Trends to Turn Your Home into a Smart One

Like many things, the past two years have had a big impact on home tech, from integration to security, and AI to health tech, here are some of the latest trends turning regular homes into smart ones.

Integrated tech

Smart home connectivity is more than just high-speed internet, with communication between smart home devices the next step in making a regular home a truly connected one. When smart home appliances work together automatically, they create an entire ecosystem. There are various controllable solutions being created, including wireless mesh networking, communication technologies, and wireless protocols. Slow connections and dead zones will be history when mesh Wi-Fi connects your main router straight to the well.

High Tech Security

Home security systems continue to be upgraded, with interconnectivity the name of the game, and external protection ensuring internal security. The ability to check on your home from anywhere and access the controls remotely is a necessary function for most.

AI

Alexa and Siri have paved the way for consumers being comfortable with AI functionality and while these may be entry-level examples, the future of AI is looking promising and continues to expand. Voice prompts, for instance, are better understood and smart homes are becoming more functional with AI helping play music, turn lights on (and off) and a lot more. The Internet of Things (IoT) will push to connect more offline things to the online space and drive the smart homes of the future.

Touchless Tech

The pandemic has pushed us towards touchless tech, but it was already becoming the norm before our heightened awareness of unclean surface areas. The tech is rapidly expanding beyond motion-sensor booms and ticket-dispensers at shopping centres. Touchless doorbells and remote activation of home tech are quickly becoming the norm, with the sector set to grow quickly.

Health Tech

Understandably, the Covid-19 pandemic has shaped many trends and it's no different on the home front, with health at home playing an important part in many homeowner's considerations. Smart air purifiers and air conditioners are becoming popular to ensure air quality, while water filtration systems are increasingly becoming standard in many homes.

At home exercise

Something else that was spurred on by the pandemic was at-home exercise, with homeowners forced into working out at home. But with gym tech continuing to level up, a lot of people have opted to keep their training in-house, abandoning gyms and group training and splashing out on better equipment instead. Interactive workout streaming apparatus such as Mirror, Tonal, and Tempo, and smart spin bikes from Peloton and SoulCycle, and connected rowing machines made by Hydrow and Ergatta are driving the future home gym market.

Privacy Features

Data privacy - or more importantly lack of it - is a major concern for consumers and it's no different with home tech. Companies operating in this space are making strides to ensure that clients' data is secure when purchasing their tech. 63% of consumers consider connected devices "creepy" in terms of data collection and behaviour but choosing to make devices independently intelligent, rather than relying on the cloud with its associated data transfer, is a critical enabler for an exciting new smart age-free from invasion of privacy.