How to Start a Smart Home In 2022

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Whether you’re into technology or not, there’s never been a better time to make your home smarter. In the past five years the prices of smart gadgets have fallen, and the hardware and software have become easier to use.

If you’ve been holding out, or have gear that’s out of date, we’ve got you covered. This guide has everything you’ll need to start, expand, or upgrade your smart home.This term is used quite a lot, but it boils down to this: A smart home has appliances and accessories that are connected to the internet via your home network. These connected devices can be controlled by an app on your smartphone whether you’re inside or outside of the house, or via a smart speaker.

There are many categories of smart home devices, from appliances to home security systems. Even TVs, A/V receivers, and headphones have started getting smarter lately.

In many cases, technology requires you to commit to a single platform for the best experience, but that’s not true with smart home gear. New accessories have apps that are available on both iOS and Android, and can work whether you’ve got an Amazon Echo, Nest Audio, or HomePod Mini speaker. In fact, you could have a combination of devices from different companies, and they’ll be completely interoperable.

Before you get into smart home accessories and appliances, you’ll want to make sure you have a strong Wi-Fi network. If your network has dead zones, your new gadgets won’t be able to connect to the internet, which disables many of their best features.

We recommend getting Eero’s Mesh WiFi System. It comes with three routers, which can create a strong, consistent internet network that covers an area up to 5,000 square feet. We recommend placing one router on every floor of your house for the best coverage.

Eero’s routers are easy to set up and manage using the company’s app, which allows you to troubleshoot issues and change your network’s name and password with a few taps. It’s important to know that one of Eero’s routers must stay connected to your cable modem at all times. The other two will work from anywhere in your home.

Once you’ve set up Eero’s routers, and have confirmed you have a strong internet connection around your entire house, it’s time to start building your smart home in earnest. If you still find your house has some internet dead zones, you can add another Eero router to your network.Smart speakers fulfill three extremely useful roles in a smart home: controlling other smart home accessories, accessing useful information, and playing music. All three of these functions are important, and can make your life easier.

For example, you can ask your smart speaker to turn on your lights (more on that in a little bit), ask about the weather this week, or shuffle your favorite playlist from the streaming service you use. All of the accessories we’re recommending in this guide work nicely with the three major smart speakers available right now: Amazon’s Echo, Google’s Nest Audio, and Apple’s HomePod Mini.

You can’t go wrong with any of these speakers, but we’ve highlighted what makes each of them stand out below.
1. Amazon Echo
The original Amazon Echo kickstarted the smart speaker revolution in 2015, but it’s come a long way since then. Now in it’s fourth-generation, the latest Echo is a good looking, great-sounding speaker.

Alexa, Amazon’s smart assistant, is still the most advanced AI we’ve interacted with. It answers questions without missing a beat. Amazon adds new features to the Echo almost every week, and you can download third party skills (apps) to expand its functionality further.

2. HomePod Mini
The HomePod Mini is the best choice if you’re familiar and comfortable with other gadgets in Apple’s hardware ecosystem.

It sounds excellent — especially when paired with another HomePod Mini for true stereo sound — and can play tunes from most major streaming services. If you’re an iPhone user, you can use AirPlay 2 to wirelessly stream music from your local library (or any audio source) to the HomePod Mini with no problems.