HOME KIT & HOME POD
Learn how to fire off your smart functions with a single finger
Get to grips with Apple’s smart helpers
Assembling a vast collection of smart home gear is no longer
a niche pursuit. It’s a valid option for just about anyone who wants to improve the atmosphere in their home, save energy, or automate tasks.
But if there’s one thing off-putting about today’s smart home, it’s the fact that rather than making things easier, going smart seems on the surface to add complexity to everyday tasks. What might once have meant pushing a button now means asking a voice assistant in just the right way, or laboriously firing up an app, finding the right control, and wasting precious seconds of your life.
That’s a very negative take on things. But that perception, for all its basis in reality, isn’t quite true. Take smart lighting: you can, by all means, use an app to switch your lights on and off. That might actually be the best option available in certain circumstances - we won’t blame you if you don’t want to get off the sofa to throw some light on things. But dumb controls are still on the table, too. That light switch on the wall hasn’t stopped working. Smart kit is about adding options, not taking them away, and the category doesn’t stop with actions. It has plenty of triggers, too.
So let’s re-examine that initial argument. Those apps, for all the awkwardness getting into them, pack some punch and actually offer a lot of options. For example, Philips’ new Hue app, which recently hit 3.0, even does away with a number of taps. It’s been completely redesigned with convenience and speed in mind, putting every immediately relevant control close at hand, and we certainly expect more apps to follow suit. Put the effort into using an official app, and you’ll get access to every control the way the manufacturer intended it.
Smart options
Apple’s own HomeKit system, depending on how you approach it, is both a step down and a step up from direct app control. Recently announced as being part of macOS from Mojave onwards, the Home app puts all of your devices in one quickly accessible place. This won’t stop you using the default apps – it’s just another way to control your kit, albeit one that often lacks the fine detail that manufacturers’ own apps offer. If you’re after control, though, HomeKit (particularly with an Apple TV or iPad set as a home hub) gives you so much more. You can group devices from different manufacturers, in different classes, and operate and automate them as one.
So you shouldn’t discount apps. And voice assistants are just as useful, from Siri to Alexa to Google Assistant, once you’ve got the knack of using them. A little back-end configuration, particularly properly naming your lights, accessories and rooms in a way in which your whole family won’t forget them, means all you need is a little natural language, a clear voice, and the inclination to shout at a machine. It’s worth familiarising yourself with your chosen assistant’s more esoteric
commands, though; if you’re using Alexa, the specifics of what you’ll need to say will often depend on the particular device’s skill, whereas Siri’s interaction with HomeKit accessories is more uniform.
There is, naturally, a long list of smart kit that also works just fine without exploiting that more advanced functionality. Take the speaker market, for instance; there’s no need to force yourself to use the Sonos Play’s Alexa portion – you can press the buttons, although this does somewhat miss the point of owning one. Most Bluetooth speakers will work just fine with a cable plugged in. Ikea’s Trådfri lighting solution, covered last issue, comes with its own semismart remotes, which you can use alongside, or independently from, its smart hub.
Get specific
And then there are direct, specific smart controls, which we’re looking at this issue. There aren’t too many of these around, but those that are available offer a great way to be creative; generally, the way you use these controls is entirely up to you. Put in a bit of work when you first get them, and you can keep your most commonly used functions a press or two away. Set up one by your front door to toggle your plugs or lights with no need to pull your phone from your pocket as you’re heading out. Put a waterproof button in the shower to skip to the next track or find another station on your bathroom radio. Keep one by the bed to trigger an evening routine without waking up your brain with the glare of a screen.
Smart buttons aren’t for everyone – there’s a good argument to be made that they’re superfluous given that there’s not a smart device around that doesn’t already give you a way to remotely control it, and they’ll generally need a hub in order to be more than just an extension of your phone anyway. But if a little extra effort and expense is worth that eventual simplification of your home, go right ahead.