7 Tips to Optimize Your Smart Home

If you incorporate smart tech into your home, there are countless activities that have likely become a lot easier. But even if this is the case, there might be more you can do to optimize your smart home and streamline things even further. So, what actions can you take to get your smart home working at its best?

1. Use a Smart Home Hub

A smart home hub can essentially act as the brain of your smart home. From this device, you can control all the elements of your smart home like lighting, speakers, heating, or otherwise.

Hubs are not an absolute necessity for smart homes. You can control your separate smart home devices using their native apps, but this can quickly become confusing and overwhelming if you have more than a handful of smart devices in your home. So, in order to streamline the process of controlling your different smart accessories, consider a smart home hub.

Smart home hubs come in a variety of different forms. Some hubs are essentially tablets with touchscreens (such as the Google Nest Hub), while others are simpler devices without displays.

Either way, they can play a crucial role in connecting all your technology. If you’re using various smart tech protocols, you’ll need a hub that can support them all, otherwise its presence becomes a little futile.

2. Choose a Master Platform

While there’s nothing wrong with using various smart home platforms, it can pose difficulties when it comes to connection and syncing. So, if you’re yet to construct your smart home, consider sticking to one master platform to keep things really streamlined.

There are a few major smart home platforms out there today that most people opt for, including Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit. You may be a big fan of Google, or prefer Apple’s products over all else. Regardless of your preference, it may be easier for you to just use one platform wherever you can, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience with smart technology and want to avoid overlap.

3. Keep Your Devices in Range

Smart home devices connect to each other via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, so it’s important to ensure that they are in range of each other, or your router, to avoid any issues with communication. For instance, if you’re using a Bluetooth-enabled app to control a smart lamp, chances are you’ll have trouble connecting from another room or floor.

If you have a larger residence, this may be more of an issue, as the wireless signals will have to travel farther from place to place. If you’re yet to set up a smart home, make sure your Wi-Fi signal remains relatively strong from one end of your house to the other, or try to keep your smart devices in an area that isn’t going to struggle with receiving signals.

4. Use Geofencing

In terms of smart technology, geofencing your home involves creating a virtual perimeter around your premises so that your smart home can detect when you enter or leave. This way, things can get started up automatically as you get home, or go to standby when you leave.

There are many reasons why geofencing can be a great addition to your smart home, starting with security. If your smart home uses an alarm system, it could be armed or disarmed automatically when you enter or leave. This saves you having to remember to arm your system if you’re in a rush, or having to go out of your way to disarm it when you arrive home.

Additionally, geofencing can activate your other smart devices when you get home, or deactivate them when you leave. For instance, your central heating or air conditioning could be instantly turned on, or your entertainment system could start up so that you can sit back and relax as soon as you walk through the door. Additionally, if you park your car in a garage, geofencing could automatically open the garage door when your vehicle is detected outside.

5. Use Voice Control Where Possible

Voice control can serve as a super convenient alternative to manual control, as it doesn’t require physical access to a device. Rather, your voice serves as the command.

Most smart home devices with voice control capabilities also have a manual option, such as the widely popular Alexa smart speaker made by Amazon. If you live a pretty busy life and are constantly rushing around the house, having smart devices that can fulfill voice commands so that you can control things hands-free could prove invaluable.

6. Schedule Smart Lighting

If you get up, arrive home, and go to sleep at the same time each day, you might want to consider scheduling your smart lighting. This be a convenience to you in general, but may also help you save electricity. For example, if you forget to manually turn off a light before leaving the house, a schedule will ensure that it is automatically turned off, regardless of whether you’re at home.

Make sure that, if you want to create a smart lighting schedule, you’re going to be at home when the lights are on. We all know how pricey electricity is so leaving your lights on for hours when no one is around will likely be a big waste of money for you.

You can also use geofencing to automatically switch your lights on and off. As previously discussed, geofencing allows your smart tech to detect when you come and go, which means your lights can be switched off once you leave, or switched on once you return. Again, this could save you time and money.

7. Maintain a Strong Wi-Fi Connection

Smart home technology often relies on a stable Wi-Fi connection to send and receive commands. So, if your router runs into problems, chances are your smart devices will follow suit.

If you’re using a lot of different smart home devices simultaneously, you may need a more robust smart Wi-Fi router that can provide high bandwidth and adequate speeds. This could be costly but is something of a necessary evil if you want your smart home to work quickly and efficiently.

If you live in a larger home and are having trouble getting your router to connect to devices on the other side of the premises, consider using Wi-Fi extension disks or a plug-in antenna to strengthen the signal. We have a guide on boosting your Wi-Fi range if you’d like to learn more about this.

Smart Home Improvement Doesn’t Have to Be Difficult or Pricey

The idea of optimizing your smart home may have you worrying about challenging technical aspects and hordes of new gear. But even the smallest of changes can help your smart home become more streamlined and efficient. So consider the tips above if you want to ensure that your smart home is a well-oiled machine.