Photo by BENCE BOROS on Unsplash

My Stupid Smart Home

What I love, what frustrates me, and lessons I’ve learned.

I switched to a new wifi router the other day, and the effects reverberated through my life for weeks. Just one example: two days later my wife asked, “Why doesn’t my daily weigh-in show up on my phone’s weight graph anymore?” Which forced me to figure out how to change the wifi settings on my bathroom scale, which of course is about as exciting as asking, “How do I unplug my toilet?” It’s a question no homeowner ever wants to think about. And I wonder: is my smart home adding value to my life or not?

Smart Homes are the Future

Let me step back a step and say:

1. These are all completely first-world problems and I understand if you’re saying to yourself, “Man, this guy is an over-privileged yuppie whiner!” I get it. In a way I even agree.
2. As a software engineer and technophile, it’s obvious to me that the smart home is coming. And not just for over-privileged techies; it’s going to be ubiquitous. What percent of American homes had wifi 20 years ago? That’s right: about 1%; and now everyone has home wifi. So you may laugh that my bathroom scale needs a password, but it’s coming for your house too.

Like William Gibson said, “The future is already here; it’s just not evenly distributed yet.” I’ve enjoyed diving into the future of the smart home for the past three years, and in the interest of paying it forward, I thought I’d try to quantify what I love, what frustrates me, and lessons I’ve learned.

I Love My Smart Home

I love that my 12 year old daughter listens to the same songs my grandpa listened to when he was 12, and that my 8 year old son listens to entire books of the Bible on his Google Home Mini at night after he goes to bed. I love it that I no longer need to carry a pile of keys, or in fact much of anything anymore except my smartphone. I love it that the smartlock on our AirBnB literally emails our guests with their own personal access code, completely hands-off for me the host. I love it that last December my Christmas lights turned themselves on and off all month long. I love it that my thermostat always has my house the temperature I like AND saves me money on my energy bill. I love it that at 8:30 every evening a calm voice from the ether intones, “Go workout”, triggering me to start my evening routine.

In general, if you get started on a smart home, expect your life to be enriched in at least three ways: ubiquitous music, simple task automation, and as an aid to intentional living.

My smart home enriches my life in all these ways and more; it makes me happy. Until it doesn’t.

My Smart Home is Stupid

Here’s the problem: everything above (and so much more) works 99% of the time. But since I interact with my smart home (explicitly or in the background) a hundred times a day, that means something usually goes wrong every day! So what starts as “Hey Google, turn on the backyard lights” on my way out the door to enjoy the hot tub with my wife or kids, turns into 20 minutes of technical debugging to figure out why the lights won’t turn on. And some variation of this happens almost every day.

IMHO, three problem areas need to be addressed in order to move the industry past first-adopters and technophiles, and to add value to the lives of the average homeowner. (Here’s my “average homeowner” test, in case you’re wondering: would I set this up in my parents’ house? My mom loves the Google Nest Hub I got for her; but I definitely won’t be setting her up with smart lights anytime soon.)

Issue #1: Scalability

I currently have 29 devices connected to my wifi router (actually that number should be at least 38 but that’s a different problem; see intro above). To update my router, I had to download 3 separate apps from 3 different manufacturers just to get everything switched. Occasional IT for a couple of phones and laptops is one thing, but regular IT support for connected smoke alarms, lights, home stereo, TVs, kitchen appliances, door locks/home security, etc. etc. simply will not scale for the average homeowner.

Issue #2: Constant Change

Automatic software updates are a two-edged sword. It’s wonderful that my devices get better over time (e.g. my smartphone battery actually lasts longer than when it was brand new, due to improved software). But the downside is real: things that used to work either don’t anymore or need to be invoked differently. As a first-adopter I’m willing to put up with it for the sake of new features, but I’m still frustrated that there’s no way to know when or how things will change; and when they do I’m left to stab around in the dark hoping I can figure out “the new way” to do something that worked fine before.

Issue #3: Complexity

I have a B.S. in Math and a M.S in Computer Science: I can find my way around a complex system. But I still can’t figure out how to turn off the daily 6am alarm on my bedroom Google Home; I’m not even kidding. I know of at least three different ways to set an alarm on that thing, but there must be a fourth way I’ve forgotten about (or that changed; see issue #2 above) because there is a daily alarm at 6am and I cannot find where it’s set. The only way I’ve figured out how to turn it off is to put the device in “Do Not Disturb” mode until 6:01am via the Home app on my phone. It’s a hacky workaround at best, completely Kafkaesque, and just one of many examples I could give. The big guns in the industry are starting to address this with initiatives like CHIP, so it will get better, but at the moment it’s simply too complex to be a net win for the average homeowner.

Things I’ve Learned

To finish up, I thought I’d share three lessons I’ve learned. If you’re just getting started, hopefully these will save you the time it took me to learn them in the school of hard techno-knocks:

1. Wifi deadspots matter. When my only connected devices were smartphones and laptops, deadspots were just a minor annoyance. But after sprinkling smart plugs/bulbs/locks/speakers throughout our house, I’ve learned that a consistent wifi signal matters. My recommendation: download a simple wifi signal meter and wander around. Make sure you actually move your phone down near the outlets if there’s a chance you’ll be using smart plugs. Strong consistent wifi signal throughout your place is a must.
2. Make a list. I recommend maintaining a list of your smart devices in your favorite note-taking app; keep it updated every time you add smart devices. At the moment, most smart devices require a specific setup app, and when I updated my wifi, it took me a while to even figure out which app to download in order to update some of them. Do your future self a favor and at least keep a list of all your smart devices, the manufacturer name, and any apps required in order to set them up. “Works with Alexa” is great for everyday control, but for anything settings-related you’ll likely need to go back to the manufacturer’s app to make the change.
3. Cheap doesn’t always mean worse. Or, “expensive isn’t always better.” Or similarly, “Sticking with a single platform doesn’t guarantee compatibility.” Personally, I’m all-in on Google (Android, Google Home, Nest Thermostat, Nest Protect, Chromecasts, Chromebooks, etc.) But I’ve still had plenty of connection and compatibility trouble, even between Google devices. Conversely, a set of SmartLife plugs that I bought for cheap on Amazon two years ago ($28 for 4, 1/3 the cost of a Lutron or Wemo outlet) have been rock-solid through the maelstrom of software and hardware changes to the Google devices I use to control them. In general I haven’t found much correlation between price and usability.

The Future is Bright

Despite all the issues I’ve highlighted above, I am completely pro smart home. Just like home wifi went from 1% to over 75% in the past 20 years, I predict that within 20 years, 50+ connected devices in a single home will be the norm. I’m excited to be a part of it, and to contribute in a small way by sharing my thoughts and experiences as an early adopter. I’d love to hear from others who are on the same journey (either ahead or behind me). What do you love about your smart home? What frustrates you? What do you want to know more about? Let me know in the comments below!