Save on energy costs
While it’s true that smart home devices usually have higher price tags than normal appliances, many smart tools like smart lighting and smart thermostats pay for themselves over time in energy savings.
Smart home automation systems let you decide when your devices work and when they don’t. For instance, you can schedule your smart thermostat to shut off your HVAC system while you’re at work and then turn on right before you get home. This ensures that your air conditioning system doesn’t waste electricity when you’re not using it.
Manage door locks from anywhere
Do you find it difficult to relax when you’re on vacation because you’re worried that you forgot to lock your front door? If so, a home security system with smart locks can give you peace of mind.
A smart home security system gives you remote control of your locks from anywhere, provided there’s an available Wi-Fi or cellular internet connection.
Keep an eye on your home with video security
Smart camera systems let you view security footage of your property on your smartphone. Many security companies also offer cloud storage plans that let you keep and share video clips from your cameras online.
Generally, smart security cameras will send notifications to your mobile device when they notice unusual movement on your property, so you can react.
If you’re a pet parent, you likely worry about your furry friends when you have to leave home. Security cameras can be a great tool for watching your pets. If your camera has two-way talk functionality, you can even speak to your animals through your smartphone. Two-way audio can also help you speak to people at your front door if you have a video doorbell.
Set the mood with smart lighting
Smart lighting lets you turn lights on and off in your home remotely. Depending on what type of smart bulbs you have, you might also be able to adjust the brightness of your lights or change their color remotely.
Effortlessly control your garage door
Your garage door is one the most vulnerable points in your home, especially if your family uses your garage as the main entryway. Even if you don’t purposely leave your garage door open during the day, it’s not hard to forget to close it when you pull out for work in the morning.
A smart garage door opener lets you shut or open your door remotely. If you leave your door open, you’ll get a notification on your smartphone letting you know it’s open. Then, you can shut it remotely.
With Vivint Car Guard, you can even program your garage door to automatically close after you pull out of your driveway.
Increase the value of your home
Who wouldn’t want a home with convenient smart tech? When you move, smart features can increase the value of your home and make it more attractive to buyers. Appraisers will often value a home as being worth more if it has smart tools.
A home with an energy-saving, smart lighting system or an existing smart security system might be just what house hunters are seeking.
How do smart homes work?
When you have a smart home, all your smart appliances can communicate with each other and work together. You can manage all your appliances using a single smart home hub, like a touch-screen control board, or a mobile device, like an Apple or Android phone.
You can use your smartphone to control your smart devices in real time from anywhere. This lets you do things like turn off your lights or shut your garage door while you’re on vacation. If your system has compatibility with voice assistant tools like Amazon Alexa and Google Home, you can use voice commands to control your devices.
You can also program your smart home for automation. There are two ways to do this.
- Creating schedules: You can program smart appliances to work at specific times. For example, you could schedule your smart locks to lock automatically at 11 p.m. when you go to bed.
- Using If This, Then That (IFTTT) functions: You can program devices to perform actions in conjunction with other appliances in your system. For example, you might set a command for your security cameras to turn on whenever your outdoor motion detectors are activated.
You’ll generally need a Wi-Fi router and a reliable smart app to connect and control all of your smart tools. The Vivint smart app has an interface that makes interacting with all your smart devices a breeze.
