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How Smart Devices can keep You Safe

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How many times have you asked yourself did I remember to lock the door? Having thoughts like this can really add stress to your day – especially if you’re away on vacation thousands of miles from home. At that point it’s really too late to do anything about it, but that won’t stop you from worrying about it. If you’re lucky perhaps you’ve got a friend, neighbour, or loved one you can trust to go over and check on things for you. Alternatively you just have to sweat it out for the rest of your trip which won’t add to the enjoyment of that vacation you’ve been planning for months to take you away from all the stress!

With a few simple and relatively affordable home modifications and additions you can pretty much eliminate the insecurities you face when away from home. We’re talking about the use of smart home technology and how you can set up these technologies to act as your own personal security net around your home. That way you can relax on the beach with a cocktail and not have to worry about whether or not you left the door unlocked.

Smart Door Locks

Since we started this article talking about the traveler that can’t remember if they locked their frontdoor or not it’s probably appropriate to take a look at smart door lock technology and how it can help your piece of mind. The August Smart Door Lock is one of the best systems on the market today and it allows you to control who has access to your home remotely using an app on your smartphone. You can grant visitor’s access by giving them virtual keys from within your app and you can set up one time access keys for service personnel as well.

You can even set up auto lock and unlock. As soon as your smartphone is a certain distance from the house the lock will be activated automatically – that way you never have to worry about if you remembered to lock the door or not when you leave. It’s great for peace of mind.

Video Door Bells

Another great option to help enhance your home security system is the installation of a video doorbell. Our favorite is the Ring Video Doorbell. This smart little device has a built in camera with 1080p HD video that can automatically record visitors on your doorstep as soon as it senses movement in its vicinity. This isn’t just a recording device though. It’s also a two-way communication tool. You can use the video camera to see who’s at the door and you can talk with them using the built-in two-way speaker system. All of this is done through an app on your smartphone so it doesn’t matter if you’re in the house or on the other side of the world – that person ringing your doorbell won’t know the difference. If it’s a burglar this will likely scare them off in short order.

Smart Light Bulbs

In many cases a burglar will scope out your place before approaching looking for signs of life. That’s where a system like the Caseta Wireless smart lighting dimmer kit can really come in handy. You can use this system to schedule what time your lights turn on or off automatically, but that’s not the coolest part. This system can actually turn lights on or off at random intervals to give the appearance of someone moving through your house and turning lights off and on. It’s a great tool in your efforts to deter intruders.

Smart Alarms

It isn’t just unwanted guests you have to worry about when away from home – there’s also the possibility of an accidental fire or a dangerous build-up of carbon monoxide which can put the lives of your pets left at home at risk. Nest is well known for making one of the best smart thermostats on the market, but they also make a smart home fire alarm and carbon monoxide detector combo device. This handy device can send alerts directly to your smartphone allowing you to react to a problem quickly and contact emergency personnel before it becomes a bigger problem.

Final Thoughts

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg and represent a striking change in the way we approach home security. The best part is these devices are priced low enough to make them affordable for the average consumer. There’s no reason not to believe that most homes will be protected by these and similar devices in the near future.

This is a guest post by Joseph Mack from smarthomeSAGE, a blog that analyzes the impact that smart home technology has on home life.

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