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10 Smart Home Trends This Year

Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.

When Smart House aired on Disney Channel in 1999, it was a massive stretch of the imagination; while smart home technology has thankfully not tried to take over as anyone’s mother, it has come a long way. New technologies for homes have really taken off as devices are being introduced for every room in the house.

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Smart trends are no longer reserved for the most high-end homes or saved for an upgrade years down the line—people are actually buying homes today with an eye on the existing smart home tech that’s already included. These are some of the biggest smart home tech trends happening right now.

1. Integration

One of the top smart home trends for 2021 is just how fully integrated smart home tech is becoming. As mentioned above, it has almost become an expectation instead of a luxury, and along with higher expectations has come connectedness and ease of use.

From a pure integration standpoint, more smart home devices are starting to communicate with one another. For instance multiple rooms in your home can be outfitted with Google Home speakers that can function in a group(s) instead of individual units. A Philips Hue lighting system can control the lights in your entire home and can follow specific routines that you create to turn the lights on or off across the household according to your schedule and needs.

When a smart refrigerator detects you’re low on milk it could add it to the shopping list stored on your Amazon Alexa device. Connection is key when it comes to expanding the smart home system.

Ease of use continues to improve, too. You don’t need to be tech-savvy to set up many smart tech devices. If you have a smartphone, a Wi-Fi connection and an outlet, most people are set to connect a lot of devices—which makes the barrier to entry lower for smart home tech across the board.

2. Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things

Thanks to voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Siri, most people are familiar with at least some aspects of AI functionality. Artificial intelligence continues to improve, understanding commands better and responding in more relevant ways. AI in smart homes helps residents play music, update their to-do list, turn lights off and on and much more.

The internet of things (essentially taking all the things in the world and connecting them to the internet) is still a more complicated process to understand, but progress made in the smart home world in regards to IoT will have a lot of implications for making life easier, particularly in the smart kitchen and smart bathroom space.

3. Touchless Tech

This trend had already started to permeate the smart home arena and the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated it in 2020 and 2021. You’ve likely seen touchless hand sanitizer dispensers in retail environments, and while they’re likely not smart-enabled, the potential is there—and the touchless concept is expanding.

For example, touchless doorbells are a new innovation for guests to announce their arrival without touching a shared surface that could potentially spread germs. And of course, many home devices are controlled via mobile apps so each individual that has control touches only their own phone and not the device itself.

4. Smart Thermostats

Following smart speakers, smart thermostats have been one of the most widely adopted smart home tech devices. They are generally easy to install and can be completely customized to your preferred temperature, as well as your routines, making it easy to adjust the environment in your home from anywhere.

Smart thermostats are also touted as eco-friendly because you can easily turn heating and cooling off and on when you’re away from the home, and budget-friendly because using one can cut down your utilities bills. Nest claims to save U.S. customers an average of 10% to 12% on their heating bills and about 15% on their cooling bills annually.

5. Health Tech

Another trend that was accelerated by the pandemic, plenty of smart home tech started to either focus completely on, or at least emphasize, health benefits for 2021. As mentioned, smart thermostats have been one of the most popular smart tech devices for a while, but now some are integrating features like humidity sensors to help with air quality; stand-alone humidity sensors are a growth area, too.

Smart air purifiers and air conditioners are also on the rise to assist in elevating and maintaining air quality during this global health crisis. Some smart doorbells are integrating temperature-taking functionality so that people can screen their guests for one of the most basic Covid-19 indicators before allowing them inside.

In smart home tech that is less Covid-inspired, smart water filtration systems are helping with overall health. Far beyond your typical toilet, advanced smart toilets are going so far as to use sensors to analyze waste and skin to provide insight into the user’s health and alert them about any issues that may arise, with the hope that users can seek professional attention before a problem worsens.

6. At-Home Exercise

A health-related trend that was also stimulated further during the pandemic, because of the closing of gyms and fitness studios and the increase in time spent at home, tech-based at-home exercise is continuing to grow in 2021. Smart workout tech like the Mirror (which was acquired by Lululemon in June 2020), Samsung’s Smart Trainer and the Ultrahuman app built to connect to a user’s Apple Watch, have all found increased interest.

7. Home Office

With the widespread pivot to working from home, smart home innovations, specifically for home offices, garnered attention last year and continue to evolve as companies extend office closures and even switch to hybrid or permanent work from home policies. Tech from noise-canceling windows to drown out the neighbor mowing their lawn to AI filters to hide the messy living room when you jump on a video call with your boss are just the beginning of the potential for growth in this space.

8. High-Speed Connection

One of the premises for smart homes of the future is high-speed internet connection via mesh Wi-Fi. Slow connections and dead zones that occur when you walk away from your router will be a problem of the past when mesh Wi-Fi connects your main router straight to the well. The whole house will have high-speed connection for the rest of the smart home devices you install.

9. High-Tech Security

To ensure the safety of all of the smart home tech inside, smart home security systems are being developed to protect the outside. These devices will get more interconnected, allowing you to check on your home from anywhere and access the controls from afar (like opening the door for a delivery person or turning lights on if you see a suspicious person on the sidewalk).

10. Privacy Features

Smart home tech has faced issues with data breaches and security hacks. To remain relevant to savvy consumers today, companies are advancing features to ensure users of these devices that their info and their private lives inside their homes are safe.

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Summer Smart Home Improvements + Hacks

Summer projects that can add value to your life and home:

The Kitchen

How about we start with everyone's favorite room in the house, the kitchen! You don’t need a big budget to upgrade this commonly used room in your home. The tips below are both easy and can be inexpensive - a win-win!

Replace the hardware.

A super simple way to personalize and upgrade your kitchen is to replace the handles and knobs on your cabinets and drawers. Who knew something so simple could make such a big difference?

Add smart plugs.

Smart plugs are a great way to add smart home capabilities to standard small kitchen appliances. With ADT smart plugs, you can control all connected smart home devices right from your ADT app. You can use them to turn appliances on and off from your phone, control them remotely and check to make sure you turned them off when you left home.

Build a coffee bar.

What are the mornings without coffee? Or the afternoons for that matter? Definitely not something we want to think about! In our opinion, coffee (which we like to lovingly call the most important meal of the day) deserves its own designated spot in the kitchen. Some things every coffee bar should have: a coffee maker, a cute sugar bowl, a variety of syrups and flavors, your favorite mugs, and maybe even an espresso maker for all those caf-fiends out there. Adding a coffee bar is not only aesthetically pleasing, but functional for those early morning brews!

Pro-tip: Did you know you could set up your coffee maker to an ADT smart plug and have the ability to brew coffee from bed every morning?

Get organized.

Clear bins come in a variety of shapes and sizes to fit almost anything in your pantry and cabinets. Plus, not only will the bins keep you organized, they help keep your food fresh for longer too!

Install a new faucet.

Why stop at just replacing the hardware? We think you deserve a new faucet. The faucet of your dreams, even. A quick fix such as replacing your sink’s faucet can make a huge difference to your kitchen’s aesthetic.

The Deck

Alright, now let’s head outside. We think this is the year you finally turn your deck or patio into the place to be this summer. The place that all your friends want to hang out at. Landscaping can be a daunting task (especially in warm weather), but there are simple things you can do to really transform your home's exterior space. Don’t forget to send us an invite when it’s done!

Add a pergola.

Find the sunniest spot in the yard and add in a pergola. Pergolas are a great way to add optional shade, but still be able to bask in the sun when you want to. Decorate the inside with comfy outdoor chairs and lounges, and maybe even a mini bar if that’s your style.

Build a privacy wall.

Actually, build a living privacy wall. Way cooler. Take a trip to your local hardware store to purchase some lattice trellis panels. Add on some vines or plants to grow through the holes, giving you some more privacy.

Use your trees as a design element.

A nice big tree, the OG backyard statement piece. If that oak in your backyard is looking a little lackluster, we recommend designing around it, or with it! Dress up any tree by planting a garden around the base. Dig up the surrounding grass, add in some mulch and plant whichever flowers, bushes or plants your heart desires. A border made of brick or stone is a great final touch to your new garden bed. If you are not into gardening, you can still spruce up your tree by building wooden furniture around it. A table or bench is a great option for wrap-around tree furniture.

Add some shade.

Block the sun with umbrellas that complement the color of your home. Neutral or colorful, you can’t go wrong! You’ll want to sit under the umbrella sipping lemonade all summer long.

Keep an eye on things.

Now that you spent so much time and effort fixing up your deck, you’re going to have to protect it! Add an outdoor cam onto your ADT system to keep an eye on all your hard work with 1080p HD video, two-way audio, and night vision!

The Shed

What do you do when you run out of rooms inside to renovate? You take it out back! More and more people have been converting their unfinished sheds into sweet hangout spots and sharing their journey on social media. Converting your shed is a great way to expand to the great outdoors for a cool hangout space.

Clean up.

Everything. All of it. The junk, the dirt, the dead bugs. Clean it all out thoroughly because when you're finished with it, it’s no longer going to be a storage shed. Rather, it will be an outdoor hangout room!

Add some natural light.

Save on your electric bill by adding natural light to your shed in the form of windows or a skylight (or better yet, both.)

Install drywall and paint.

Once your shed is as clean as you can get it, install some drywall and paint it your favorite color. We think it’d be fun to go all out in this room. Since it’s disconnected from the house, don’t feel pressured to go neutral or have it match your interiors - truly have fun with it!

Add rugs.

Dress up your floor with outdoor rugs. You can install flooring if you’d like, but just covering the existing floor with area rugs will do the trick.

Furnish.

Time for the fun part! Furnish your new shed and add your own stylish touch. We recommend heading to the thrift store for inexpensive furniture since your shed may be slightly exposed to the outdoor elements.

Deck it out.

Alright, now time for the really fun part - making your shed fun! Add in entertainment with a mini-fridge, Bluetooth speakers, and a TV with gaming consoles. Don’t forget the window A/C unit if you live in a warmer climate.

Protect your hard work.

After all that work, you need to keep it protected. Extend your ADT smart home security to your new space.

We think it’s time for a trip to the home improvement store! Happy DIY-ing.