a rainbow party. You can, however, make them flip on and off at specific times.

There are smart plugs out there that listen to your voice commands and can even spill the tea on how much power you’re burning through. Then there are those tough ones with weatherproof ratings, perfect for jazzing up your patio or deck. Plus, most of these plugs team up with other smart gadgets, so you can get creative—like making a light flick on if your security camera spots some suspicious moves, for instance.

Start with voice assistants

Voice assistants are the go-to, simple way to boss around your smart gear. If they’re cool with voice commands, you can chat them up to switch on the lights, crank up the AC, whip up a coffee, and a bunch of other cool tricks—all with just your voice.

The simplest route to voice control at home is snagging a smart speaker, giving you the lowdown from voice buddies like Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, or Google Assistant, depending on which speaker tickles your fancy. Amazon’s Echo lineup is like a buffet of options, Google’s got a couple of Nest speakers, and Apple’s rocking the HomePod mini. There are also third-party speakers repping Alexa and Google Assistant, but Siri’s mostly chilling on the HomePod.

Hook up your smart gadgets to any of these speakers (as long as they’re down with the right voice assistant), and then just shoot out commands like turning off all the lights before you hit the hay. Easy peasy!

Get new smart light bulbs

Smart light bulbs put the power in your hands to command single lights or bunches of ’em. Whip out your phone, tweak the color, warmth, and brightness to set the vibe for dinner, movie night, reading, or just kicking back. You can also program them to do the on-and-off dance automatically, considering different factors. And the coolest part? They’re a breeze to set up—just like your regular light bulbs.

If you’re not vibing with smart bulbs, think about grabbing a smart wall switch. It lets you take the reins of your current light fixtures. Quick heads up, though—the setup for this switch involves messing with high-voltage electrical wiring. If that sounds like a bit much, no shame in calling in a pro to handle the job.

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Boost your home security

Smart locks are the kings of door control—you can secure or swing open your door with just a tap on your phone. Plus, you get to play gatekeeper by granting permanent or time-limited access to buddies, family, or workers. Picture this: some even bow down to voice commands for locking and unlocking, while others roll out the red carpet with fingerprint access. Most smart locks come as full packages, making installation a breeze. But a few rebels might make you swap out just one interior piece.

Smart doorbells give you the lowdown on who’s chilling at your doorstep before you swing the door wide open to who-knows-what. Peek at the action on your phone or a smart display. A bunch of these doorbells buddy up with cameras from the same crew, letting you build a whole squad of gadgets. They’re not just one-trick ponies—they’ve got sensors that sniff out movement, shoot you alerts, and stash recordings. If you’re up for a bit of wiring action, some doorbells roll with low-voltage vibes. But, if you’re feeling lazy (no judgment), the battery-powered ones skip the wires and slide into place in minutes.