Our Editors’ Top 10 Favorite Smart-Home Devices of 2024

The easiest way to get started on the whole smart-home thing is with smart plugs. Essentially, these things can make any electric device “smart.” What does that mean in practice? You can plug in a lamp and then be able to turn it on via smartphone or voice assistant. Do the math, smart plug + smartphone = smart home.

But if you really want to get crazy, you can dive a little deeper with certain apps to create preset combinations. Think like: Your lamp, coffee maker, and speaker are all plugged into smart outlets, and you set up a “morning” routine where one press of a button turns on wake-up music, kitchen lights, and the coffee maker. That’s the more complicated stuff that a pack of these Kasa Smart plugs makes possible for less than $30.

We had the Dyson Vis Nav for a while before it officially hit the market. Funnily enough, it took us only a few days to realize this is far and away the best robot vacuum that’s been made. And if you’re reading this during the holidays, chances are you can finally get it at a discount.

Compared with other brands that we respect too much to name-drop, the Vis Nav is better at mapping your home. It’s better at actually vacuuming, too, with about two times the suction of top competitors. (It actually lives up to that tagline.) And it conquers the most difficult task any robot vacuum faces: rugs. This little guy has no issues jumping from hardwood to tile to carpet to rugs. It’s a feat of smart engineering. Of course it was Dyson that did it.

For a doorbell to be smart, it needs to one-up the convenience of a traditional ding-dong-ditch victim. If you’re just looking for something compact yet crated with features to see who’s ding-donging or monitor deliveries, Ring’s video doorbell does just that and far more—with cool feats like motion detection and night vision. Once installed—which requires some brains and muscles—you’ll be able to see, hear, and speak to anyone from your connected devices. It’s your home, after all. Gotta know what’s happening.

There are many good reasons to get a thermostat you have to fuss with less. It is better for the environment, it’s less hassle for you, and oh, I forgot, it will save you money. Google’s smart Nest thermostat is a go-to among homeowners for a reason. It is a smart-home essential that will only benefit you in the long run.

This gadget learns from your habits to regulate the on-and-off schedules at the temperature you like. It can even sense and program which rooms should be at which climate and knows to turn off the AC when you’re away from home.

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Discreetly erect one (or three, or five) of these wireless security cams to keep the bad guys from Us or The Strangers on their damn toes and out of your damn house. These gadgets are, old-fashionedly enough, powered by batteries, so those bad guys can’t disable them by cutting off the main power or stealing your phone. The Blink camera works great for regular situations as well.

If the bad guys in this case just happen to be your pets or children, then it can record video clips and let you monitor your (potentially furry) sons and daughters. You can even get creative and customize what kind of movements deserve alerting—moonwalks, taps, renegade dances from TikTok, etc. (Simply speak through the connected device to make the last one stop for good, please.)

Call it the Roger Federer of getting your ass out of bed on time or the Serena Williams of putting you to sleep. Or don’t make tennis analogies—either way, you’re waking the hell up.

Loftie’s smart alarm clock plus sleep assistant will let you banish unhealthy sleep habits, like checking your phone before closing your eyes, with white noise, a meditation guide, a music player, and soothing wake-up tones. It’s a sleep-focused alarm clock if we’ve ever known one. And even though there is a snooze button, we doubt you’d need to use it often.

Believe it or not, there’s stiff competition when it comes to smart-home lighting. When it comes to aesthetic programable lights, Nanoleaf is great, but hanging one on your wall is a bit overbearing. From a design perspective, it’s an awesome product. As a user, it’s a bit of a hassle. A Philips Hue bar will do everything the Nanoleaf does—RGB gradients, syncing with music and TV, etc.—in a sleek package that doesn’t have a bunch of independent parts.

Set the Philips Hue up on a dresser for bedroom ambiance. Put it behind your TV and sync it for an immersive gaming or movie-watching experience. Or sync it with your music for a party light show that you don’t even have to program.

Our favorite status TV is actually way more than a cool gadget to wow your friends with. It’s a great TV.

Samsung created the Frame as the antidote to having your TV function as a giant black hole when not in use. The brand sees it as a legit societal issue, and we agree that seeing art or pictures of family when the thing is off gives your house an air of Zen. But the real innovation from that is the matte screen, which is meant to better display artworks and photos. We’ve found it works wonders if your TV sits in a particularly sunny spot, drastically reducing glare while keeping images nice and crisp.

Beyond that, Samsung’s SmartThings Hub is probably our favorite in the industry, as it does a great job of incorporating any smart-home object and makes sure they all play nice. Control your Samsung TV, Sonos speaker, Google thermostat, and Amazon Ring doorbell all from the same interface.

Wouldn’t you know it, they made window AC units smart, too. The decades-standing utilitarian solution to air control has been welcomed into the Internet of Things. Yay? In this case, our cheers are genuine.

Okay, so hear us out. There are a lot of great window AC units out there these days, and July makes one of our favorites. First, it looks great, with neutral matte finishes that are our favorite on the market. And it just so happens to be smart. For real, it’s not just bullshit features. The app is easy to use, and July can be paired with Google Home or Alexa. They also now offer units for slider windows and through-the-wall air-conditioning.