14 Smart Home Gadgets You Didn't Know Existed

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Smart home gadgets and appliances aren't new to anybody. Smart lights, switches, and displays have been around for years, helping millions of people around the world automate different parts of their homes. While traditional smart home devices like security cameras, smart plugs, and smart speakers are popular, there are some lesser-known gadgets that can make your life easier by residing in different parts of your home. From self-cleaning pet litter boxes to robot vacuums with extendable arms to alarm clocks that are sure to get you out of your bed, we've curated a list of unique smart home gadgets that you've probably never heard of before.

If you're all about saving time on chores with smart home devices — and you like having the best of cutting-edge technology at your disposal — you're absolutely going to love these devices. Apart from the fact that these gadgets are unique, they perform functions that you may have never imagined were possible using a smart home device. For instance, who knew that the shower head in your bathroom could play your favorite music, or that you could change the tint of the window on your door with the press of a button? If that sounds interesting, you're probably going to end up with a lighter wallet by the end of this list.

If you have cats at home, you know how painful it is to constantly clean the litter box to keep it clean. Standard litter boxes require manual cleaning, which means you will have to scoop out your pet's remains from time to time. This is both time-consuming and cumbersome — especially if you have multiple cats and a busy schedule. Well, the Whisker Litter Robot 4 aims to automate the process with the help of a self-cleaning litter box that not only makes the process easier but at the same time, also traps the odor inside using what the brand refers to as OdorTrap technology. An internal filter sifts through the litter and separates your cat's droppings, and sends them into the waste drawer.

You only have to empty the drawer at a certain frequency. Apart from automating the cleaning process, the Whisker Litter Robot 4 can also connect to your smartphone to display vital information such as your cat's weight, the amount of litter remaining inside the robot, the frequency of usage, etc., to monitor your cat's health. As per several users, the biggest advantage of the Litter Robot 4 is the fact that it completely masks the odor — something that's not possible with traditional litter boxes. It's easily one of the coolest pieces of tech for your pets.

Don't have pets but love watching different species of birds? You don't need a pair of binoculars or a fancy telephoto camera lens anymore. Simply install the Birdbuddy Pro outside your home, and you can not only view, but also capture various types of birds that land on it. 

It's essentially a bird feeder that has a built-in camera along with some AI goodness. As soon as a bird lands on the feeder, the camera captures multiple photos of the bird. Thanks to the close focusing distance, the camera can capture the bird's picture clearly, along with recording a 2K video or even in slow-mo.

The onboard AI identifies what kind of bird visited you and provides additional information about it. It can also detect any potential illness in birds or recognize predators such as other animals lurking around the feeder. The feeder hardware is UV-resistant, weatherproof, and even compatible with Alexa. So, you can view the camera feed on your Echo device. If you like watching and observing birds up close, and you want to collect images of different birds near home, the Birdbuddy Pro is a nice accessory to have in your backyard.

Waking up early in the morning can be difficult. If you end up hitting the snooze button more often than you would like, it's time to ditch the old alarm clock or your phone's alarm app and switch to something that aims to actually get you out of bed. Ruggie is one such smart home device. 

As the name suggests, it's a rug that's meant to be placed either next to your bed or some distance away. While it looks like a simple rug, it has some pretty cool tech on the inside. There's a display that you can use to view the time and set an alarm. Once an alarm is set, you can choose from several nature-inspired tunes, such as song birds, wind chimes, running creek, beach waves, etc.

When the alarm rings in the morning, the only way to stop it is to wake up, find the rug, and stand on it for 60 seconds. There's no snooze button at all, so the alarm will keep ringing until you stand on it for a whole minute. The built-in speaker can get quite loud at 110dB, so you're sure not to miss the alarm. It's a good way to cultivate the habit of waking up early.

The Air Quality Index or AQI of the place you live in is extremely important to ensure you're breathing clean air. A standard Air Quality Monitor can detect PM 2.5 particles in the atmosphere, but it may not be able to monitor harmful gases, humidity, air pressure, and other such parameters that also affect the quality of air at home.  That's where a more sophisticated device, like the Airthings View Plus, comes into the picture. It's powered by batteries and can be mounted on any surface inside your home. Along with PM 2.5 levels, the Airthings View Plus can also detect radon gas, carbon dioxide, VOCs, humidity, air pressure, and temperature.

Constant exposure to radon gas can cause lung cancer, and inhaling carbon monoxide can be poisonous. Hence, using a device like the Airthings View Plus can help you detect the source of these harmful gases at home and prevent diseases. Apart from the onboard display, the Airthings monitor also connects to your smartphone to report live data and send notifications if it detects harmful particles in the air. If the air in your locality is polluted, you can get an air purifier for your home to breathe cleaner air.

The Ultrahuman Home is a device that helps you sleep better. But before you dismiss it as yet another smartwatch or smart ring that gives you a score based on how long your deep sleep lasted — it's a lot more functional. For starters, it not only detects the quality of your sleep but also your respiratory health. It can detect snoring and other related respiratory issues by classifying your snoring patterns into different categories. It uses metrics such as snoring percentage, number of snoring bouts, the longest bout, and the average duration of a bout.

Apart from that, the onboard microphone and AI algorithms also detect other noises that disrupt your sleep. Environmental noises, coughing, heavy breathing, traffic, a baby crying, etc. Using this data, you can determine what factors are affecting your sleep every night, to fix it. Unlike traditional sleep monitors that need to be worn when going to bed, the Ultrahuman Home rests on your bedside table, allowing you to track your family's sleep health with just one device. Plus, it won't bother you when you're asleep — unlike a smartwatch. It can also connect to your thermostat, air purifier, and other smart home devices to better analyze your sleep patterns.

Lots of people listen to music while taking a shower. The most common gadget that enables this is a Bluetooth speaker that happens to be waterproof. But, what if we told you that Kohler — a popular brand in the world of bathroom fittings — decided to take things up a notch by eliminating the need for a speaker and integrating an audio device into a shower head? That's exactly what the Kohler Moxie is. The kit comes with a shower head along with a magnetic Bluetooth speaker. The speaker slots into the shower head, while the head itself can be attached to any shower arm. So, you can upgrade your existing shower head with the Kohler Moxie in a matter of a few minutes.

Once plugged in, all you have to do is pair the speaker with your smartphone via Bluetooth and play your favorite tracks. You would assume that a brand known for bathroom fittings may not have done a good job making a speaker that outputs audio. Fortunately, the brand teamed up with Harman Kardon to optimize the audio quality, so you can expect your music to sound good. Moreover, the modular design ensures you can detach the speaker from the shower head to charge it or carry it to a different location. 

If you're constructing a new house, it makes sense to use smart switchboards by default, so that you can control all your devices and appliances remotely. However, it would be a hassle to replace all the wall sockets at home with smart ones in your existing home — especially if it's a rented place. Smart plugs are a good alternative, but they only work with gadgets that have a detachable plug. Hence, light and fan switches and ruled out. The simplest alternative is to use the Switchbot Smart Switch — a mechanical switch that can be triggered via your smartphone.

Just stick the Switchbot device next to the desired switchboard. When triggered, the device presses against the switch — turning it on or off. Thanks to the mechanism, the Switchbot Smart Switch can also be used to activate buttons on devices such as PCs, air purifiers, coffee makers, etc. If you want to turn on your coffee maker a few minutes before you get home from work, you can use a device like this to not only turn on the machine but also activate the brew button. The brand also provides a remote in the package that can be used to trigger the button from afar. This is helpful if your bedroom's light switch is far from your bed, and want to turn the lights off at night.

Smart locks aren't new by any means. From affordable options that unlock via a pin to sophisticated ones that can register fingerprints, smart locks have become quite common in several households. Yet, we decided to include the Level Lock+ in a list of unique smart home accessories. 

Well, that's primarily because of the way this smart lock is designed. Unlike conventional smart locks that appear, well, smart, the Level Lock+ has a traditional look to it. In other words, it looks like a standard lock with a manual key. This can be a big selling point for those who want a minimalistic look on their house door.

Thanks to support for Apple Home, the Level Lock+ can be unlocked simply by bringing a paired Apple Watch close to the lock — making use of NFC to enter your home. If you have a Matter-over-thread hub, you can also connect the lock to Wi-Fi and lock/unlock your door remotely via a smartphone. Of course, there's also the usual physical keyhole in case of a power outage. The Level Lock+ seamlessly blends into your door, making it less clunky than most smart locks. We wish more brands adopted this approach.

You've heard of a smart bulb and a smart camera, but have you heard of a smart bulb camera? Wyze decided it was a wise idea to combine the two, and we're not complaining. The Wyze Bulb Cam is a handy accessory that can be used primarily to keep a tab on dark areas inside or around your home. The issue with most smart bulbs is that they switch to recording in black and white when it gets dark. With the Wyze camera, that's not going to be the case, since the bulb lights up the surrounding area.

Even if you don't want to use it for that specific use case, the Wyze Bulb Cam is still a good gadget for $50, since you're getting two gadgets. You can get multiple devices and pair them together. Wyze even lets you sync the colors and brightness of the bulbs, which is a nice touch. Other standard features like motion detection, live streaming via the app, and offline recording onto an SD card are present. If you want to illuminate the area around your house while also adding surveillance for security, the Wyze Bulb Cam is definitely beneficial.

Yet another smart lock that's made it to this list for being unique is the Lockin Veno Pro. While this one screams smart, the reason it's on this list is due to a unique unlock mechanism. Like most smart locks, the Veno Pro can also be unlocked via a PIN, fingerprints, and NFC. However, there's one extra method that's unheard of — palm vein recognition. When you arrive at your doorstep, all you need to do is wave your palm in front of your door, and the Lockin Veno Pro can detect the pattern of veins in your palm and unlock the door.

It doesn't sound too reassuring at first, but turns out, palm vein recognition is extremely safe and foolproof, since it's much more difficult to replicate the pattern of veins on one's hand. In some situations, it's also arguably better than a fingerprint scanner since it works with dirty or oily hands, or for those who have faint fingerprints that are hard to recognize. Lockin also has a camera on the lock that can act as a video doorbell, which eliminates the need for an extra accessory.

Most new ceiling fans and air conditioners either come with a remote or Wi-Fi functionality to allow users to control them from a distance. However, if you have older models, you're forced to use a regulator knob to control the fan speed. With ACs, TVs, DVD players, or any other devices that use infrared or IR, you always have to point the remote in the direction of the appliance for it to work. That's unless you get your hands on the Bond IR to Wi-Fi Converter. As the name suggests, this simple device lets you connect IR devices to your Wi-Fi network, allowing you to control them remotely.

This is a great way to switch on your air conditioner, heater, or even an electric fireplace just before you arrive home from work. Once your devices are online, you can also link them to services like Alexa or Google Home for granular control and automations. It is slightly on the expensive side, but it's still cheaper than replacing all your old appliances with newer versions.

Robot vacuums have become quite ubiquitous in 2026, with several brands making multiple different iterations. However, the one common problem with most models is how the robot deals with obstacles. If you've used a robot vac, you know exactly what we're talking about. Fortunately, the Roborock Saros Z70 solves that problem with a new arm technology. The vacuum goes around your house just like a standard cleaning bot — until it encounters an obstacle in its course. That's when it pulls out a trick out of its hat — a retractable arm.

The arm juts out of the top of the machine, grabs any obstacle in front of it, and puts it into a trash can. No more stuck charging cables or slippers flying around. Since the tech is still nascent, the Roborock Saros Z70 is surely going to feel rather heavy on your pocket. We recommend waiting for newer versions of the product from different brands, which would democratize the technology and make it more affordable.

Having a clear glass window on your door can be beneficial for various purposes. However, it can also become a bit of a privacy issue — unless you use blinds or curtains to cover it when you don't want anyone from outside to look into your house. If the idea of using blinds or any sort of additional accessory with your door sounds clunky to you, and you just want a more seamless experience — albeit at a cost — the Feather River Smart Glass Door is for you.

While there's nothing really fancy about the door itself, all the tech is embedded within the glass window. By default, the window stays clear — so you can view what's happening outside and vice versa. However, at the click of a button, the window can go from clear to frosted — giving you complete privacy. You can also connect it to smart home platform to control it via your voice.

If you love traveling but can't find time from your busy schedule, the Atomph Window Yo provides a window into some beautiful sceneries from around the world — quite literally. It's essentially a smart display that resembles a window. It's beautifully designed, which means the frame looks like a window pane, and there are no cables dangling from one end. Whether you want to be seated right outside the Alps, or you want a glimpse of the Grand Canyon from your work desk, the Atomph Window Yo can transport you to your desired destination.

You can also use widgets like a calendar on the display and make it more interactive. Apart from its aesthetic appeal, the Window Yo is pretty much a glorified digital photo frame. While that's not necessarily a bad thing, the $639 price tag definitely seems to be on the higher side for what it offers.