10 Smart Gadgets To Help Upgrade Your Home Office

If you're a remote worker, you shouldn't shy away from investing in your home office. After all, this is where you get all your work down, and adding smart gadgets can potentially assist you in being more productive. However, with all the smart devices available at the moment, its easy to get overwhelmed or confused and be unable to determine which ones are truly useful and which ones are just a waste of space and money. 

That's why we're listing out a few smart gadgets that you should consider when upgrading your at-home workplace. These items are designed to make work more bearable, reduce distractions, and keep your space clean and organized. We also included a couple of items to help secure your gear and equipment, especially important if you've got expensive devices that your company might charge you for if you lose. Others apply helpful automation to keep your work-life balance a little more, well, balanced.

A smart speaker is one of the most fundamental things you'd want to have in a smart home, as it makes it easier to give voice commands to control your other smart gadgets. You can also connect them to your phone or computer wirelessly, to function as more conventional speakers. 

The possibilities only expand when you have multiple Google Nest smart speakers (or Amazon Echo speakers, etc.) at home. You can use them as an intercom system between rooms, or group them together to create a seamless whole-house sound system. There are many other unexpected uses to help you become more productive whatever you're doing.

In a remote work environment, a smart speaker is going to be the main way that you communicate with the other smart devices that you may want to add to your home office. Being able to listen to your favorite Spotify playlist while working without needing to open the app on your smartphone or laptop will also reduce the chance that you'll get distracted by a stray notification. And if you want to talk to your partner, kids, or other people in your home, you can just call them straight from the smart speaker instead of having to scream at the top of your lungs or leave your office to get their attention. Basically, if you're building a smart home office, getting one (or a set) of the best smart speakers worth buying should be one of your first steps.

A smart display is similar to a smart speaker in that it lets you control your smart devices with your voice, but incorporating a touch screen lets you do so much more. For example, you could view the video feed of your smart doorbell with it, instead of having to pull up your phone to see who's at the door. It can also show your calendar and reminders, allowing you to take stock of what you need to do for the day without even turning on your computer, as well as give you your daily news fix as you start your morning.

When you're deeply focused on your work and don't want any audio playing from your smart display, you can turn it into a digital photo album, showing your memories on your desk. Alternatively, if you prefer to have a video playing in the background, but don't want it running on your PC, you can install Netflix, YouTube, or your favorite streaming platform on this smaller screen and just let it play while you're focusing on something else.

If you want more functionality than what a smart speaker delivers, it makes sense to get one of the best smart screens or smart displays you can buy. But if you're building an entire system for your home, it's highly recommended that you stick to the same brand, like Google Nest or Amazon Echo, to ensure that you don't run into compatibility issues when setting them up.

Smart speakers and smart displays are all well and good if you want a lot of functionality. If you prefer peace and quiet, don't need the advanced features these gadgets offer, and only want something simple to operate, a smart wireless switch might be the solution for you. You could also get both, and use the smart speakers and smart displays for useful but complicated commands and then set the smart wireless switch for simpler functions, like switching a particular set of smart lights on and off at the same time.

Smart switches may seem rather limited, but they are actually quite useful. For example, some offer three settings, even if they only have a single button — you can set it to run different commands with a single-click, a double-click, and a long press, effectively turning one gadget into three different ones. And since you can program them to run scenes (a set of automated commands) instead of just turning on one or two smart switches, you can potentially turn this simple device into an advanced machine that controls your smart devices just the way you like them. This makes smart wireless switches pretty useful for your entire home, including your home office.

Because these switches are wireless, they're easy to place anywhere within reach. If you're working at your desk, you can just keep it near your keyboard and change your lights from where you're sitting. You can even bring it around in your house and set it to prepare your home office even before if you're still finishing eating breakfast in the kitchen.

These are some of the first upgrades many people put in their house, as they're quite easy to do. As plug-and-play gadgets, they don't require any hardware changes, and they're also a breeze to set up on your smartphone. For some, the main purpose of getting smart lights is so that you can turn them on or off using your voice, but they can do so much more than that.

One of the biggest things about smart bulbs is that you can often change their color and brightness. That means you don't have to install a dimmer switch just to adjust the lighting in your home office. You can easily switch between warm white, cool white, or daylight to exactly match your mood while you're working, or even change to more colorful options if you prefer to party.

More importantly, you can program your smart lights to change their settings based on the time of day. That way, they could automatically dim or switch off at lunch time to remind you to take a break or when the workday is over. You can even set them to go from daylight to warm white if you prefer working late at night, and want to make it easier to go to bed and fall asleep as soon as you're done.

While smart devices can make your life so much more convenient, there are times that purchasing one just doesn't make sense. Maybe you already have a non-smart gadget that still works well. Maybe the smart appliance you want is just way too expensive versus the non-smart variants. If the only thing you need is to be able to turn an item on or off remotely or alongside your other smart devices, the best solution is a smart plug.

You can plug your laptop charger into a smart plug that automatically turns off an hour after you switch off the smart lights in your home office. That way, you can reduce power consumption by not charging your computer when you're not using it. Some smart plugs even come with a built-in meter, allowing you to see how much electricity you're using throughout the day, making it easier for you to see how much you're spending to get things done.

Smart plugs are also useful for controlling non-smart LED desk lamps, especially those that do not come with sockets that fit standard smart bulbs (like a monitor light bar). That way, you won't have to rummage under your desk to turn it on or off, especially if its switch is on the power cable. You can also use a smart plug to sync your non-smart devices with your smart lights, allowing you to control everything in your home office with a single click on your smart switch.

Nobody likes to work at an uncomfortable temperature, but excessively using your AC or heater could also lead to an expensive utility bill. One solution to this is to install a smart thermostat in your home office, ensuring the right temperature at the right time. Some models even come with an occupancy or motion sensor, so that it will not use energy when there's no one in the room.

You can then set it to cool off or heat up your office a few minutes before you start working, ensuring that you're comfortable as soon as you begin your day, and then to automatically turn off at the end of the day to save on costs. Some of these devices also come with machine learning capabilities to study your patterns, habits, and preferences, helping anticipate what you want to keep you comfortable without requiring you to set the temperature every now and then.

Since many smart thermostat models are connected to Wi-Fi, you can go online to check the temperature of your home even when you're away. This is especially important if you keep sensitive electronics in your home office, like cameras and lenses, ensuring that they don't suffer from too much heat, cold, or humidity.

As the name suggests, this is a universal remote that comes with smart features, allowing you to control anything that has an IR receiver. That makes it useful for controlling non-smart appliances like a standing fan or a sound system. You can even use it to turn an old TV into a smart one. So, when you're starting or ending the day, you can just program it to turn on or turn off everything you need alongside all your other smart devices when your press your smart wireless switch.

More than that, some smart remote models come with temperature and humidity sensors, allowing you to use it a more affordable substitute to a smart thermostat. Sure, it might not have the capabilities to run a centralized HVAC system, but it should be good enough if you don't want to invest in a smart thermostat. You can also program the smart remote to automatically send commands based on what it detects in your room, ensuring that your AC or heat pump is always set at a comfortable level when you're inside. And if you want your home office to feel great first thing in the morning, you can just program the smart remote to turn on your climate control system an hour before you start working.

Whether you're a freelancer investing in your own gear or you're working with company-issued equipment, it's important that you keep the items you need for work safe and secure. While you can protect your home with a good smart lock from the major brands, it's wise to get a second layer of protection for your home office. 

Not only will it make it harder for intruders to break into your workspace, but it can also avoid tempting people who might work in your home and prevent petty theft. So, if you have a maintenance or cleaning professional come into your home while you're away, a smart doorknob will make your office much harder to access, as you can set it to automatically lock when you close the door and require your credentials to open.

This smart gadget is also a good thing to get if you have kids at home, whether they're yours or just visiting. This helps ensure that your office is always locked, preventing them from entering your workspace and potentially making a mess in there. It's also great if you have a lot of meetings, as a smart doorknob could prevent people from just barging in and disturbing you unnecessarily.

Speaking of security, a smart security camera is also another good investment for your home office. Some of the best Wi-Fi security cameras will help keep your expensive gear secure by watching over them 24/7. But if you don't want to pay for cloud storage and want to store your recordings locally, it's recommended that you place your base station somewhere hard to find — preferably not in your home office, as intruders could just easily grab it alongside your equipment.

This gadget is also useful if you're on the phone with someone in your house and asking them to find something in your office. Instead of having to guide them blindly through your stuff, you can just look at the smart security camera and tell them exactly where to go based on what you see. Or if you see your kids messing around in your office, you can talk to them directly from the camera if you have a model that offers two-way communication.

You might think of a smart robot vacuum as something for your kitchen or dining room. But if you spend the majority of your waking time in your office, you'd probably want to have one in there, too. After all, unless you have a clean room at home, your home office would gather dust and dirt as you work throughout the week.

Instead of having to sweep the floor every now and then, you can just get a smart robot vacuum to do that for you automatically at the end of the day. While you might still need to clean the surfaces in your office yourself, having a robot vacuum cleaning the floor for you would reduce your mental load after a tiring work week. This is particularly useful if you like to snack while working (or eat at your desk if you're quite busy). So, even if you drop a morsel or two without noticing it, a smart robot vacuum would ensure that the floor of your home office is clean before you step on it.