Just Bought Smartthings Hub What Can It Do

The inquiry

• Why you should trust us
• Who are smart sensors for?
• How smart sensors piece of work
• How nosotros picked and tested
• Security, privacy, and smart sensors
• Smart motion sensors
• Smart contact sensor
• Smart temperature sensor
• Other practiced sensors
• What to look frontwards to
• The competition
• Frequently asked questions
• Sources

Why you should trust us

In researching this guide I spent two years living with smart sensors triggering lights, locks, music, thermostats, and more than throughout my home, much to my family's badgerer.

Who are smart sensors for?

Smart sensors are a slap-up option for everyone from smart-home newbies to devout enthusiasts. At the about bones level, these small, battery-powered devices offer simple solutions to common problems. Often forget to close the garage door? Use a contact sensor to send a notification to your telephone when it's been open for more than a reasonable time. Accept a toddler that'due south only learned how to climb out of her crib? Put a motility sensor in the room and go alerted whenever she's going rogue.

Smart sensors have a lot more potential than that though, and when a few are distributed around a home and linked upwards to other devices, they can transform that space from a identify that has a bunch of smart-home gadgets to a smart home—where your devices work together, oftentimes autonomously.

Likewise the convenience and wow gene, smart sensors are an excellent tool for saving energy effectually the home. A motion sensor can tell smart bulbs and switches, speakers, and a television receiver to automatically turn off when a room is empty for too long or at a ready hour every night. Contact sensors on doors and windows can signal a smart thermostat to shut off when they're opened and turn back on when they're closed. A temperature sensor can trigger shades to lower when a room is getting likewise warm on a sunny afternoon.

How smart sensors piece of work

Sensors demand to be gear up using a smartphone app, and in that location are several software ecosystems—oft called platforms—you tin apply with them that in turn are compatible with a whole bunch of devices made by a whole bunch of different companies. (The near popular platforms include Amazon Alexa, Apple tree HomeKit, Google Dwelling, and Samsung SmartThings; IFTTT is another service that allows yous to automate devices from dissimilar companies, which nosotros explain in This App Turns Any Smart Device Into a Multitasker.) These platforms are great because they allow you to consolidate the controls of all (or nearly of) your smart devices into a single app, and they likewise bring perks like voice control when used with smartphones, smart speakers, smart displays, and tablets. They besides let you configure your sensors to trigger other devices, using what are chosen Routines, Scenes, and Automations. The option of smart platform is up to you, however if you already use an Amazon Alexa device or an Apple HomePod speaker, y'all might consider sticking with the platform they support. In addition to discussing sensors that work with smart-habitation platforms, we included in this guide a few sensors that work with their ain app, as well equally some that work with multiple platforms, so you don't take to exist locked into just ane.

Nearly sensors communicate over Z-Wave or Zigbee wireless signals (though a few may use common Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, besides.) The advantage is that they're especially energy efficient and therefore support long battery life; they also create a mesh wireless connection, which means each device shares its wireless connexion with the sensors closest to information technology. This way nothing goes out of range—a huge issue you've probably experienced if you can't get on Wi-Fi in certain corners of your habitation. The downside is that these sensors may also require that you use a device chosen a hub or bridge, which acts like a mediator betwixt your sensors and your home Wi-Fi network (some smart speakers also office as hubs).

Even though sensors that utilize Bluetooth or Wi-Fi don't require a hub, nosotros generally don't recommend them because they don't piece of work anywhere near as reliably. In our testing, Wi-Fi sensors react more slowly, drain batteries faster, and are much bigger and more obtrusive than sensors that employ less power-hungry protocols. Bluetooth sensors fare slightly ameliorate just have significant range bug and don't work well if they aren't nigh your phone. A new wireless protocol, Thread, combines the benefits of all these wireless protocols with none of the drawbacks. But it has very express availability (see What to look forward to for more than on this).

How we picked and tested

For maximum convenience we prioritized sensors that were compatible with at to the lowest degree ane of the three largest smart-home ecosystems: Amazon Alexa, Apple tree HomeKit, and Samsung SmartThings. We also restricted our search to devices that had potent user and professional reviews, every bit well every bit any we had selected in the past in the three existing guides to smart sensors (this guide is a consolidation of those previous guides).

To exam our sensors, we installed them in a iv-bedroom, 2,500-square-foot home that has iii floors and three exterior doors. Using an iPhone XS Max we ready similar routines and deportment for each device in each uniform ecosystem and went nearly daily life with a family of four people and one sixty-pound domestic dog. During that time, we recorded the post-obit:

Reliability: We noted how consistently sensors were able to trigger Routines and Automations.
Range: We tracked how far from the hub or router a sensor could be placed and proceed to work reliably.
Response time: We looked at how quickly or slowly a sensor detected and so was able to trigger other devices.
Setup and installation: Nosotros considered how easily a device could exist installed and paired with a smart-dwelling house platform.
Pet immunity: We monitored whether pets would accidentally trigger motion sensors.
Battery life: We tracked longevity over two years in most cases, as short battery life triggered the biggest number of complaints in user reviews (especially since some of those small batteries are really expensive!).

Nosotros as well evaluated the design, build quality, size, and mounting options equally top priorities. Our supposition was that anyone interested in home automation would plan to install multiple sensors throughout their home, so toll became a serious factor every bit we made our picks. Spending $xl or more on a contact sensor for every door in a house would add up very quickly.

Security, privacy, and smart sensors

Wirecutter takes security and privacy issues seriously. Every bit role of our vetting procedure, we look at the security and data privacy practices backside our production picks. Nosotros too take the companies that produce our acme picks answer specific questions around their security and privacy policies. Here are the results.

Is a username and password required to use the device?

• Aqara: No. Aqara devices can exist used in HomeKit style without logging into the Aqara app; this loads user data from the Apple Home app. (An Apple ID is required for HomeKit).
• Centralite: The sensors don't act as a standalone device. They require being connected to a smart-home hub to report their readings. About, if not all systems, have a credential-based arrangement where you demand to log in to the hub's interface in guild to be able to control and check status on your smart devices.
• Eve: HomeKit requires iCloud Keychain to be active, therefore an Apple tree ID is required for HomeKit and Eve.

Does the app offering two-factor authentication? If and then, is it required?

• Aqara: No, but there is a logged-in device management characteristic. Moreover, in HomeKit way Apple'due south ii-gene authentication applies.
• Centralite: The hub's interface is usually accessible via apps for Android or iOS, and sometimes through a web-based UI. Some offer two-factor hallmark, some don't. It varies by company. SmartThings uses it, and Fibaro does non, to give you examples.
• Eve: HomeKit requires iCloud Keychain, which relies on two-factor hallmark.

Is user information encrypted in the cloud?

• Aqara: Some user data is stored locally, while some is stored in the cloud. In both cases, all user data is encrypted.
• Centralite: The sensors themselves don't store any user data, only Zigbee network data. User data is stored in the hub or the hub's cloud; data is encrypted in the cloud in the hubs we know of.
• Eve: No cloud service is available.

Is a user'south identifying data (such as their electronic mail address or Wi-Fi info) encrypted when stored in the deject?

• Aqara: Yes. And only necessary information is stored in the deject.
• Centralite: Today'due south data security standards demand that encryption is applied at the server level for any user data stored past the hub manufacturers.
• Eve: No deject service is available.

Can the device be used locally, or is a cloud connection needed?

• Aqara: The automations and security features will still run without an net connectedness.
• Centralite: Some smart-domicile systems that Centralite devices connect to allow local access via the habitation's LAN too as remotely through the cloud. Others are always cloud-dependent.
• Eve: Eve Weather always runs locally or, when accessed remotely, via a direct finish-to-cease-encrypted connexion. There is no cloud component.

Practice you share information with third parties?

• Aqara: No
• Centralite: No.
• Eve: No.

Does the device record and share location data?

• Aqara: The Aqara Home app tin can get together location information for weather, time etc. for automation purposes, and it can be restricted in device settings.
• Centralite: No, but the app used to admission the smart abode hub'southward interface may tape location information.
• Eve: No.

Does the device offer tamper alerts in instance of theft?

• Aqara: No.
• Centralite: The sensors have tamper buttons/switches to trigger alarms. If they are tampered with they will generate the notification via the smart home hub and relay information technology to the user and/or trigger any siren connected to the organisation.
• Eve: No.

Smart motility sensors

A motility sensor detects when something crosses its path and can be used to turn on smart lights whenever someone enters a room. Only it can also trigger an Automation or Routine, which will cause ane or more smart devices to react. For example, yous can set a motility sensor in the upstairs hallway and so that anyone passing by between 6 p.m. and 9 p.thousand. will trigger the hallway lights to plow on, the thermostat to lower, and the front door to lock.

For lighting applications, some movement sensors are more than effective than basic occupancy sensors. A good move sensor has a lux (light level) sensor built in, so that you can set it non to trigger lights if the room is bright enough already. You can use them to set the system to come on subsequently motion is detected at a specified light level based on the time of twenty-four hours—say, dimmed in the evening, brighter in the forenoon. Motion sensors can besides trigger based on the lack of motion, so that lights volition turn off if no one is in the room. Conveniently, these sensors tin exist mounted to a wall or set on a apartment surface, making them like shooting fish in a barrel to place throughout your home.

Our option

Compatibility: Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, IFTTT

The Aqara Motility Sensor works reliably, is very small, easy to install, and yet costs just $twenty. Though it uses a Zigbee wireless betoken and works with both Amazon Alexa and Apple tree HomeKit, it can't connect to them straight and needs an Aqara hub to connect to either platform, which at least helps boost wireless range (there are 3 hub models: The Aqara Hub M1S plugs directly into an outlet; the Aqara Hub M2 plugs into a router; and the Aqara Camera Hub G2H doubles as a camera).

The Aqara Movement Sensor has two parts: the sensor and an optional adjustable mount, so you can install it on a wall or ceiling, or just place information technology on a flat surface. In our testing, the motility sensor turned on Philips Hue bulbs in our living room inside a second of entering. The included push button battery (a CR2450) was still going strong later a year of testing.

The Aqara Motion Sensor tin't exist paired straight with Alexa. You need to use Aqara's slightly wobbly app to pair the devices to an Aqara hub and then to pair the hub to Alexa. The hub and sensor can exist paired direct to HomeKit, nevertheless, without the utilise of the Aqara app.

Too keen

Compatibility: Amazon Alexa (Zigbee-enabled speakers simply), Samsung SmartThings, Zibgee hubs

The Centralite Micro Move Sensor is also cheap and a skillful option if you are already using Samsung's SmartThings platform; information technology can also pair directly to whatsoever Zigbee-enabled Alexa smart speaker in lieu of using a hub (see FAQs for a deeper explanation). In our testing it is larger and more than expensive than the Aqara and had fractionally slower response times; it also doesn't work with HomeKit.

Smart contact sensor

Smart temperature sensor

With a temperature sensor, changes in temperature and humidity in a specific surface area can trigger a thermostat to conform, a smart fan or heater to plough on, or smart blinds to lower or heighten. That makes them a solution for fine-tuning climate control systems in homes that have merely one centrally located thermostat. Temperature sensors are as well not bad for closely monitoring a sensitive space, similar a baby's room, a vino cellar, or an artist'due south studio. Some motility and contact sensors have temperature sensors congenital in, too, then depending on where you want to measure temperature, you might not have to buy a separate device.

Our pick

Compatibility: Amazon Alexa (Zigbee-enabled speakers only), Samsung SmartThings, Zigbee hubs

The Centralite Temperature and Humidity Sensor is an inexpensive, reliable device that has three mounting options (including an option to mount information technology with screws every bit opposed to the double-sided tape nearly sensors rely on), making it like shooting fish in a barrel to install securely. To use it you have to pair directly to a Zigbee-based smart-home hub, such as SmartThings or some Amazon Echo devices, and from at that place y'all can fix up Automations.

During testing it worked consistently in an Automation we created in both Alexa and SmartThings to lower a fix of smart shades in a dining room any time the temperature climbed higher up 78 degrees. Information technology uses a standard CR2450 money jail cell bombardment that nosotros haven't had to supervene upon in more than than ii years of testing.

Likewise dandy

Compatibility: Apple tree HomeKit, Thread

If you want a concrete display to see the temperature and humidity at a glance, or want a HomeKit uniform sensor, the Eve Conditions is a great choice. It is much more expensive than competing models, merely it is the most functional temperature sensor we tested. This is ane of the few Thread sensors around, which, if you lot have a Thread hub, means it can dramatically amend wireless range (see FAQs for an explanation of Thread).

Unlike most other sensors, this one has a visual, e-ink display, so you don't need to consult your phone to bank check the temperature; it'due south likewise completely weatherproof, so information technology can be installed in any location to relay temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure statistics (on its display, in the Eve app, or by asking Siri).

We set up an Automation using the Eve app (HomeKit'southward Habitation app doesn't allow you to use temperature as a trigger yet) that turned on a smart-plug–enabled fan in a screened-in porch whenever the temp rose above 80 degrees during the daytime. Information technology worked reliably and consistently—in large function considering of its Thread connexion (in earlier testing of the Eve Caste, this device'southward predecessor, we had trouble maintaining a reliable connection over Bluetooth out on the porch).

Other good sensors

If yous already own a Hue Hub and smart bulbs, yous might want to consider the $40 Philips Hue Motility Sensor. The company also has an outdoor motility sensor with the same capabilities. With a Hue hub it also works with HomeKit and can trigger whatsoever HomeKit accompaniment, simply the calorie-free automations that you actuate through the Hue app are much easier to prepare than HomeKit's. Without a hub you can pair the motion sensor directly to a Zigbee-enabled Echo device, and it can trigger any continued accessories. In our testing it was super responsive and consequent, with an excellent range (while using a hub) and amazing bombardment life (over three years). However, it is much larger than our top option, the Aqara, and twice the cost.

If you're invested in HomeKit and have a HomePod Mini or Apple TV 4K (2021), consider the Eve Door & Window contact sensor. It's twice equally expensive as our pick, only y'all don't need to buy a carve up hub. Information technology is also every bit responsive as our pick. However, it'due south larger and chunkier and uses a non-standard expensive bombardment, and its included stackers to position the magnet correctly look a bit silly.

For kitchens, bathrooms, and covered entryways and porches, consider the Eve Motion Sensor. It may work for some HomeKit homes, and because it'southward IPX3 water resistant, information technology'south a solid pick for potentially wetter spaces. However, it is not Thread-enabled nonetheless, and so it relies on Bluetooth. Information technology's as well very big, making information technology hard to find a discrete spot for information technology. Information technology does fit well on a shelf or other apartment surface and can mountain to the wall with a screw, it likewise uses two AA batteries, which lasted more than than ii years in testing.

If you need a sensor to work with a Z-Wave thermostat or sun-blocking smart blinds, consider the Aeotec Multisensor 6. It'due south a 6-in-1 Z-Moving ridge sensor that monitors light, motion, humidity, UV, and vibration. Its versatile blueprint means you can mountain it in the ceiling, ability information technology with a battery or a USB cable and an AC adapter, place it on a flat surface, or use one of two mounting options, but y'all pay a lot for all these functions and features. As well, in our testing with SmartThings the reaction time was very slow—6 to eight seconds. The Aeotec TriSensor is a less expensive option if you just desire low-cal, motion, and temperature monitoring and don't need the power to plug into power (information technology's battery only). Only it uses an expensive CR123A battery and had just as slow a response time in our testing.

What to expect forrad to

Aeotec will release a SmartThings Multipurpose Sensor and SmartThings Motility Sensor—previously they had been picks and were discontinued past Samsung (Aeotec will also release a SmartThings-certified hub). We loved these Zigbee-based sensors for their ease of use, low toll, and power to pair directly with Zigbee-enabled Echo devices. Nosotros volition test them when they are available.

In our most contempo testing nosotros establish that any sensor connected through SmartThings had significantly slower response times than those connected through Alexa or HomeKit. It seems changes to the SmartThings platform are causing this filibuster. We plan to retest previous sensor picks from Aeotec and Fibaro, along with other Z-Wave and Zigbee sensors when the new Aeotec SmartThings hub is available, every bit well equally with a different Z-Moving ridge hub. In the meantime, if you have a Z-Wave–based smart home we recommend because sensors from these companies every bit they worked well in previous testing.

Wyze is releasing version two of its Wyze Sense sensors afterwards this year. Currently, the motion and contact sensors are available as part of the Wyze Home Monitoring security arrangement, which uses the Wyze Sense Hub and works with Alexa. Merely you have to subscribe to the almanac professional monitoring plan for them to piece of work. Wyze tells us that it plans to release them without a subscription as a successor to the original Wyze Sense line, although there is no release date all the same.

Aqara has announced a new motion sensor and door and window sensor (release appointment TBD). Office of its P1 serial, the sensors feature longer battery life (up to five years), but also a larger design. The contact sensor will have a tamper feature and the ability to conform the distance between the magnet and the sensor in the app.

Aqara has announced a new Door and Window Sensor and also a Motion Sensor. Both will include Thread wireless, and are slated to arrive old in the second one-half of 2022.

TP-Link has announced new sensors at CES 2022, as part of its Tapo smart home line: the Tapo T100 Smart Motility Sensor, the Tapo T110 Smart Door/Window Sensor, and the TP-Link Tapo H100 Smart Hub. The hub can act as a siren when triggered by the sensors, both of which feature intruder alerts and options for push notifications. The hub tin back up up to 64 devices, and includes 19 ringtones and a 90dB adjustable siren.

Newer Echo Show devices take the ability to detect motion using the built-in camera, which in theory can be used to turn on other smart-home devices in a room, such as lights, when you enter. In early testing we haven't plant this to exist a substitute for a dedicated motion sensor, every bit it is quite ho-hum and y'all accept to pass directly in front of the camera, but we volition update this guide as nosotros keep to test this feature.

The competition

The Fibaro Door/Window Sensor 2 (Z-Wave or HomeKit) is available in multiple colors, making it a good option if you have a diversity of decor to fit in with. However, they are expensive and if you lot need more than one, we call up cheaper models are a better choice. Also the HomeKit version is Bluetooth not Thread.

The EcoLink Door/Window Sensor Z-wave Plus likewise provides a brown option, though we found it larger and less attractive than the Fibaro sensor. It installs with tape or screws/brackets for long-term stability and durability and claims an impressive 3-year bombardment life, but it'due south much larger and more expensive than our pick.

The Aeotec Triangle Door/Window Sensor six (Z-Wave) gets full marks for ingenuity. This triangle-shaped sensor is equally thin as a piece of paper-thin and fits snugly in the upper corner of a door, making it very unobtrusive. Still, its accompanying magnet is black and stands out unattractively on a white or light-colored door. It too has to be removed and charged every vi months, which is annoying.

Aqara's Temperature and Humidity Sensor works with Alexa and HomeKit but y'all cannot use it to trigger Alexa routines. HomeKit also doesn't allow temperature as a trigger then you have to use a third-party app to go whatever utilise out of this device, unless you apply it merely with the Aqara app. It does crave an Aqara hub.

The fourth generation Echo smart speaker has a temperature sensor built in, as practise Echo Testify displays and Echo Plus speakers. These can be used to trigger Alexa routines when the temperature in a room reaches a set point. This is useful if you lot have smart shades in a room where your speaker is or want to trigger a smart thermostat to adjust or a fan to turn on if a room gets also hot. Nonetheless, we wouldn't recommend purchasing a smart speaker just for this function. I of our picks is less expensive and tin can be more hands placed in a convenient location to measure temperature.

There were a number of devices we considered but didn't test because they didn't meet ane or more of our requirements, were overly large with a dated design, or had lots of poor customer reviews for things like bombardment life or client service complaints. There were also sensors that performed poorly in our tests, including the post-obit.

The Echo Flex is an Alexa speaker that plugs straight into an outlet. There are uniform motion sensors you attach to the base of operations using a USB port. In our testing nosotros constitute this to be unreliable at triggering Alexa Routines, sometimes taking several seconds to react and sometimes non working at all. As well, because it has to be plugged into an outlet information technology can exist difficult to arrange the angle. The most useful place for this is in a hallway to plough on lights equally you walk past, but as most outlets are in the middle of the hall rather than at the beginning, you'll be walking in darkness near of the way.

The Onvis Motion Sensor is a motion sensor that besides measures temperature and humidity. At under $25 it is the to the lowest degree expensive HomeKit-compatible move sensor available without a hub, and because it'due south a Bluetooth 5.0 device it responds actually quickly, even at a distance. Just information technology was not reliable in our testing, we had to reconnect information technology multiple times, and its app verges on useless. It is besides very large and doesn't work with Alexa or SmartThings.

The Ecolink Z-Wave PET Immune Plus Motion Detector is big and has a fixed four-to-five-minute reset time, which really merely makes it suitable as a security device since information technology will ignore you for big chunks of time later on triggering once. Information technology has a peachy bombardment life and a 45-pes range, but its touted pet immunity failed in our testing.

The Ecolink Door/Window Contact Zigbee Sensor has a completely different design from the Z-Wave version and only comes in white but is slimmer and sleeker. It pairs direct with a Zigbee-enabled hub, including Repeat speakers, and when we starting time tested information technology it worked reliably. But it unpaired itself from the Repeat at some point, and we could never get it to reconnect.

The Monoprice Sew together Door and Window Sensor is the only contact sensor that connects to Alexa through Wi-Fi and is capable of triggering Routines. It can connect directly with any Repeat, non just the Zigbee-enabled ones. It's inexpensive and attractive, simply information technology's comparatively bulky considering it uses two AAA batteries to keep running on power-sucking Wi-Fi. Additionally, in our testing it took between two and 8-plus seconds to trigger a Routine—much longer than sensors that connect via Zigbee. As well, Monoprice's native app has a truly heinous-sounding alert on your smartphone, which yous cannot change (although yous tin turn it off, which we did immediately).

Ofttimes asked questions

How do I use sensors with Alexa?

Setting up sensors with Alexa is very elementary. You but demand a Zigbee-enabled Echo: either the Echo 4th Gen, Echo Studio, Echo Plus, or Echo Evidence. Activate the sensor post-obit the manufacturer instructions and Alexa volition discover it. And so you lot tin can link the sensor to your other Alexa-compatible devices with Routines. And then, instead of having to inquire Alexa to plough on the lights when y'all enter a certain room, they'll just plow on automatically when you walk in. This article explores different ways to utilize Routines.

The downside of using sensors with Alexa is that the Alexa app offers no direct access to a sensor's controls, so you can't arrange motion sensitivity, nor can you find logs of the temperature over a time flow or of activities, such every bit when a door is accessed. These features are standard in competing smart-dwelling ecosystems such as SmartThings and HomeKit.

How do I use sensors with SmartThings?

SmartThings is compatible with a wide range of Z-Wave and Zigbee sensors (see a list here). To pair a sensor with a SmartThings-certified hub, beginning check if it's compatible, select "Add a device" in your SmartThings app, follow the steps to include information technology in your network, and and then install it and check that information technology'southward responding correctly. Initially, devices may need to exist closer to the hub, but the more devices you add, the further your network will extend, as both Zigbee and Z-Wave devices tin can act as repeaters, creating what's called a mesh network in your abode—each device ensures other devices stay online. Choose from pre-set automations such every bit Smart Lighting, which uses motion sensors to activate smart lighting, or create custom automations using "if then" commands: If this sensor detects something, then make this happen.

How do I apply sensors with HomeKit?

To pair your sensors with HomeKit, you'll demand an iPhone updated to iOS x or later, or a Mac running Mojave or later, and a HomePod, HomePod Mini, Apple tree TV (tvOS 11 or later), or an iPad (iOS 11 or later) to deed as a habitation hub (for more details, see the full list of requirements). Although you technically don't need a hub to utilize HomeKit devices, yous do need one if you want to utilize Automations and have them continue to work when you're not at home. (For more than info on how to fix up devices with HomeKit, bank check out "How to Build an Apple-Based Smart Dwelling Organization With the Best HomeKit Devices.")

In one case y'all've set up sensors in your dwelling house, you can use the Habitation app (preinstalled on all iPhones and iPads) to create Scenes and Automations that and then use those sensors to tell your home how to react to motion and activity (HomeKit doesn't offer temperature equally a trigger but y'all can use a free third-political party app, such as the one from Eve to set this up). You can likewise tailor those deportment to the time of twenty-four hours and who is at dwelling house. For example, y'all might accept the shades lower simply if information technology's after sunset, or yous might personalize which lights plow on based on who arrives home and when (which your HomeKit arrangement detects based on the presence of their smartphone). The person-specific trigger is a great aspect of HomeKit, i that most other hubs don't offer, and it makes sensors much more than useful in multiperson homes.

Does Google Home work with sensors?

Yes and no. Some sensors, including our Aqara picks, can exist added to your Google Home app and queried with voice: "Hey Google is my front door open?" Only for at present, that'south the just fashion to interact with sensors using the Google Dwelling house platform. Yous tin't ask about temperature or move, or access whatever of that information in the Google Dwelling house app. And you lot besides aren't able to trigger Google Assistant Routines.

In that location are several Google Abode-compatible sensors, including Z-Wave and Zigbee sensors from Aeotec and Fibaro (paired through a SmartThings hub), and those y'all tin pair through security systems—Dwelling and Simplisafe for case. But no third-political party sensor has whatsoever functionality with Google Home across vox queries.

Recently, Google introduced presence sensing to the Google Dwelling house app. This mimics some of the functionality you can get from a motion- or contact-sensor-based automation. Using sensors in some Google Nest products (including the new Nest Thermostat, the wired Nest Protect smoke alarm, and the Nest X Yale Lock) combined with your telephone's location, you lot tin can fix a routine to activate smart lights, plugs, switches, cameras and thermostat. Merely this is limited but to leaving or arriving so you lot tin't accept lights turn on just when you lot enter a room or any of the other useful things smart sensors can practise while you lot're in the business firm.

What is Thread?

A new(ish) smart-home protocol that should brand devices like smart sensors work faster and more reliably. Like to Zigbee and Z-Wave wireless, Thread is a wireless system that enables devices to share signals with each other, but unlike those systems Thread devices will connect directly to the internet, though you'll still need what's called a Thread Border Router that lives on your habitation Wi-Fi network (currently only the HomePod Mini and 2022 Apple TV 4K are available).

So far, the merely Thread-uniform sensors are the Eve Door and Window (contact sensor) and Eve Atmospheric condition (temperature sensor). In our testing, response times compared with the previous Bluetooth versions of these devices were cut in one-half—most instantaneous. And the previous range issues we had with both devices were solved. But they were no faster and reached no farther than our top picks from Aqara and Centralite, which piece of work on Zigbee.

We'll test whatever new Thread sensors and devices as they become bachelor and will update this guide appropriately.

Can I use smart sensors from my security system?

Sometimes. If you own a smart-home hub such as one from SmartThings, or accept a smart domicile security system from Abode, Honeywell, Ring, or Scout, and then yeah, their smart sensors may be able to exist added to the HomeKit, Alexa, and Google Home apps (check compatibility to ensure before you purchase). Nonetheless, in testing, we found a slightly longer delay in Routines that were triggered by sensors that are also connected to a security organization. Just if you already have these installed, information technology's definitely worth trying them out earlier spending whatever more on new sensors.

Crucially, for some uses, contact sensors from security companies ofttimes have the power to trigger a chime when the door opens and closes; both the Band and Dwelling house sensors have this capability. If you are using Alexa, you can ready a Routine in which Alexa announces a trigger instead, such as "The forepart door has opened."

Sources

1. Christian Taubman, director of Alexa Smart Home , phone interview , May 29, 2019

2. Mitchell Klein, executive director, Z-Wave Alliance , phone interview , Feb 22, 2019

3. Paul Lamkin, The best smart home sensors, The Ambience , April 21, 2021

4. Cees Links, Smart Home Sensors Differ From Other Types, Sensors Mag , January 13, 2017

5. Christopher Shut and Karen S Freeman,, Best HomeKit motility sensors 2021, iMore , June 23, 2021

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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-smart-home-sensors-for-alexa/

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