The smart home market is growing by leaps and bounds, and there is a whole range of inexpensive products designed to make your home even smarter.
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Smart home tech has gone from niche innovation to industry standard in the space of just a few years, and many new appliances and devices now come with some level of built-in connectivity as standard. However, making full use of any smart home ecosystem’s potential is harder to do — after all, it’s easy for even the most dedicated enthusiasts to overlook a recently launched device or accessory.
There are plenty of smaller, more affordable smart home devices out there that promise to be just as useful as big-ticket items, whether that’s through connecting existing devices to a smart network or adding extra functionality of their own. We’ve rounded up some underrated accessories that are designed to blend into existing ecosystems, all of which offer useful features or solve a common problem with current smart home tech. Whether you’re an enthusiast knee-deep in IoT gadgets or a newcomer looking to make the most out of your smart speaker, these eight top picks are all well worth trying out.Wyze smart plug
Even the most dedicated smart home enthusiast will likely have a few appliances that don’t come with connectivity features built in, but the Wyze smart plug is an affordable way to connect those appliances to a smart home setup. The plug fits into a wall outlet and then the appliance can be connected to the plug, allowing it to be turned on and off through a wi-fi connection. We reviewed the Wyze plug back in 2019 and found it to work exactly as intended, with each plug controllable through the Wyze app as well as through Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
Each plug can be named on the app and grouped together so, for example, every lamp on the floor of a house can be turned on with a single tap. A timer and a vacation mode are also available, the latter of which turns lighting on and off in a randomized pattern to make it look like there’s always someone home. A twin pack of the plugs is available on Amazon for less than $20.Netatmo smart indoor siren
While security tech is one of the most popular smart home segments, a smart indoor siren is one of the more overlooked accessories — in fact, some people may never have heard of it. Smart sirens, like the one available as part of Netatmo’s alarm system, adds an extra level of deterrence against would-be burglars by blaring a 110-decibel alarm whenever it detects an unknown person gaining entry to a home. It uses the facial recognition system available with Netatmo’s indoor security camera to work out who’s supposed to be there and who isn’t, and will send an alert to the homeowner’s phone as soon as an unknown person is detected.
As well as alerting users to break-ins, the siren can also play everyday noises to give the impression of someone being home. These include the sound of dogs barking or children crying, and aim to help prevent opportunistic thieves from attempting to gain entry in the first place. The siren can be picked up on Amazon for $74.
