What you need to know about smart home applications

1. ‫والمهني‬ ‫التقني‬ ‫للتدريب‬ ‫العامة‬ ‫المؤسسة‬
‫واإللكترونيات‬ ‫االتصاالت‬ ‫كلية‬
Seminar INSA 483
‫العديني‬ ‫إبراهيم‬ : ‫المهندس‬
‫البحث‬ ‫مقترح‬
Smart Home Applications
Abdullah BaHajri
439130522
Omar A. Tashkandi
439150797

2.  Introduction:
A smart home is a residence that uses internet-connected devices
to enable the remote monitoring and management of appliances
and systems, such as lighting and heating.
Smart home technology, also often referred to as home
automation or demotics (from the Latin "domus" meaning home),
provides homeowners security, comfort, convenience and energy
efficiency by allowing them to control smart devices, often by a
smart home app on their smartphone or other networked device.
A part of the internet of things (IoT), smart home systems and
devices often operate together, sharing consumer usage data
among themselves and automating actions based on the
homeowners' preferences.
The origins of the smart home:
With the 1975 release of X10, a communication protocol for
home automation, the smart home, once a pipe dream a la The
Jetsons, came to life. X10 sends 120 kHz radio frequency (RF)
bursts of digital information onto a home's existing electric
wiring to programmable outlets or switches. These signals
convey commands to corresponding devices, controlling how and
when the devices operate. A transmitter could, for example, send
a signal along the house's electric wiring, telling a device to turn
on at a specific time.
However, as electrical wiring isn't designed to be particularly free
from radio-band "noise," X10 was not always fully reliable.
Signals would be lost and, in some cases, signals wouldn't cross
circuits that were wired on different polarities, created when 220-
volt service is split into a pair of 100-volt feeds, as is common in
the U.S. Additionally, X10 was initially a one-way technology,
so while smart devices can take commands, they cannot send data

3. back to a central network. Later, however, two-
way X10 devices became available, albeit at a higher cost.
When home automation company Insteon came on the scene in
2005,it introduced technology that combined electric wiring with
wireless signals. Other protocols, including Zigbee and Z-Wave,
have since emerged to counter the problems prone to X10, though
X10 remains a widely installed communications protocol to this
day.
Nest Labs was founded in 2010 and released its first smart
product, the Nest Learning Thermostat, in 2011. The company
also created smart smoke/carbon monoxide detectors and security
cameras. After being acquired by Google in 2015, it became a
subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. in the same year.
In 2012, SmartThings Inc. launched a Kickstarter campaign,
aising $1.2 million to fund its smart home system. Following
additional funding, the company came on the market in August
2013 and was acquired by Samsung in 2014.
More recently, companies including Amazon, Apple and Google
have released their own smart home products and domotics
platforms, including Amazon Echo, Apple HomeKit and Google
Home.
Examples of smart home technologies:
Nearly every aspect of life where technology has entered the
domestic space (lightbulbs, dishwashers and so on) has seen the
introduction of a smart home alternative:
Smart TVs connect to the internet to access content through
applications, such as on-demand video and music. Some smart
TVs also include voice or gesture recognition.

4. In addition to being able to be controlled remotely and
customized, smart lighting systems, such as Hue from Philips
Lighting Holding B.V., can detect when occupants are in the
room and adjust lighting as needed. Smart lightbulbs can also
regulate themselves based on daylight availability.
Smart thermostats, such as Nest from Nest Labs Inc., come with
integrated Wi-Fi, allowing users to schedule, monitor and
remotely control home temperatures. These devices also learn
homeowners' behaviors and automatically modify settings to
provide residents with maximum comfort and efficiency. Smart
thermostats can also report energy use and remind users to
change filters, among other things.
Using smart locks and garage-door openers, users can grant or
deny access to visitors. Smart locks can also detect when
residents are near and unlock the doors for them.
With smart security cameras, residents can monitor their homes
when they are away or on vacation. Smart motion sensors are also
able to identify the difference between residents, visitors, pets
and burglars, and can notify authorities if suspicious behavior is
detected.
Pet care can be automated with connected feeders. Houseplants
and lawns can be watered by way of connected timers.
Kitchen appliances of all sorts are available, including smart
coffee makers that can brew you a fresh cup as soon as your alarm
goes off; smart refrigerators that keep track of expiration dates,
make shopping lists or even create recipes based on ingredients
currently on hand; slower cookers and toasters; and, in the
laundry room, washing machines and dryers.
Household system monitors may, for example, sense an electric
surge and turn off appliances or sense water failures or freezing

5. pipes and turn off the water so there isn't a flood in your
basement.
Smart home pros and cons
One of the most touted benefits of home automation is providing
peace of mind to homeowners, allowing them to monitor their
homes remotely, countering dangers such as a forgotten coffee
maker left on or a front door left unlocked.
Domotics are also beneficial for the elderly, providing
monitoring that can help seniors to remain at home comfortably
and safely, rather than moving to a nursing home or requiring
24/7 home care.
Unsurprisingly, smart homes can accommodate user preferences.
For example, as soon as you arrive home, your garage door will
open, the lights will go on, the fireplace will roar and your
favorite tunes will start playing on your smart
speakers.
Home automation also helps consumers improve efficiency.
Instead of leaving the air conditioning on all day, a smart home
system can learn your behaviors and make sure the house is
cooled down by the time you arrive home from work. The same
goes for appliances. And with a smart irrigation system, your
lawn will only be watered when needed and with the exact
amount of water necessary. With home automation, energy, water
and other resources are used more efficiently, which helps save
both natural resources and money for the consumer.
However, home automation systems have struggled to become
mainstream, in part due to their technical nature. A drawback of
smart homes is their perceived complexity; some people have
difficulty with technology or will give up on it with the first
annoyance. Smart home manufacturers and alliances are working
on reducing complexity and improving the user

6. experience to make it enjoyable and beneficial for users of all
types and technical levels.
For home automation systems to be truly effective, devices must
be interoperable regardless of who manufactured them, using the
same protocol or, at least, complementary ones. As it is such a
nascent market, there is no gold standard for home automation
yet. However, standard alliances are partnering with
manufacturers and protocols to ensure interoperability and a
seamless user experience.
Another major issue is smart home security. A 2016 NTT Data
Corp. report found that 80% of U.S. consumers are concerned
about the security of their smart home data. If hackers are able to
infiltrate a smart device, they could potentially turn off the lights
and alarms and unlock the doors, leaving a home
defenseless to a break-in. Further, hackers could potentially
access the homeowner's network, leading to worse attacks or data
exfiltration. In October 2016, the Mirai IoT botnet was able to
bring down parts of the internet in a series of distributed denial-
of-service (DDoS) attacks using badly secured
cameras, DVRs and routers as entry points.
In addition to security, many smart home opponents worry about
data privacy. The NTT Data report found 73% of consumers are
concerned about the privacy of the data shared by their smart
home devices. While smart home device and platform
manufacturers may collect consumer data to better tailor their
products or offer new and improved services to customers, trust
and transparency are critical to manufacturers building trust with
the users of their smart products.
How smart homes work/smart home implementation

7. Newly built homes are often constructed with smart home
infrastructure in place. Older homes, on the other hand, can be
retrofitted with smart technologies. While many smart home
systems still run on X10 or Insteon, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi have
grown in popularity.
Zigbee and Z-Wave are two of the most common home
automation communications protocols in use today. Both mesh
network technologies, they use short-range, low-power radio
signals to connect smart home systems. Though both target the
same smart home applications, Z-Wave has a range of 30 meters
to Zigbee's 10 meters, with Zigbee often perceived as the more
complex of the two. Zigbee chips are available from multiple
companies, while Z-Wave chips are only available from Sigma
Designs.
A smart home is not disparate smart devices and appliances, but
ones that work together to create a remotely controllable network.
All devices are controlled by a master home automation
controller, often called a smart home hub. The smart home hub is
a hardware device that acts as the central point of
the smart home system and is able to sense, process data and
communicate wirelessly. It combines all of the disparate apps into
a single smart home app that can be controlled remotely by
homeowners. Examples of smart home hubs include Amazon
Echo, Google Home, Insteon Hub Pro, Samsung SmartThings
and Wink Hub, among others.
Some smart home systems can be created from scratch, for
example, using a Raspberry Pi or other prototyping board. Others
can be purchased as a bundled smart home kit -- also known as a
smart home platform -- that contains the pieces needed to start a
home automation project.
In simple smart home scenarios, events can be timed or triggered.
Timed events are based on a clock, for example, lowering the

8. blinds at 6:00 p.m., while triggered events depend on actions in
the automated system; for example, when the owner's smartphone
approaches the door, the smart lock unlocks and the smart lights
go on.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) are becoming
increasingly popular in smart home systems, allowing home
automation applications to adapt to their environments. For
example, voice-activated systems, such as Amazon Echo or
Google Home, contain virtual assistants that learn and
personalize the smart home to the residents' preferences and
patterns.
Smart buildings
While every smart home is a smart building, not every smart
building is a smart home. Enterprise, commercial, industrial and
residential buildings of all shapes and sizes -- including offices,
skyscrapers, apartment buildings, and multi-tenant offices and
residences -- are deploying IoT technologies to improve building
efficiency, reduce energy costs and environmental
impact, and ensure security, as well as improve occupant
satisfaction.
Many of the same smart technologies used in the smart home are
deployed in smart buildings, including lighting, energy, heating and air
conditioning, and security and building access systems.
For example, a smart building can reduce energy costs using
sensors that detect how many occupants are in a room. The
temperature can automatically adjust, putting cool air on if
sensors detect a full conference room, or turning the heat down if
everyone in the office has gone home for the day.
Smart buildings can also connect to the smart grid. Here, smart
building components and the electric grid can "talk" and "listen"
to each other. With this technology, energy distribution can be

9. managed efficiently, maintenance can be handled proactively and
power outages can be responded to more quickly.
Beyond these benefits, smart building can provide building
owners and managers the benefit of predictive maintenance.
Janitors, for example, can refill restroom supplies when usage
sensors monitor the soap or paper towel dispensers are low. Or
maintenance and failures can be predicted on building
refrigeration, elevators and lighting systems.
History
Early home automation began with labor-saving machines. Self-
contained electric or gas powered home appliances became
viable in the 1900s with the introduction of electric power
distribution[5] and led to the introduction of washing machines
(1904), water heaters (1889), refrigerators, sewing
machines, dishwashers, and clothes dryers.
In 1975, the first general purpose home automation network
technology, X10, was developed. It is a communication protocol
for electronic devices. It primarily uses electric power
transmission wiring for signalling and control, where the signals
involve brief radio frequency bursts of digital data, and remains
the most widely available. By 1978, X10 products included a 16
channel command console, a lamp module, and an appliance
module. Soon after came the wall switch module and the first X10
timer.
By 2012, in the United States, according to ABI Research, 1.5
million home automation systems were installed. As per research
firm Statista more than 45 million smart home devices will be
installed in U.S. homes by the end of the year 2018. The word
"domotics" (and "domotica" when used as a verb) is a
contraction of the Latin word for a home (domus) and the word
robotics.

10. Applications and technologies
Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC): it is possible
to have remote control of all home energy monitors over the
internet incorporating a simple and friendly user interface.
Lighting control system: a "smart" network that incorporates
communication between various lighting system inputs and
outputs, using one or more central computing
devices.Occupancy-aware control system: it is possible to sense
the occupancy of the home using smart meters and environmental
sensors like CO2 sensors which can be integrated into the
building automation system to trigger automatic responses for
energy efficiency and building comfort applications.
Appliance control and integration with the smart grid and a smart
meter, taking advantage, for instance, of high solar panel output
in the middle of the day to run washing machines.
Home robots and security: a household security system integrated
with a home automation system can provide additional services
such as remote surveillance of security cameras over the Internet,
or access control and central locking
of all perimeter doors and windows.
Leak detection, smoke and CO detectorsIndoor positioning
systems (IPS).
Home automation for the elderly and disabled.
Pet and Baby Care, for example tracking the pets and babies'
movements and controlling pet access rights.
Air quality control. For example, Air Quality Egg is used by
people at home to monitor the air quality and pollution level in
the city and create a map of the pollution.

11. Smart Kitchen and Connected Cooking. Using voice control
devices like Amazon Alexa or Google Home to kitchen
appliances.
Implementations
In a review of home automation devices, Consumer Reports
found two main concerns for consumers:[21]A Wi-Fi network
connected to the internet can be vulnerable to hacking.
Technology is still in its infancy, and consumers could invest in
a system that becomes abandonware. In 2014, Google bought
the company selling the Revolv Hub home automation system,
integrated it with Nest and in 2016 shut down the servers Revolv
Hub depended on, rendering the hardware useless.
In 2011, Microsoft Research found that home automation could
involve high cost of ownership, inflexibility of interconnected
devices, and poor manageability. Historically, systems have
been sold as complete systems where the consumer relies on one
vendor for the entire system including the hardware, the
communications protocol, the central hub, and the user
interface. However, there are now open hardware and open
source software systems which can be used instead of or with
proprietary hardware.
Criticism and controversies
Home automation suffers from platform fragmentation and lack
of technical standards a situation where the variety of home
automation devices, in terms of both hardware variations and
differences in the software running on them, makes the task of
developing applications that work consistently between different
inconsistent technology ecosystems hard. Customers may
hesitate to bet their IoT future on proprietary software or

12. hardware devices that use proprietary protocols that may fade or
become difficult to customize and interconnect.
The nature of home automation devices can also be a problem for
security, since patches to bugs found in the core operating system
often do not reach users of older and lower-price
devices. One set of researchers say that the failure of vendors to
support older devices with patches and updates leaves more than
87% of active devices vulnerable.
Check out these 50 smart home apps for your mobile devices
with which you can easily control the most important things in
your home. We sorted them out in a way that you can find
applications which control several devices in the top of the
article, and those which manage only one - in the bottom of the
article.
1) Nest
Features: This application works with various devices - Nest
Learning Thermostat, Nest Cam, Dropcam, Nest Protect. It
means that you choose the temperature in your smart home, you
always know what is happening there and it is always protected.
The app sends you notifications so you can monitor any changes
in the house.
Pros: Every member of your family can have their own account,
you don’t have to share passwords anymore.
Cons: The same alert sound for every device. Away/home
option doesn’t always work.
Price: free.
2) Kasa
Features: It helps you control all your connected TP-LINK

13. Smart Home devices no matter where you are - at home or on a
vacation on Bora Bora. You can set your appliances to turn on
and off according to your schedule 24/7, 365 days a year. There
is a great option to turn off the lights using countdown. It works
incredibly with young children! You don’t have to force them to
go to sleep anymore, they perceive it as a game!
Pros: Very easy to use. Away Mode works well.
Cons: Can handle only a few on/off events at a time.
Price: free.
3) Stringify
Features: The award-winning app. It has a user-friendly
interface, it controls locks, lights, temperature and a lot more in
a way that you can save money and feel safe and relaxed in your
house. How many times did it happen when you forgot whether
you had switched off the lights or not? Or left the front door
unlocked? Quite often? Well, you don’t have to worry about
such things anymore! Use this app for monitoring everything in
your house and stay calm.
Pros: Supports more than 500 products and services.
Cons: Available only for iOS.
Price: free.
4) MYCiTY LiTE
Features: Cameras, locks and alarm system are controlled by
just one application. Among many possibilities of this app you
can find good ones for movie lovers. Just make yourself
comfortable in an armchair and enjoy. With the help of
MYCiTY LiTE you can draw the curtains, dim the lights and

14. watch your favorite films. In the end of the movie the lights will
be softly switched on and the blinds will take their initial place.
Pros: It is an official app for MYCiTY Smart Home.
Cons: There are not many users.
Price: free.
5) Vivint Smart Home
Features: Another app that helps you to control a variety of
devices (security cameras, smart thermostat, door and window
sensors, smoke detectors etc.). Sends you notifications if you
forget to lock the front or garage doors. You can even speak with
your visitor from anywhere with Vivint Doorbell Camera! Or
check whether it’s a pizza delivery man or someone
uninvited is knocking on your door.
Pros: Good security system. No problems watching recordings
from indoor cameras.
Cons: There are sometimes crashes when viewing doorbell
camera. Not a very good customer service.
Price: free.
Vivint Smart Home
Developer: Vivint
Price : Free
6) SmartThings Mobile
Features: With this app you also control and monitor all your
smart devices but notice that before downloading it you need to
buy SmartThings Hub. Using this app you have a lot of benefits
- doors automatically unlock when you approach, you can set
the stereo system to an interesting mode, that is, when there is
an unexpected entry, a sound of barking dogs turns on so you

15. can scare possible robbers out! And if you have your own dog
the app can remind you when you forget to feed it.
Pros: You can get a push notification every time your door is
open.
Cons: The app doesn’t support scenes (the lights in every room
will be of the same brightness) and Alexa voice control.
Price: free.
SmartThings Classic
Developer: SmartThings, Inc...
Price : Free
7) XFINITY Home
Category:
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12
Features: Lighting, climate, video control. This app is great for
people who like to have everything under their control. Watch
you children come home from school, or any visitors that came
while you were out, switch on your smart thermostat while
you’re still at work, or turn on the lights before you enter your
house. All in one app! Works with Nest Learning Thermostat,

16. August Smart Lock, Lutron Caseta Wireless lights, Camberlain
MyQ Garage Door Opener, Sengled Element Touch bulb and
GE Switches and Dimmers.
Pros: You can quickly arm and disarm your systems no matter
where you are.
Cons: Sometimes the picture freezes when viewing the video.
Price: free.
Xfinity Home
Developer: Comcast
Price : Free
8) Yonomi
Features: If you are the lucky owner of Philips Hue lights,
Amazon Echo, Nest® products or Schlage smart locks,
download this app. You don’t have to think about everyday
routines which take your time. You wake up, drink your already
made coffee, and you don’t need to bother about turning on/off
the TV, lights, locking the door when you leave the house. This
app does everything instead of you.
Pros: Works well with Amazon Echo.
Cons: Uses a lot of battery power.
Price: free.
Yonomi - Smart Home ...
Developer: YonominHouse &am...
Price : Free
9) Alarm.com
Features: As you can understand from its name, this application
helps you to monitor your security system. You can watch
videos from the cameras live or recorded ones. You can

17. instantly and constantly get notifications about everything that
happens inside and outside your house. But along with the
security, you control your thermostat, lights, etc.
Sometimes it’s hard to save energy not giving up on comfort.
But not with this app. You can save up easily with this
intelligent automation.
Pros: Focused mainly on the security system.
Cons: No panic button.
Price: free.
Alarm.com
Developer: Alarm.com
Price : Free
10) ImperiHome
Features: This is another app which controls all your smart
home devices. Those who are keen on various styles of music
have a wonderful opportunity to listen to a different kind of
music in every room. Or, let’s say, you are throwing a huge home
party. In this case with the help of this app you can adjust your
stereo device and dance to the same song in every room with a
perfect sync! Check this one out!
Pros: Great dashboard which displays different devices.
Cons: Some features are missing (e.g. can’t be connected to
some popular systems like Amazon Echo, WeMo)
Price: free.
ImperiHome - Smart...
Developer: EvertygonHouse &...

18. Price : Free
11) Control4
Features: This app is created for your entertainment, safety and
everyday life. But before using this application check if you
have Control4 controller and automation system running
Control4 OS 2.6 or later. Do you want to make a special dinner
for your beloved? Your smart home can help you! Set your oven
to prepare some casserole, dim the lights, turn on romantic
music - all this using your mobile device. All you need is just to
pour wine into glasses!
Pros: Variety of functions for entertainment.
Cons: After updating you can’t change the temperature in your
thermostat schedule.
Price: free.
Control4
Developer: Control4
Price : Free
12) iRule.
Features: This one also controls all devices in your smart home
and is for free. But in order to configure, you will need to use
iRule Builder which is free for 30 days.
Be the king of your smart home, rule the house! This application
not only allows you to control your devices but create a special
interface. Design it with the help of iRule Builder, it’s easy to
customize your remote control with your own buttons, images or
even a unique interface for each user in your home.
Pros: Beautiful and elegant interface.

19. Cons: You need to sign in from Google+.
Price: free.
iRule
Developer: iRule LLCnLifest...
Price : Free
13) Thington
Features: This handy app can be connected to all your smart
devices which can be controlled even when you leave your
house and switch on GPS. This app is awesome! You can chat
with your smart home just like with your friends. It gives you
valuable hints how to optimize work of the smart devices. A few
years ago we couldn’t have imagined this. It helps you to set up
everything in a casual way. Your smart home becomes one of
your pals!
Pros: Suggests ways for better work of your devices.
Cons: Available for iOS only.
Price: free.
14) Elgato Eve
Features: The application is for your HomeKit devices. At a
Glance is a view, with which you can quickly overview
everything that’s happening in your connected home. In seconds
you will access your favorite scenes (you set up multiple
settings which you can switch on later with one tap) to control
your home instantly, and learn the details of your rooms or types
with a simple tap. It saves your time!
Pros: Better than Apple Home.
Cons: Available for iOS only.
Price: free.

20. Eve for HomeKit
Developer: Eve Systems GmbH
Price : Free
15) Lutron App for Caseta Wireless
Features: This app requires a Lutron Smart Bridge or Smart
Bridge Pro. The application controls a variety of devices. From
anywhere. A feature of geofencing may be appalling to you. It
controls lights based on your location. Imagine that you are
coming back home with hands full of ingredients for your
supper. Don’t bother, the lights will automatically switch on on
your way straight to the kitchen.
Pros: Controls well your indoor and outdoor cameras.
Cons: You can’t give commands through OK Google anymore.
Price: free.
Lutron Caséta &...
Developer: Lutron Electroni...
Price : Free
16) IFTTT
Features: It works with more than 360 apps and devices, such as
Twitter, Google Drive, Weather, Instagram, Email, Alexa, Nest,
Philips Hue and your Android/iPhone. You can set your
thermostat according to your needs when you arrive home, you
can control devices in your home with your voice and Amazon
Alexa, you can feel safe at home with security alerts. As it’s said
in its slogan, Put the Internet to work for you! Check out
whether this app is suitable for you!
Pros: Many apps and devices are connected to just one app.
Cons: Problems with locations.

21. Price: free.
IFTTT
Developer: IFTTTnProductivi...
Price : Free
17) Gideon
Features: It is a good app for smart home integration. It gives
you full supervision of your smart home. The application is
compatible with a range of devices. Entertain yourself, monitor
security, heating, lighting with Gideon.
You can have one less problem with this application. It
measures your energy consumption and suggests when and how
to use your appliances to save money on your bills. Keep track
of your bills with Gideon.
Pros: Works great with Nest Thermostat and Nest Cam.
Cons: There aren’t many users of the app.
Price: free.
Download
Gideon Smart Home
Developer: BrainDrain Solut...
Price : Free
18) Smart Home Pro
Features: This application allows you to control your Smart
Home automation system and should be activated by your
specialist of Smart Home Switzerland SA. Your iPhone
becomes your remote control for the TV, air conditioner, lights,
etc. It is available only on the App Store.

22. Pros: It is suitable for one home automation system.
Cons: Seems to be difficult to install.
Price: free.
Smart Home Pro
Developer: CommandFusion Pt...
Price : Free
19) RTiPanel
Features: With this app you can manage your RTI control
system (audio, video, climate, lights etc.). Set your thermostat
when you leave your work to heat your house, so you come
back to a warm, pleasant place. And vice versa - turn down the
heating when you go to work and your children go to school.
You can save up!
Pros: Works well not only for smart homes but also classrooms,
conference rooms, restaurants, hotels.
Cons: There aren’t many users of this app. Requires the RTI
control system.
Price: free.
RTiPanel
Developer: Remote Technolog...
Price : Free
20) Wink
Features: Everything you want to monitor and manage in your
smart home can be controlled by a single app. Have some rest,
Wink will take care of your comfort, security, lights,
entertainment. Now you have more time for yourself. Do
morning exercises while your smart device brews your coffee,
don’t run out of the car to close the garage door, don’t worry

23. about the security of the house while you are out. Install
Wink. Many devices work just with this app, but with some you
may need Wink Hub.
Pros: Great Amazon Alexa integration.
Cons: Not very good connectivity between the app and Hue
lights.
Price: free.
Wink - Smart Home
Developer: Wink AppnTools
Price : Free
21) Google Home
Features: This app controls Chromecast, Chromecast Audio and
Google Home. Install it and rule your house! You don’t need
Amazon Alexa for voice control. Google Home has its Google
Assistant. You can ask questions to your smart home and,
thanks to rich Google search, get best answers - facts and
information, calculations, translations, dictionary and more. A lot
of us dreamed of this - getting the information or the things done
instantly. Just give the order.
Pros: Smart lights and thermostat work well with this app.
Cons: Audio and video don’t work properly after recent updates.
Price: free.
Google Home
Developer: Google LLCnLifes...
Price : Free
22) Harmony
Features: From the name of the app you can understand that this
is what you need. Imagine that after a long working week you’re

24. having a lie-in and you want nothing to disturb you. With just
one touch lower the blinds, lock doors, dim lights, choose the
perfect movie for you and relax. Live in harmony with your
smart home. All you need is this app and a Harmony Hub-based
remote controls.
Pros: Good for Netflix lovers.
Cons: Sometimes fails to work.
Price: free.
Harmony® Control
Developer: Logitech Inc.
Price : Free
23) ADT Pulse
Features: The application also controls all your smart devices.
Manage everything in your house from anywhere - set the
thermostat, lights, open/close the garage doors, view live and
recorded videos from your cameras. Maybe you may want to
save your favourite videos and watch again and again your kid’s
first steps. For controlling all of these you can use your
voice. This app requires that you are an active ADT customer
and a subscriber to ADT Pulse Interactive services.
Pros: Works well without wifi.
Cons: The front door camera doesn’t always work well.
Price: free.
ADT Pulse ®
Developer: ADT LLC
Price : Free
24) Muzzley - Smart Home

25. Features: The application makes your smart home adjust to you,
not vice versa! You can do whatever you like while the app does
the boring things instead of you. With the new behavioral
intelligence feature, the app learns from you and suggests useful
hints and devices for your home.
Also with Nest Protect and this app you will always know if
there is any smoke in the house and where actually it is so you
know what to do. Check out if it is good for your smart home.
Pros: The app is quite fast. It has great reviews.
Cons: There aren’t many users of this app.
Price: free.
Muzzley - Smart Home
Developer: muzzleynLifestyle
Price : Free
25) ClareHome
Features: This app is also for all smart devices in your home.
You can create scenes with this application, which means that
you don’t have to set up every device every day. You just set it
once and it performs regularly. Say, you like going for a swim in
your pool after work. Control the heating in such a way that
when you are home from work you can splash in it immediately!
Pros: Designed exclusively for Clare Home solution.
Cons: There aren’t many users of this app.
Price: free.
ClareHome

26. Developer: Clare Controls L...
Price : Free
26) Samsung Smart Home
Features: The app works with various Samsung devices. You
can use this one app to adjust your refrigerator, washer, air
conditioner, oven, vacuum cleaner and more. Cleaning your
house has never been so easy! Make yourself comfortable in
your sofa, turn on the music, chat with your friends meanwhile
your smart vacuum cleaner tidies up your home. Just make one
tap on your mobile device’s screen!
Pros: Controls different devices (not only thermostat and lights).
Cons: Available for Android only. Not always can be connected
to your smart devices.
Price: free.
Samsung Smart Home
Developer: Samsung Electron...
Price : Free
27) myHome Plus
Features: This application also controls your entire home and
supports all Apple HomeKit features for HomeKit devices, Nest
Thermostat, Nest Protect, Nest Cam, WeMo Switch, WeMo
Insight, WeMo Light Switch and WeMo Motion. With myHome
Plus create time and event triggers to control action sets at
specific times. If you sometimes forget to switch off the lights in
the hall, the event trigger can do it instead of you if there’s
nobody there for some period of time.

27. Pros: Works with most famous devices.
Cons: Not very good customer reviews.
Price: free.
myHome Plus - Contro...
Developer: Vicinno Soft LLC
Price : Free
28) LG Smart ThinQ
Features: This app is quite similar to Samsung Smart Home app.
It connects your smart home appliances like refrigerator,
washer, dryer, oven, robot vacuum, etc. together. It will help
you to manage the household. You can set every device to do its
own work. You don’t need to check on them every few minutes.
They know what to do! Now you can easily spend more time
with your family.
Pros: Variety of devices which can be controlled by the app.
Cons: There might be problems with the initial connectivity
between the app and devices.
Price: free.
LG SmartThinQ
Developer: LG Electronics, ...
Price : Free
29) Chamberlain MyQ Home Control
Features: If you don’t have a lot of devices to control, but you
do own Chamberlain MyQ accessories, install this app and
open/close your garage doors when you come or leave home or
switch on/off the lights just with a single tap on your mobile

28. device. You will receive an alert if you leave the house and the
lights are on. Feels like your home takes care of you.
Pros: Stable and reliable. Many customers have been using it for
a long time.
Cons: There is no possibility to change the alert sound. No
integration with many smart home devices.
Price: free.
MyQ Smart Garage Con...
Developer: The Chamberlain ...
Price : Free
30) Amazon Alexa
Features: You need this app as a companion to your Alexa
device which will always be handy for you whenever you need
some information, music, make a list. Of course, it’s great when
you can do a lot of things using just your voice. Alexa will wait
for your orders or requests and will do everything possible to
fulfill them.
Pros: Works well on iPhone.
Cons: There are a lot of questions which Alexa still can’t
answer.
Price: free.
Amazon Alexa
Developer: AMZN Mobile LLC
Price : Free
31) Rogers Smart Home Monitoring
Features: You may also like this app to control your cameras,
doors, thermostat, lights. Be always connected to your home.

29. You hire a dog walker and expect him to come when you are at
work? Check if he/she came on time and walked your dog. Or
monitor what is your babysitter doing with your children while
you’re out.
Pros: You can create rules for your smart home.
Cons: There aren’t many users of this app.
Price: free.
Rogers Smart Home Mo...
Developer: Rogers Communica...
Price : Free
32) iControl Networks
Features: Controls cameras, lights, thermostat. It is not very
widely used but has got good customers` reviews. Also works
remotely. It’s not only security that you care of. Record your
birthday party, all the singing, dancing and jokes, and watch the
video next year, surprise your friends! Your iControl Networks
app will help you to do this.
Pros: Simple and easy to use.
Cons: There are not many users of this app.
Price: free.
33) iSmartenit
Features: There are over 100 devices which can work with this
app. Choose some for you and be the ruler in your house. This
app is not only able to perform scenes created by you, but you
can set more complex programmes and scenarios through the
framework “If A happens, B happens”. You will have peace of
mind inside your smart home with this app.
iSmartenit App only works with Smartenit manufactured

30. gateways, or the ZBPServer software running on Raspberry Pi,
BeagleBone and PogoPlug.
Pros: The app is improved comparing to the previous version.
Good customer service.
Cons: Some customers find it difficult to register.
Price: free.
iSmartenit (legacy)
Developer: Smartenit, Inc.n...
Price : Free
All these apps help you to work with a variety of appliances.
But if you don’t need to control all your smart home, but only
one device, look over these applications and choose the one for
you!
34) ecobee
Features: This application is for your thermostat only. If you
don’t need to move your blinds or switch on the lights with the
help of an app on your phone, but you do want to manage the
heating system, try ecobee. You can adjust temperature,
humidity as you wish. It also gives you the weather forecast
without any extra app.
Pros: The app is intuitive and gives you reminders about
important things concerning your thermostat.
Cons: After recent updates the app crashes a lot.
Price: free.
ecobee
Developer: ecobee
Price : Free

31. 35) Sensi
Features: This application is for those who own Sensi™ Wi-Fi
Programmable Thermostat. The app also works with Amazon
Alexa, having which you can control the heating with your
voice. Another benefit is permanent program retention during
power loss. You will always know everything about the
temperature, humidity, weather and upcoming changes in
heating and cooling that you scheduled.
Pros: Great instructions with which it is easy to set it up.
Cons: Often shows the thermostat as offline.
Price: free.
Sensi
Developer: Emerson Climate ...
Price : Free
36) Presence
Features: Presence is an award winning app. It doesn’t control
all your smart devices, too. But you can make your smartphone
a device for spying on your house! Do you use cameras to feel
safe and sound? This app will be useful to monitor the situation
in your home - whether your neighbour came or some
suspicious person. You don’t know who broke your favourite
vase? Let’s check it with Presence!
Pros: Good customer reviews.
Cons: There are not many users of this app.
Price: free.
Presence: Video secu...

32. Developer: People Power Com...
Price : Free
37) Canary - Smart Home Security
Features: With this app you can watch live and recorded HD
videos. There is also an emergency option in case of strange
activity. Canary automatically changes modes depending on that
if you are at home or not. In Away Mode it monitors any
activity and sends you notifications. In Home Mode you choose
whether to record videos or not, you can customize privacy.
When you sleep you can use Night Mode to monitor the activity
and to be sent notifications. And whenever you want you can use
Privacy Mode, with which your app disables all cameras and
microphones in your smart home.
Pros: Functional and easy to use.
Cons: Only the default sound for the notifications.
Price: free.
Canary - Smart Hom...
Developer: CanarynTools
Price : Free
38) Withings Home Security Camera
Features: This is an application for Withings Home Camera. With
this app you can check on people you love while you are not at
home. During the first few days after installation, the home learns
your schedules, noises, movements, light shifts and background
sounds in order to give you alerts if anything goes wrong or any
strange activity is detected.

33. Pros: You can choose the tune you like for notifications or
switch them off.
Cons: The app crashes often.
Price: free.
Nokia Home Security ...
Developer: Nokia Apps Distr...
Price : Free
Next four apps will help you to manage the lights in your smart
home.
39) Lightpad
Features: The app can be used easily on your smartphone or
tablet. It doesn’t matter where your smart lights are - at home,
in the office or elsewhere - all of them can be switched on and
off with the help of this app. You can control the lights within
wifi zone.
Pros: There is nothing needless.
Cons: There are not many users of this app. No manual.
Price: free.
Lightpad
Developer: LIGHTINGSOFT AGn...
Price : Free
40) BeOn Home
Features: Includes security lighting, which copies your
behaviour inside the house, backup lighting for up to 5 hours,
emergency lighting, which turns on the lights in case a smoke
detector is heard, and more. You will never fall down at night

34. because of the chair standing not in a right place, or a cunning
Lego block lying on your way to the light switch. Nowadays
using BeOn Home everything is easier.
Pros: Works as promised.
Cons: The app is a bit slow.
Price: free.
41) WeMo
Features: You’ll never come back home to a dark place with this
app. Control your lights during your trip to Europe, make
an impression that you are at home by switching on a special
mode which randomly turns the lights on and off in your house.
It will look like somebody’s home and they are walking from
one room to another, naturally. Which burglar would enter a
house full of people?
Pros: A lot of customers are satisfied.
Cons: Unstable.
Price: free.
Wemo
Developer: BelkinnLifestyle
Price : Free
42) Philips Hue app
Features: This app can help you to adjust the lights according to
your needs - you want to relax, concentrate or even bring back
your memories from old photos - doesn’t matter. You can do this
all controlling your Philips Hue bulbs.

35. Pros: Beautiful interface. There are a lot of users.
Cons: Geofencing doesn’t always work properly.
Price: free.
Philips Hue
Developer: Philips Lighting...
Price : Free
Let’s check other applications which are designed for managing
the work of one device only - the one you decided to try out at
your home.
43) June
Features: This is an app for your June Oven which allows you to
control the cooking from anywhere and makes your dishes just
the way you like it. You can choose from more than 50 cooking
programs, watch the cooking process on your smartphone,
always know the temperature inside the oven. Customize alerts to
monitor the cooking, or choose what information do you want
June app to give you.
Pros: Beautiful interface. Easy to use.
Cons: Available for iOS only.
Price: free.
June

36. Developer: June Life, Inc.
Price : Free
44) Oral-B App
Features: It works with Oral-B Bluetooth-enabled electronic
toothbrush. With this app you brush your teeth just like under
control of a dentist. It will tell you how much time do you need
to spend brushing, which zones did you miss, etc. Interested?
Pros: It really helps to improve the state of your teeth.
Cons: Sometimes there are problems connecting the brush to
your app.
Price: free.
45) Hush Smart Earplugs
Features: The app requires Hush Smart Earplugs. It will help
you protect sleep from your snoring partner and noisy
neighbours. The earplugs will make a soothing sound which will
block the outer sounds and help you to fall asleep. But at the
same time, it will wake you up on time, just set the alarm with
the help of Hush Smart Earplugs application. Don’t be afraid
that you can oversleep like with the regular earplugs. This app is
perfect for controlling your sleep.
Pros: Nice app design. Does the work in an expected way.
Cons: There are not many users.
Price: free.
Hush Smart Earplugs
Developer: Hush Technology,...
Price : Free

37. 46) MonBaby
Features: Oh, those sleepless nights when you check on your
baby like a hundred times a night! Check out this app! If you are
the owner of a Smart Button, this application helps you to
monitor your baby’s breathing, sleeping position, etc. All you
need is put the button on the baby’s clothes and use the
application.
Pros: Gives you a peace of mind.
Cons: The app is sometimes disconnected.
Price: free.
MonBaby Smart Button
Developer: Mondevices INCnH...
Price : Free
47) SleepIQ
Features: Sleep Number beds are used with this app which
tracks and optimizes your sleep. It will give you good advice
how to make your sleep better, you will receive notifications
and tips for your sleep improvement. Integrates with Nest,
Fitbit, MapMyRun, Withings, Microsoft Health.
Pros: Helps you improve your health.
Cons: The app can mistake you with your wife or your dog and
track their sleep.
Price: free.
SleepIQ

38. Developer: Select Comfort C...
Price : Free
48) Smarter
Features: Your coffee machine and a kettle understand you. Just
choose the beverage you would like and how would you like it.
No matter where in the house you are your drink will soon be
ready.]
Pros: Saves your time in the morning.
Cons: Sometimes loses connection.
Price: free.
Smarter
Developer: Smarter Applicat...
Price : Free
You can also use some apps outside your smart home but they
aren’t less smart!
49) CleanGrow
Features: This app is for those who like gardening or for
farmers. If you like to grow plants and your own groceries,
check it out!
Pros: Great for massive production of plants like fields and labs.
Cons: Not very cost efficient when having only a couple of
plants.
Price: free.
50) Robomow

39. Features: You may like watching a sweaty muscular lawnmower
man working in front of your windows, but let’s not tempt fate
and use this app. You can control your lawn mower machine
from your sofa!
Pros: Updated version is very responsive.
Cons: Connectivity breakdowns.
Price: free.