I’ve seen articles lately that say that the smart home is dead. Before diving into that topic, I want to revisit the history of the smart home. More than a decade ago, the industry was abuzz with promises that everybody was going to install integrated smart home technology to make their lives easier. The smart home movement can probably be traced back to the 2011 introduction of the Nest Learning Thermostat, which gave people an easy way to monitor and control energy consumption.
Within a few years after that, there was an explosion of smart home technologies hitting the market. 2014 saw the release of the Amazon Alexa and the Apple HomeKit. In that same time period, companies like Vivint, ADT, and Control4 were pushing full-house systems that integrated smart lighting, smart thermostats, smart locks, smart window shades, and automated music and video control throughout a home. Comcast entered the new industry in a big way, and by 2015 offered Xfinity Home, which integrated the best devices from multiple vendors for a basic monthly fee. Over time, indoor and outdoor smart cameras, smart appliances, and smart everything joined the technology mix.
Like with every new tech market, analysts went nuts with predictions. In 2014, smart home was a featured technology at the annual CES tech show. Market analysts predicted that a huge number of homes would adopt an integrated suite of smart home technologies, and that the industry would grow to half a trillion ANNUAL dollars by 2020 (in 2025 it was a $100 million industry). I still remember the ads describing how your home would greet you when you came home from work. The thermostat would already have increased the temperature. Lighting and your favorite music would follow you as you walked from room to room. Every room would have a screen to view video or to connect online. Outdoor water system would keep your lawn and plants perfect, and robot mowers would keep the grass trimmed, all without any effort from you. Window shades would be automatically raised and lowered to capture or block sunlight as needed during the day. All of this would be controlled by talking to your smart house. By 2017 and 2018, practically every electronic device made for the home included a WiFi connection, with many also having the ability to be controlled by a voice command from Siri or Alexa.
Over time, the shine came off the technology. The devices to automate the home were expensive, and not that many people tackled whole-home automation. It also quickly became apparent that users were at the mercy of the manufacturers. For example, Google’s Nest bought the smart-home hub vendor Revolv in 2016, and two years later intentionally shut down the service, causing the $300 units to become bricks. In 2017, Jawbone went bankrupt and stranded large numbers of smart speakers and fitness trackers. People started to understand what it means to have devices controlled by the cloud instead of locally. People also grew increasingly uncomfortable having devices like the Amazon Echo listening to everything being said in the home. Many people also grew wary of trusting the giant companies behind the smart technology. Finally, smart appliances were expensive to maintain. I had the electronics in a dryer die during the supply chain shortages after the pandemic, and I was faced with an expensive repair for a new electronics card, even if the parts had been available. I was lucky enough to be able to replace it with an American-made dryer with old-fashioned analog dials.
Starting in 2025, magazines for the real estate industry started to carry articles talking about how buyers weren’t interested in buying homes with smart technology. It seems like home buyers are moving away from smart home technology. This seems to be driven by the high cost of maintaining smart systems, privacy concerns, and overall digital fatigue. Real estate agents report that buyers are seeking homes with “unplugged” spaces, and homes with manual switches and dials instead of automation. This is probably part of a larger trend against intrusive electronics. The Washington Post reported that there is a small resurgence of landlines in homes where kids aren’t allowed to have smartphones. A lot of young people have started to buy flip phones as a way to get away from smartphone addiction. A lot of homes have taken down doorbell and indoor cameras from fear of being hacked.
Of course, nothing is universal, and there are still plenty of homes with a profusion of connected devices they actually use, and home automation is here to stay for folks who want it. But I’m still wondering what the heck I will ever do with the smart features on my refrigerator and stove.