HOME SECURITY & COMFORT

Get peace of mind from smart kit

There’s more to a smart home than fancy bulbs. Your Apple smart home can include smart cameras that can spot movement, record video and send an alert to your iPhone; smart thermostats that turn off the heating when you’re out and turn it on so everything’s toasty when you get back home; smart air-con to keep you cool when the mercury rises, and more. You can even have smart watering to feed your plants when you’re on holiday or you’ve gone to bed.

One of the smartest such devices is the smart lock. The best smart locks can be unlocked with your iPhone or Apple Watch, but some also enable you to create temporary codes for other people to use. That’s really handy if you’re getting work done in the house or want to let friends or family in and out, and it’s something we’re increasingly seeing in holiday rentals too.

It’s worth noting that many smart security products require a subscription to use their best features or video storage, and those fees, like many app subscriptions, have a tendency to get more expensive over time. So do consider this before investing.

You can create automations based on times – such as turning the lights on at dusk – or in response to motion and other sensors.