The Most Exciting Smart Home Trends for 2021
Many of us have embraced at least a little bit of smart home technology in our lives. Maybe you like the convenience of one or two connected devices, like a single home assistant or an internet-powered security system.
In 2021, however, maybe it’s time to take things a step further through deeper smart technology integration and automation. The opportunities are endless to customize your home to perfectly match your desired levels of comfort, convenience, and connectivity.
Smart Home Automation
The biggest emerging trend in 2021 has to be smart home automation. While many of us use at least one smart device, we aren’t using them to their full potential. Automation can be as simple as setting up your devices to work on voice commands from your phone or hub or more complex.
For example, if your home has a smart thermostat, lights, and locks, profiles could be created to set your home to the ideal away temperature, ensure lights are off, and doors are locked when you leave home for work. When you return, your home could already be heated to the perfect temperature and lights will be on to greet you just as your door unlocks.
Another option is using your smart lighting system to create the ideal light environments for sleep and waking. Set your lights to slowly dim in the evening and wake you with a gentle sunrise in the morning.
The possibilities for smart home automation ideas are endless. With a tick of a clock or the touch of a button, your music, media, room temperature, and lights can all be switched to your preferred setting. Just imagine, if you can dream it up and have devices to support it, it can probably be automated.
Home Security
We spent a lot of time at home in 2020. As much of the workforce returns to their offices in the spring of 2021, it’s important to start thinking seriously about protecting your home and investments. Smart home security systems aren’t new, but there are important features beyond simple cameras and phone-activated doorbells that can enhance home safety.
In 2021, we expect to see more security systems featuring facial and voice recognition to allow the system to identify household members and dissuade intruders. Another major upgrade we expect to see in home security is updated cybersecurity. After all, our home automation and security systems are connected to our personal networks and record our comings and goings. This type of information could be highly desirable to certain criminals and must be kept safe.
Localized Home Zones
A home zone can be as small as a room or as large as the majority of the house. These zones define certain smart features that can be activated or deactivated in certain areas. An example of this would be if you have a smart thermostat with zone capabilities. In the winter, the majority of the house could be set to one zone, while bedrooms could be set to another. This would allow you to keep the house cold when not in use and the bedrooms comfortably toasty, then reverse it when you are up for the day.
Zones allow smart home owners to lower their utility costs and reduce energy waste while creating comfortable environments tailored to the person in them.
Stylish Smart Home Accessories
Many smart home devices came onto the market prioritizing functionality over form. Most sported the same clean white aesthetic, which is somewhat appealing to minimalists but sticks out sorely in many home color schemes.
Smart devices are looking to blend into your home further, now coming in attractive colors, shapes, and patterns to best fit your personal style.
Smart shades and lighting
Smart lighting has gained a lot of traction in recent years and was one smart device that gained a lot of early adopters. When you include smart shades into the mix, however, you get a fully customizable ambiance. Raise shades and lower shades while simultaneously adjusting your overhead lights to the perfect level without ever leaving your seat using smart home hubs or automation. These combinations, especially when set up in home zones, can save utility money while providing a comfortable atmosphere for any situation.
In 2021, your smart house can integrate with your daily life even more. As you embrace automation, your connected devices will help make comfort, aesthetic, and safety nearly effortless.
A bigger focus on the IoT (Internet of Things)
On a base level, most of us understand what the internet is. If you think about it, until recently, it was only us using computers or mobile devices to access it. Well, as smart homes, cars, and devices have hit the market with WiFi connectivity, there are a lot more devices connected and sharing data on the internet.
This network of devices, from complicated ones like self-driving cars to a humble Wifi-enabled microwave, are all part of what is called the IoT.
As the Internet of Things matures, we’ll see more smart devices learning our daily routines without having to tell them through voice, button, or time commands. Instead, they’ll respond to other aspects, like the atmosphere and our daily life actions. Doors could potentially unlock when they recognize our faces, our blinds could lower when we queue up a movie, or our thermostat could make the room more comfortable while exercising.
Privacy from Big Tech
While the safety of your family from intruders is a real concern, there is also the issue of protecting your private data. Many smart hubs are currently manufactured by industry tech giants that profit off of advertising data. While this data creates an internet where advertising is finely tailored to you, many of us value our personal privacy and life data and don’t want it shared with advertisers.
At SCS Home Entertainment, we offer a unique smart home system that offers cutting edge AI and smart home automation without selling your data. Josh.ai is a powerful solution that can manage all aspects of your connected home through natural language and pattern learning, with your data only being used to improve your experience—never to be sold to advertisers.
If you’re ready to give your home a smart upgrade, we can help. At SCS Home Entertainment, our knowledgeable staff can help you every step of the way—from selecting the right smart devices for your home to expertly installing and automating your home zones.
It’s the future. We’re here to help you embrace it.