Foobot

Just how clean is your home’s air? Foobot is here to find out and help you breathe bett er

Gadgets that tell you how clean your air is might seem a bit of a luxury, but how much of a price can you really put on your health?

Foobot’s makers say that indoor air is said to be five times more polluted than outdoor, which according to the WHO (World Health Organisation) translates to over 4 million deaths worldwide every year. Convinced?

Once Foobot has been placed in an appropriate location in your home, and connected to your Wi-Fi, it’ll get to work, adjusting to its surroundings over several days.

Foobot breaks down air readings with VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds), PM 2.5 (Particulate Matter), as well as humidity and temperate levels. It then displays, via the app, how each level in your home compares to the WHOrecommended levels, so you know whether your air is safe or not. A quick double tap of the top of Foobot gives you an instant reading, while an LED light on the front gives you a visual cue: blue is good and orange means it’s time to take action. The LEDs are too bright, but can be toned down and scheduled to turn off at night.

Things like cooking or painting can cause spikes on the app’s daily chart – when this happens, Foobot offers tips on how to prevent these in future, though it’s usually a case of having decent ventilation.

Foobot has added smarts, such as Alexa integration, for voice air readings, BreezoMeter integration to give you localised outdoor air readings and IFTTT support for connecting your smart home gadgets – for instance, your Hue lights can flash when the air is bad.