Smart home devices

Replace or retrofit a deadbolt so the door can be unlocked by code, fingerprint, phone, or automation — and locked automatically when everyone leaves. The most security-sensitive device in a smart home, so prioritise a full-grade deadbolt body and a brand with no subscription behind core features.

Typical protocols: Z-Wave, Zigbee, Thread/Matter, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi

A camera, motion sensor, and two-way intercom at the front door. The main buying decision is storage: local storage on a microSD or NVR avoids a monthly fee, while cloud-only models often paywall video history.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, some Matter; wired or battery

Indoor and outdoor video monitoring, increasingly with on-device person/vehicle detection rather than cloud analysis. Look for local recording, and remember that a camera's privacy posture is separate from your hub's — a cloud camera stays cloud-based even on a local hub.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, PoE Ethernet, RTSP/ONVIF for local access

Adds app control and status reporting to an existing garage door opener, usually via a relay plus a position sensor so you can tell open from closed. Pair with a left-open reminder automation — it's one of the highest-value automations in the house.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, Zigbee

A two-part magnetic contact that reports open or closed. Cheap, tiny, and the backbone of most security and climate automations — "don't heat a room with an open window" needs one of these on every window.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread/Matter, 433 MHz

Passive infrared sensors that detect movement by heat signature. Excellent for triggering lights, less good at knowing whether a still person is present — that's what mmWave is for. Most include a light-level reading so you can skip triggering in daylight.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread/Matter, 433 MHz

Millimetre-wave radar that detects a person who is present but motionless — reading a book, sitting at a desk, sleeping. Solves the classic "lights turn off while I'm still in the room" problem that PIR sensors cause. Higher power draw, so usually mains-powered.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Wi-Fi, some Thread/Matter

Connected versions of legally required life-safety devices, adding phone alerts when nobody's home and the ability to trigger emergency automations (all lights on, doors unlocked). Treat smart features as a supplement — never rely on a hub for life-safety alerting.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi, Thread/Matter

Small pucks placed at flood-risk points — under the water heater, behind the washing machine, beneath sinks. Among the highest return-on-cost devices in a smart home, because catching a slow leak early prevents genuinely expensive damage.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread/Matter, 433 MHz

A motorised valve on the main supply that closes automatically when a leak sensor triggers. This is what turns leak detection from an alert into an actual fix — particularly valuable if the house is ever empty for more than a day.

Typical protocols: Z-Wave, Zigbee, Wi-Fi

The cheapest way to make a dumb appliance controllable, and with power monitoring, the cheapest way to see what's actually using electricity. Power-draw readings also enable clever automations, like detecting that the washing machine has finished.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi, Thread/Matter, 433 MHz

Whole-home consumption monitoring, either by clamping current transformers around the mains feed or by reading the utility meter's data port directly (P1 in much of Europe, or a smart-meter API elsewhere). The foundation for any serious energy-saving effort.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Ethernet, P1 port, Zigbee

Solar generation data brought into the same dashboard as consumption, so automations can run heavy loads while you're exporting. The interesting automations here shift usage rather than reduce it — run the dishwasher when the sun's out.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Modbus, vendor cloud APIs

Home batteries that store solar output or cheap off-peak grid power for later use. Smart integration matters most for charge/discharge scheduling against dynamic electricity tariffs, which is where the real savings sit.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Modbus, vendor APIs

Wall-mounted chargers that report power draw and accept start/stop and current-limit commands. The key automation is charging during off-peak or high-solar windows, which can cut charging cost substantially without any change in habit.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Ethernet, OCPP, Modbus

Many EVs expose state of charge, charging status, and climate pre-conditioning through a manufacturer API, so the car becomes another device in your automations — pre-warm the cabin before you leave, or only charge when the battery is below a threshold.

Typical protocols: Vendor cloud APIs

Relays, dimmers, and energy meters that mount inside the consumer unit rather than behind a wall switch. Favoured for new builds and rewires because everything lives in one accessible place, and because they can switch circuits rather than individual fittings.

Typical protocols: Z-Wave, Zigbee, KNX, Wi-Fi

Usually the highest-return smart home purchase, because heating and cooling is most homes' largest energy cost. Models with remote room sensors schedule against the temperature where people actually are rather than the hallway.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread/Matter, OpenTherm

Motorised thermostatic valves that replace the manual knob on a radiator, giving per-room temperature control in homes with no zoning. The cheapest route to room-by-room heating control in older European housing stock.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread/Matter, proprietary sub-GHz

Either natively connected units or ordinary ones controlled through an infrared blaster. IR control is cheap and works with almost anything, but it's one-way — the hub can't confirm the unit actually responded unless the AC reports back.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, infrared, Matter

Ceiling and pedestal fans with speed and direction control. Often far cheaper to run than air conditioning, and a good automation target: tie fan speed to a room's temperature and occupancy rather than leaving it on all afternoon.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Zigbee, infrared, Matter

Motorised blinds, roller shades, and curtain tracks. Genuinely useful beyond convenience: closing blinds on a hot afternoon measurably reduces cooling load, and opening them at sunrise is a gentler wake-up than an alarm.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread/Matter, 433 MHz

Small battery sensors reporting both readings, and the input most automations actually depend on. Cheap enough to put one in every room, which is what makes per-room climate logic possible.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread/Matter, Bluetooth

Measure CO2, particulates (PM2.5), volatile organic compounds, and often temperature and humidity too. CO2 is the useful one for bedrooms and home offices, since it rises fast in a closed occupied room and correlates with feeling stuffy and unfocused.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Thread/Matter, Bluetooth

HEPA filtration with connected fan control. The automation that makes them worthwhile is pairing with an air quality sensor so the unit ramps up only when particulates actually rise — cooking, pollen season, nearby traffic — instead of running constantly.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Matter

Connected humidifiers that can hold a target relative humidity when paired with a sensor. Most relevant in cold climates during heating season, where indoor air routinely drops below comfortable levels.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Matter

The usual entry point to a smart home. Zigbee and Thread bulbs respond faster and don't clutter your Wi-Fi network; tunable-white and colour versions enable circadian lighting that shifts cooler in the morning and warmer at night.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Thread/Matter, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Complete fixtures with smart control built in — table lamps, floor lamps, and feature lighting. Useful where you want a specific look rather than retrofitting a bulb into existing hardware.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Thread/Matter, Wi-Fi

Integrated smart ceiling fittings, common where there's no separate switched circuit to work with. Check whether the fitting keeps working from the wall switch, since a household member will inevitably use it.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Wi-Fi, Thread/Matter

Flexible strips for indirect lighting behind screens, under cabinets, and along coving. Addressable strips can show multiple colours along their length, which is what enables effects rather than a single flat colour.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Wi-Fi, Thread/Matter, Bluetooth

Seasonal string and net lights with app scheduling, increasingly with per-pixel addressable control. Worth checking the outdoor rating (IP44 or better) if they're going outside, and whether they remember their state after a power cut.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee

Smart replacements for wall switches, controlling the circuit rather than the bulb. The advantage over smart bulbs is that the wall switch keeps working as everyone expects, which matters in shared households far more than spec sheets suggest.

Typical protocols: Z-Wave, Zigbee, Wi-Fi, Thread/Matter, KNX

Small relay modules fitted behind an existing switch or inside a ceiling rose, keeping your original faceplates while adding smart control. The usual answer when you like your existing switches or can't change them.

Typical protocols: Z-Wave, Zigbee, Wi-Fi

Multi-zone sprinkler controllers that replace a traditional timer. The feature that pays for itself is weather awareness — skipping a scheduled run after rain, or shortening it in cool weather, rather than watering on a fixed calendar.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, Zigbee

Probes measuring soil moisture, and sometimes temperature and light, in beds, lawns, or planters. Combined with an irrigation controller they close the loop: water because the soil is dry, not because it's Tuesday.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Bluetooth, LoRa, 433 MHz

Autonomous mowers, increasingly wire-free using RTK GPS or vision instead of a buried boundary wire. Smart integration adds rain-delay logic and scheduling around when you're actually using the garden.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, vendor cloud APIs

Local measurement of rain, wind, temperature, and UV in your own garden rather than a regional forecast. Meaningfully more accurate for automations that need to act on actual conditions — closing awnings on wind, skipping irrigation on rain.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, 433/868 MHz, vendor APIs

Weather-rated switched sockets for garden lighting, pond pumps, and seasonal decorations. Check the IP rating against real conditions rather than the marketing photo — IP44 handles splashes, not standing water.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi, 433 MHz

Mapping vacuums and vacuum-mop hybrids with scheduling and room-level targeting. Worth checking whether the unit can be controlled locally, since several popular models route even basic commands through the manufacturer's cloud.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Matter (limited)

Connected laundry appliances reporting cycle status and remaining time. If yours isn't smart, a power-monitoring plug achieves most of the same benefit by detecting when the cycle's power draw drops.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, vendor cloud APIs, Matter (emerging)

Cycle status, remaining time, and delayed-start control. The genuinely useful automation is deferring the cycle to an off-peak tariff window or a period of high solar output.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, vendor cloud APIs

Temperature reporting and door-ajar alerts. The alert that actually matters is a freezer warming up while you're away — a cheap temperature sensor inside an ordinary freezer delivers most of this without replacing the appliance.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, vendor cloud APIs

Preheat control, temperature reporting, and timer notifications. Safety interlocks mean remote switch-on is usually restricted, so the practical value is monitoring and alerts rather than remote operation.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, vendor cloud APIs

Kettles, coffee machines, air fryers, and slow cookers with app control. Often better served by a power-monitoring smart plug than by buying a connected version, unless you specifically want temperature or programme control.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Matter

Physical scene controllers, wireless wall buttons, and multi-button remotes. Genuinely important rather than a nicety: a smart home that only works from a phone will annoy anyone in the household who doesn't want to open an app.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread/Matter, 433 MHz, Bluetooth

Pan, tilt and zoom under software control, so one camera covers a yard that would otherwise need three. Useful for large open areas; less useful where you need a guaranteed fixed view, because a camera pointed elsewhere sees nothing.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, PoE

Cameras with infrared LEDs that illuminate a scene in light invisible to the eye, producing clear black-and-white footage in total darkness. The trade is no colour, and the IR bloom off a nearby wall or window reflection can wash out the frame.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, PoE

Detect heat rather than light, so a person is visible through darkness, smoke and light foliage. Expensive and low-resolution by normal standards, but almost impossible to defeat and immune to the false triggers that plague optical motion detection.

Typical protocols: PoE, Wi-Fi

A camera and a bright LED floodlight in one housing, so motion triggers illumination and colour recording together. The most effective deterrent per euro, and the most likely to annoy a neighbour if aimed carelessly.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, PoE

A battery camera paired with a small photovoltaic panel, which in most climates keeps it charged indefinitely on a few hours of daylight. Removes the two hard parts of outdoor cameras: mains power and recharging.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi

Fully wireless cameras that mount anywhere in minutes and record on motion rather than continuously. Expect to recharge every few months, and accept that they sleep between events, so the first second of a clip is often missed unless the model buffers.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi

Weatherproof cameras designed to sit unattended for months on batteries, triggered by heat and movement. Sold for wildlife but genuinely useful on a remote gate, an outbuilding or a fence line with no power.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, LTE, SD card

A dedicated box with hard disks that records continuously from several cameras on your own network. Keeps footage local and off anyone else’s servers, and survives the camera itself being stolen or destroyed.

Typical protocols: Ethernet, PoE

The controller that arms, disarms and escalates an intrusion system, tying sensors, sirens and keypads together. A proper panel adds entry delays, partitions and tamper handling that a general-purpose hub usually does not.

Typical protocols: Z-Wave, Zigbee, wired, Wi-Fi

Loud sounders and flashing beacons, indoor or weatherproof, used to make an alarm impossible to ignore. Worth choosing one with its own backup battery, so cutting power does not silence it.

Typical protocols: Z-Wave, Zigbee, wired

Listen for the specific acoustic signature of breaking glass, covering a whole room from one unit. Catch the entry method that a door contact misses entirely — a window broken but never opened.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, wired

Detect a door or window being forced, a safe being moved, or a bike being tampered with, while everything is still closed. Sensitivity needs tuning, or passing lorries will trigger them.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth

A single button, wall-mounted or worn, that raises an alarm and can light the whole house at once. Equally at home as a security device and as a call for help after a fall.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, 433 MHz

Replace a peephole with a small camera and an inside screen, so you can see a caller without a doorbell press and without opening the door. A tidy retrofit for a flat where external wiring is not allowed.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, battery

Paired transmitter and receiver that raise an alarm when the invisible beam between them is broken. Used across driveways and along boundaries where a PIR sensor would false-trigger on weather.

Typical protocols: Wired, 433 MHz, Zigbee

Detect a vehicle arriving using a magnetic loop, a beam or a rugged PIR, and chime indoors. The most reliable way to know someone has turned in before they reach the door.

Typical protocols: 433 MHz, Zigbee, wired

Cameras that read vehicle plates and can act on them, opening a gate for a known car or logging arrivals. Widely used in shared parking; check your local data protection rules before recording plates that are not yours.

Typical protocols: PoE, Wi-Fi

A small LED unit that mimics the changing light of a television behind a curtain, giving an empty house the appearance of being occupied. Crude, cheap, and more convincing after dark than a lamp on a timer.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, 433 MHz, standalone

A wall or door-mounted keypad for arming a system or unlocking without a phone. The pragmatic answer for guests, children and anyone who does not want an app to be the only way in.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, wired

A wall-mounted lockbox holding a physical key, opened by a code or an app, with an alert when it is used. The standard solution for carers, cleaners and holiday lets where a smart lock is not permitted.

Typical protocols: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi

Motorised swing or sliding gate controllers that accept a command from an automation as well as a handset. Add a beam sensor across the opening; a gate that closes on a bicycle is a serious hazard.

Typical protocols: 433 MHz, Wi-Fi, wired

A door station with camera and speaker plus an indoor monitor or phone app, so you can see and speak to a caller and release the door. In multi-tenant buildings this replaces a wiring nightmare with one IP system.

Typical protocols: PoE, Wi-Fi, wired

RFID or NFC readers that grant access to a card, fob or phone and log who used it. The right approach once more than a handful of people need access, because credentials can be issued and revoked individually.

Typical protocols: Wired, PoE, Zigbee

Replace only the cylinder in an existing door, keeping the handle and the door furniture untouched. Ideal for rented property and listed buildings where a full lock swap is not an option.

Typical protocols: Bluetooth, Zigbee, Z-Wave

Battery padlocks opened by code, fingerprint or phone, with an access log. Useful on sheds, gates and site containers where there is no power and no network to speak of.

Typical protocols: Bluetooth

Small concealed locks for medicine cabinets, chemical cupboards, tool drawers and gun cabinets, with an alert on opening. Quiet, cheap child and vulnerable-adult safety.

Typical protocols: Bluetooth, Zigbee

A lockable outdoor box a courier can deposit into but not retrieve from, often with a sensor reporting a delivery. Solves the doorstep theft problem without anyone needing to be home.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Bluetooth, sensor only

A contact or light sensor inside a mailbox that reports when post arrives. Trivial technically, disproportionately useful if your postbox is at the end of a drive.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, 433 MHz

Restrict which floors a lift will serve based on the credential presented, so a visitor reaches reception and a resident reaches their own storey. Standard in managed apartment buildings.

Typical protocols: Wired, PoE

Connected locks with alarm, GPS or tamper alerts for bicycles, cargo bikes and scooters. Worth having on anything expensive enough to be worth stealing from a shared bike store.

Typical protocols: Bluetooth, LTE

Trigger on a rapid rise in temperature rather than on smoke, which makes them the correct alarm for a kitchen or garage where cooking fumes and dust cause constant false alarms.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, wired

Detect natural gas, LPG or methane leaks near a boiler, hob or bottled-gas store. A different sensor from a CO alarm, which detects the product of incomplete combustion rather than raw fuel.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, wired

Measure radioactive radon gas, which accumulates in basements and ground floors in certain geologies and is a long-term lung cancer risk. Judge the rolling average, not the daily figure.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

A microphone-based device that recognises the standard alarm pattern of existing smoke and CO detectors and relays it to your phone. Turns dumb mains alarms into connected ones without replacing them.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi

A sensing cable rather than a puck, laid along the base of a wall, under a boiler or behind a washing machine, so a leak anywhere along its length is detected. Better coverage than a spot sensor in a plant room.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, wired

Watch the pump’s power draw and a high-water float independently, which lets you tell a failed pump apart from a pump that cannot keep up. Two faults, two different responses.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi

Strap-on temperature sensors on vulnerable pipe runs in lofts, garages and outbuildings, warning before water turns to ice and splits a joint. The cheapest insurance against the most expensive winter failure.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave

Battery-backed luminaires that illuminate escape routes when mains power fails, and which can be tested and monitored remotely rather than by walking the building with a key.

Typical protocols: Wired, DALI, Zigbee

Radar or accelerometer devices that detect a fall and raise an alert without anyone pressing anything. The radar versions need no wearable at all, which matters because a pendant left on a bedside table protects nobody.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Zigbee, mmWave

A pressure mat or strip under the mattress reporting whether someone is in bed. Used for sleep insight at home, and in care settings to notice that a resident got up at three in the morning and has not returned.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi

The same pressure-sensing idea applied to a chair or sofa, giving presence information in a room where a motion sensor sees nothing because the person is sitting still.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave

Timed, lockable pill dispensers that prompt at the right moment and report a missed dose. One of the few devices in this list with a direct, measurable effect on health outcomes.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, LTE

Worn buttons, pendants and smartwatches that call for help, detect falls and sometimes report location. Adoption is the whole battle: the best device is the one that is actually worn.

Typical protocols: Bluetooth, LTE, Wi-Fi

Monitor a hob and cut power or gas if it is left unattended or overheats. Required by some care authorities before an at-risk resident can live independently with a working kitchen.

Typical protocols: Wired, Zigbee

Detect the surface disturbance of something falling into a pool and sound immediately. Legally required around domestic pools in several countries, and worth having regardless where small children visit.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, 433 MHz, standalone

Sensors and restrictors that report or physically limit how far a window opens, used on upper floors in schools, care homes and family houses.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, wired

Contact sensors on fire doors reporting anything wedged open, which is both a compliance issue and a real risk. Cheap to fit, and the report is what building inspectors ask for.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, wired

Measure carbon dioxide in parts per million, the best available proxy for whether a room is properly ventilated. Above roughly 1,000 ppm concentration measurably suffers, and nobody in the room can feel it happening.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Thread, Wi-Fi

Measure fine airborne particles from cooking, candles, wood burners and traffic. Frying an egg can raise indoor PM2.5 tenfold within minutes, which is invisible without a sensor.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Thread

Detect volatile organic compounds from new furniture, paint, adhesives and cleaning products. Useful after building work, and crude in absolute terms — treat them as trend indicators rather than laboratory instruments.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Zigbee

Report sound pressure in decibels without recording audio, which is what makes them usable in rented rooms and offices where a microphone would not be acceptable.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Zigbee

Measure how much light is actually falling on a desk or plant, rather than assuming. The missing input for lighting automations that should respond to daylight instead of the clock.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread

Report ultraviolet intensity outdoors, used to close awnings, warn about sun exposure or protect plants and outdoor furnishings.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Zigbee

Remove moisture from air to keep a room out of the range where mould grows. Automating one against a humidity sensor works far better than a built-in humidistat, which measures only the air at the machine.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, smart plug, Matter

Control mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, the whole-house system that exchanges stale air for fresh while keeping most of the heat. Driving it from CO2 rather than a timer is the single best upgrade.

Typical protocols: Modbus, Wi-Fi, wired

Switch a bathroom or kitchen fan from humidity rather than a timer or the light switch, so it runs when there is actually steam and stops when there is not.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi

Measure conductivity, pH or hardness in drinking water, tanks or pools. Most useful where you are on a private supply or managing a pool, less so on treated mains water.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Connected scales, blood pressure cuffs and thermometers that log to an app. Peripheral to a smart home, but relevant where a family member’s readings are being tracked over time.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Under-mattress strips that record movement, breathing and heart rate without anything worn. Pair with bedroom temperature and CO2 data and the causes of a bad night are usually obvious.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Clamp-on sensors that meter individual circuits rather than the whole house, so you can see the difference between the kitchen, the heat pump and the office. Where actionable insight actually lives.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, Zigbee

Breakers that report and can be switched remotely, giving per-circuit control and consumption from inside the consumer unit. Installation is strictly an electrician’s job.

Typical protocols: DIN rail, Wi-Fi, Modbus

Relays that drop a non-critical load — a water heater, a charger — when total demand approaches the main fuse rating. The unglamorous component that prevents nuisance trips.

Typical protocols: DIN rail, Z-Wave, Modbus

One small inverter per panel instead of one large string inverter, so shading on a single panel does not drag down the whole array. Also gives per-panel monitoring.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, powerline, Zigbee

Per-panel electronics that keep each module at its best operating point while still feeding a central inverter. The middle path between string and micro-inverter designs.

Typical protocols: Proprietary, Wi-Fi

Air or ground source heat pumps that deliver several units of heat per unit of electricity. They prefer long, steady, low-temperature runs, so the wrong thermostat can measurably worsen their efficiency.

Typical protocols: Modbus, Wi-Fi, OpenTherm

Control an immersion heater or heat pump cylinder, including running the weekly high-temperature cycle that keeps bacterial growth in check. The natural home for surplus solar.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, Modbus

Sense export to the grid and divert that surplus into a water heater instead of selling it cheaply. One of the few devices with a genuinely short payback if you have panels and a cylinder.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, wired

Report household water consumption continuously, which is how you find a running toilet or a slow leak that no spot sensor would ever see.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, LoRaWAN, pulse

Read a gas meter optically or over the utility interface, so gas sits alongside electricity in one dashboard. Essential if heating is your largest cost and you want to see the effect of changes.

Typical protocols: P1, optical, Zigbee

Measure delivered heat in kilowatt-hours in district heating and communal boiler systems, which is how shared heating is fairly billed in an apartment building.

Typical protocols: Modbus, M-Bus, wired

Chargers that can also draw power back out of a car battery to supply the house, turning an EV into the largest battery on the property. Availability depends on both the charger and the specific vehicle supporting it.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Ethernet, OCPP

Large battery packs with mains outputs, used for outages, garden work and camping, increasingly with app monitoring and solar input. A pragmatic alternative to a fixed home battery.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Automatic generators that start on mains failure and carry essential circuits. Monitoring matters more than control: a generator that has not been exercised in a year is unlikely to start when needed.

Typical protocols: Wired, Wi-Fi, Modbus

Uninterruptible power supplies that keep a hub, router and network switch running through a cut. The cheapest way to stop a power blip taking your whole smart home offline for an hour.

Typical protocols: USB, SNMP, Ethernet

Log voltage, frequency and dips on the incoming supply. Niche, but the only way to prove that equipment failures are caused by the grid rather than by the equipment.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Modbus

Small roof or mast-mounted turbines with monitoring. Honest assessment: viable only on genuinely exposed sites, and frequently disappointing where a supplier promised otherwise.

Typical protocols: Modbus, Wi-Fi

Zone controllers for wet or electric underfloor systems, regulating floor temperature via an embedded probe rather than air temperature. Underfloor responds slowly, so scheduling matters more than reacting.

Typical protocols: Wired, Z-Wave, Zigbee, Wi-Fi

Motorised valves that open and close heating circuits, the physical mechanism behind room-by-room zoning in a wet system.

Typical protocols: Wired, Z-Wave, Zigbee

Sit between thermostat and boiler on the OpenTherm bus, exposing modulation data and allowing a smart home system to influence a boiler that would otherwise be a closed box.

Typical protocols: OpenTherm, Wi-Fi, Ethernet

Direct electric heating for rooms without wet radiators, controlled by relay or smart plug. Expensive per kilowatt-hour, so scheduling and presence control matter more here than anywhere else.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Zigbee, smart plug

Switch an electric towel rail on a schedule or with bathroom occupancy instead of leaving it running all winter. Small load, but on constantly, which is exactly the profile worth automating.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, smart plug

Motorised awnings and screens with wind protection. Retract on wind speed and refuse to redeploy for a cool-down period — awnings are the most commonly wind-damaged smart device there is.

Typical protocols: 433 MHz, Zigbee, Z-Wave

Motorised skylights and roof windows that close on rain and open for ventilation. Give the rain sensor a short delay so one splash does not close a window you deliberately opened.

Typical protocols: 433 MHz, Zigbee, wired

Chain or rack actuators that open and close windows for automated ventilation, commonly driven by CO2 or temperature in schools and offices.

Typical protocols: Wired, Zigbee, KNX

Retrofit motors that clip onto an existing curtain track or pole, avoiding replacement of the whole rail. The renter’s answer to motorised curtains.

Typical protocols: Bluetooth, Zigbee, Matter

Cat and dog flaps that unlock for a registered microchip, and can be locked on a schedule. Keeps the neighbour’s cat out and stops your own going out after dark.

Typical protocols: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Zigbee

Gas and electric fires with app or relay control. Gas appliances should always retain their own flame supervision; automation belongs on top of a safe device, never instead of one.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, wired

Pre-heat a sauna or steam room to temperature for a chosen time, with the safety cut-outs left firmly in the appliance where they belong.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Modbus, wired

Heat pumps and electric heaters for pools, often the largest single load in a house. Heating to temperature only for expected use, on cheap hours, is where the savings are.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Modbus

Set temperature, filtration cycles and covers remotely. Like pools, the interesting automation is economic rather than convenient: hold a lower standby temperature and raise it on demand.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Electric radiant heaters for terraces, switched by plug or relay with occupancy and weather conditions. High wattage and short use makes them a good candidate for automatic shutoff.

Typical protocols: Smart plug, Zigbee, Wi-Fi

Heating cables in driveways, steps and gutters, switched on temperature and moisture rather than left on all winter. The control strategy is the whole cost difference.

Typical protocols: Wired, Z-Wave, Modbus

Fixed ceiling spots in smart versions, the format most new-build and renovation lighting actually uses. Buy tunable white across the whole ceiling and colour only where you will use it.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Thread, Wi-Fi

Visible-filament smart bulbs for exposed fittings, where the bulb is part of the decor. Dimming profiles matter more here than colour, because filament LEDs are the fussiest things to dim smoothly.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Thread, Wi-Fi

Weatherproof wall luminaires, often with integrated motion sensing. A warm colour temperature and a dusk-only condition make the difference between a home and a car park.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Wi-Fi, 433 MHz

Low-voltage spike lights and bollards on a garden circuit, controlled as zones. Solar versions avoid cabling entirely at the cost of winter reliability.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, low-voltage, Wi-Fi

High-output lights for driveways and yards. Aim them down and inward: a floodlight pointed at a neighbour’s bedroom creates a dispute that no automation will resolve.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Zigbee, wired

Low-voltage submersible lighting with colour control. Anything in or near water must be the correct low-voltage rating — this is not a category for improvisation.

Typical protocols: Low-voltage, Zigbee, Wi-Fi

Task lighting in kitchens and workspaces, usually strip or bar fittings. Best driven from an occupancy sensor or the extractor rather than a wall switch nobody can reach behind a worktop.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Wi-Fi, low-voltage

Modular colour panels and light tiles used as feature lighting. Genuinely useful as ambient status indicators in a study or workshop, beyond the obvious decorative appeal.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Thread

Low-level lighting integrated into stair risers or the wall beside them, triggered from both ends. One of the few lighting automations with a genuine safety argument.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, low-voltage, wired

Plug-in or battery lights that come on dim and warm on motion overnight, preserving night vision. The right answer for a hallway between bedroom and bathroom.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi

Horticultural lighting on a schedule matched to the plant rather than the household. Combine with soil moisture and temperature sensing for anything you actually care about.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, smart plug, Zigbee

Programmable spectrum and sunrise-to-sunset cycles for tanks, plus temperature and pump control. Fish are unforgiving of an automation that fails silently, so alerting matters.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Controllers that make an existing non-smart LED strip addressable, which is far cheaper than replacing installed strip. Match the controller to the strip type before ordering.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Bedside lamps that ramp brightness and colour over twenty to thirty minutes before an alarm. Start dimmer and slower than seems right, and keep the real alarm as a backstop.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Bluetooth

LED strip behind a screen, optionally synchronised to on-screen colour via an HDMI box. Cap the brightness and add smoothing, or it becomes distracting rather than immersive.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, HDMI sync

Bathroom mirrors with integrated tunable lighting, demisting and sometimes a display. The lighting is the part worth automating; the display is usually the part that dates fastest.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Zigbee

Inline sensors reporting how much water is moving through a pipe, which is what makes continuous-flow leak detection possible rather than spot detection.

Typical protocols: Wired, Zigbee, pulse

Ultrasonic or pressure sensors reporting the level in a rainwater butt, cistern or oil tank, so a pump can be stopped before it runs dry.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Wi-Fi, LoRaWAN

Pumps controlled on demand rather than continuously — hot water recirculation triggered by bathroom occupancy cuts both the wait for hot water and the standing heat loss.

Typical protocols: Smart plug, Wi-Fi, wired

Report salt level, regeneration cycles and consumption. Modest automation value, real value in being told the salt is low before the softener quietly stops working.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Track throughput or pressure drop across a filter or reverse-osmosis membrane and prompt replacement on actual use rather than a calendar reminder.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Battery valves that screw onto an outside tap, giving scheduled or rain-aware watering with no plumbing at all. The entry point to irrigation for a rented garden.

Typical protocols: Bluetooth, Zigbee, 433 MHz

Multi-zone solenoid valves for drip lines, letting beds, pots and lawn each get what they actually need — they dry at completely different rates.

Typical protocols: Wired, Zigbee, Bluetooth

Variable-speed pumps and dosing systems with scheduling. Running the pump slower for longer uses markedly less electricity than short bursts at full speed.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Modbus

Floating or inline sensors reporting pH, chlorine and temperature, which turns pool maintenance from a weekly guess into a measurement.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Filtration and aeration control with temperature awareness, including winter modes. Fish stock makes reliable alerting more important than clever scheduling.

Typical protocols: Smart plug, Wi-Fi

Wireless probes that report food core temperature and ambient grill temperature to a phone, with alerts at a target. The clearest example of a sensor doing something a human genuinely cannot.

Typical protocols: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 433 MHz

Maintain a set temperature over many hours by controlling a fan or auger, with remote monitoring. Long low-and-slow cooks are exactly where unattended control earns its place.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Bean-to-cup and espresso machines with app control or, more commonly, a metered plug that warms them before an alarm. Check yours powers on rather than waking to standby.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, smart plug

Connected kettles and, far more often, kettles on a metering plug used as an occupancy signal — the first kettle of the day is a reliable indicator that someone is up and well.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, smart plug

App control and programme feedback. The useful part is nearly always the notification that a cycle finished, not the ability to start it remotely.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Matter

Countertop cookers with scheduling and remote monitoring. Best treated as observable rather than remotely operated: nobody should start a cooking appliance in an empty house.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Precision water-bath heaters holding a temperature for hours, with remote monitoring. Long cook times and tight tolerances make connectivity genuinely useful here.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Hoods with controllable fan speed and lighting, ideally driven by a cooking signal or air quality rather than a button somebody forgets. Also the best trigger for a kitchen lighting scene.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Zigbee, wired

Temperature and humidity monitoring for storage where a few degrees of drift over months genuinely matters. Alerting is the feature; control is secondary.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Filter status, consumption and fault alerts. Low glamour, but a leaking ice maker is a common and expensive kitchen water incident.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi

Wet-cleaning robots, increasingly combined with vacuums in one dock. Run them on an empty house and they work well; run them during a call and you will regret the schedule.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Matter

Suction robots that traverse glass, with a safety tether. Niche, and genuinely useful on large fixed panes that are otherwise a contractor visit.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Autonomous pool cleaners with scheduling and cycle reporting. Combining them with pump scheduling avoids fighting the filtration system.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Self-cleaning litter trays that log visits and weight, which is a genuine early indicator of feline health problems as well as a chore avoided.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi

Scheduled dispensers, often with a camera to confirm the food came out and was eaten. A missed meal is frequently the first sign an animal is unwell.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Circulating water bowls reporting level and filter status. Cats in particular drink more from moving water, which matters for kidney health.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

GPS or Bluetooth trackers on a collar, some with geofence alerts. Bluetooth versions rely on other phones nearby, which works in a city and not in the countryside.

Typical protocols: LTE, GPS, Bluetooth

Automatic coop doors that open at dawn and close at dusk using solar position rather than a timer, keeping foxes out without anyone walking down the garden.

Typical protocols: 433 MHz, Zigbee, standalone

Hive scales, temperature and humidity sensors reporting colony condition and nectar flow. A well-established niche where remote monitoring saves unnecessary and disruptive inspections.

Typical protocols: LoRaWAN, LTE, Bluetooth

Monitor long unattended jobs, count runtime and cut power on a thermal anomaly. Pair with a heat alarm in the room rather than relying on power data alone.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, smart plug

A vibration sensor stuck to a washing machine, detecting a cycle from movement instead of power draw. The cheapest way to make a very old machine report that it has finished.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Bluetooth, Z-Wave

Fixed in-wall touchscreens or mounted tablets showing a dashboard for a room or a whole building. The interface that stops a smart home depending on whoever holds the right phone.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, PoE, Ethernet

Voice assistants with and without screens, used for control, announcements and as timers. Announcements are the underrated feature — spoken alerts reach a household that ignores notifications.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Matter, Thread

Battery dials that turn to dim and press to switch, mountable anywhere including where no switch was ever wired. The most intuitive smart control for guests.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Thread, Bluetooth

Pocket remotes for arming, disarming and triggering scenes, and as a crude presence token. Still the most reliable way to arm an alarm on the way out.

Typical protocols: Z-Wave, Zigbee, 433 MHz

Passive tags that trigger an automation when a phone touches them, costing pennies and needing no power or battery. Excellent on a bedside table, a coat hook or the inside of a door.

Typical protocols: NFC

Small BLE transmitters carried or fitted to a vehicle, used for room-level presence and arrival detection that is faster and more precise than phone GPS.

Typical protocols: Bluetooth

Reproduce handset codes to control air conditioners, televisions and audio equipment that has no network connection. One-way only, so pair with a sensor to know the real state.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Zigbee, built-in

Translate between a hub and older 433 MHz remotes, plugs, sensors and doorbells, keeping legacy kit alive rather than replacing it.

Typical protocols: 433 MHz, Wi-Fi, Zigbee

USB radios that add a protocol to a computer or server-based system. Placement matters enormously — use an extension lead to get the stick away from USB 3 interference.

Typical protocols: USB, Ethernet

Bridge a low-power Thread mesh to your normal IP network, which is what Matter-over-Thread devices need to exist at all. Most modern hubs and several speakers include one.

Typical protocols: Thread, Ethernet, Wi-Fi

Expose devices on an older protocol to Matter controllers, so Zigbee and Z-Wave hardware appears in ecosystems that only speak Matter. The pragmatic route to interoperability without replacement.

Typical protocols: Matter, Ethernet, Wi-Fi

The network everything else depends on. Fix a 2.4 GHz channel to 1, 6 or 11 rather than leaving it on auto, or your Zigbee and Thread devices will suffer for it.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Ethernet, PoE

Deliver power and data down one cable to cameras, door stations and panels. The most reliable way to install anything fixed, and worth putting on a UPS.

Typical protocols: Ethernet, PoE

Mains-powered devices whose only job is relaying mesh traffic to reach a distant sensor. Usually a plug or bulb does this for free, which is why the cheapest fix for a dropout is often another plug.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave

Bridge a KNX installation — the wired building automation standard common in European new-builds — to a consumer smart home system, so the two can coexist.

Typical protocols: KNX, IP, Ethernet

Talk to industrial and building plant — heat pumps, inverters, ventilation, meters — over the Modbus protocol used across the sector. Where serious energy integration actually happens.

Typical protocols: Modbus RTU, TCP, Ethernet

Control commercial DALI lighting installations, the addressable standard used in offices and schools, from a smart home or building system.

Typical protocols: DALI, Ethernet, KNX

Zoned amplifiers driving ceiling and wall speakers, so audio follows occupancy and announcements reach the right room. The backbone of whole-house sound.

Typical protocols: Ethernet, Wi-Fi, AirPlay

Set-top boxes and streaming sticks that can be paused, muted and woken by automation — the mechanism behind pausing a film when the doorbell rings.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Ethernet, HDMI-CEC

Televisions with an API worth using: turning on to a source, pausing, muting and reporting state. Increasingly also usable as a wall dashboard when idle.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Ethernet, HDMI-CEC

Projector power and input control alongside a motorised screen and blind, which is the classic multi-device scene that justifies an automation system in the first place.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, RS-232, 433 MHz

Volume, input and power control, plus the ability to duck audio for a doorbell or an alarm announcement.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, HDMI-CEC, Ethernet

Brackets and cabinet lifts that reposition or conceal a screen on command, driven as part of a viewing scene.

Typical protocols: RS-232, 433 MHz, wired

Detect precipitation directly rather than trusting a forecast, which is what closes roof windows and skips an irrigation cycle for the right reason.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, wired, 433 MHz

Measure wind speed, primarily to retract awnings and screens before they are damaged. Treat retract as the safe default if the sensor stops reporting.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, wired, Wi-Fi

Coordinate vents, heating, shading and irrigation against temperature and humidity bands. Use a wide dead band, or a spring afternoon will cycle the vent motor all day.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Modbus

Actuators for greenhouse and cold-frame vents. Wax-cylinder versions need no power at all, which is often the right answer at the end of a garden.

Typical protocols: Wired, Zigbee, passive

Camera feeders that identify visiting species and send clips. Pure delight rather than utility, and among the most-used devices in households that buy one.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, solar

Weatherproof garden and terrace speakers on a zoned amplifier, including for announcements. Check local noise rules before automating anything that plays outdoors at scale.

Typical protocols: Ethernet, Wi-Fi, wired

Vibration or tension sensors along a boundary fence reporting climbing or cutting. Used on rural properties and yards where cameras alone leave gaps.

Typical protocols: Wired, 433 MHz, LoRaWAN

Motion-triggered ultrasonic or water deterrents for cats, deer and foxes. Effectiveness varies considerably by species and individual animal — treat claims sceptically.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, standalone, 433 MHz

Detect standing water or blockage in gutters and flat roofs before it finds its way inside. Cheap sensors guarding an expensive failure mode.

Typical protocols: Zigbee, LoRaWAN, Wi-Fi

Outdoor particulate and pollen sensing that lets indoor ventilation decide whether outside air is actually an improvement. The missing input for most ventilation automations.

Typical protocols: Wi-Fi, LoRaWAN