Category: Smart Home

Smart plugs, cameras, speakers, thermostats and assistants that stop responding.

Security Camera Sending Too Many Alerts? Here Is How to Tame Them

A camera that alerts on every passing car gets muted, which makes it useless. Here is how to get alerts that mean…

A vacuum that strands itself is usually confused by the dock position, dirty sensors or a broken map. Here is how to…

Schedules fail because of time zones, offline devices and conflicting automations. Here is how to find which.

Automations fail for a handful of predictable reasons. Here is how to find which one, using the logs your platform already keeps.

A camera that takes fifteen seconds to show a picture is usually limited by upload bandwidth or a weak signal. Here is…

Smart locks sit at the edge of coverage on battery power, which is a difficult combination. Here is how to diagnose the…

Flicker at low brightness usually comes from a dimmer switch still in the circuit or a cheap driver. Here is how to…

When several speakers are in earshot, the wrong one answers and the wrong lights turn on. Here is how to sort out…

Hubs add cost and complexity and solve problems that only appear past a certain number of devices. Here is where that line…

A speaker that ignores you is usually mishearing the wake word, on a weak network, or muted. Here is how to work…

Lights coming on at odd hours are almost always a forgotten automation, a power blip default, or a shared account. Here is…

Missed deliveries and late alerts usually come from Wi-Fi signal, sensor geometry or battery-saving settings rather than a faulty doorbell.