It understands the rhythm of your home and creates a heating schedule automatically. It’s suitable for all boilers, and can manage hot water too, offers smartphone and voice control and – here’s the clever bit – it learns your routine, switching the heating on and off as you leave and return to the house, even when you go to bed.

It makes heating fashionable, while also giving homeowners greater control of the energy they use.Īvailable in stainless steel, white, black, and copper, it’s a stylish smart home gadget that works as well as it looks, with the tactile metal outer ring and colour display oozing class.

The first mass-market smart thermostat was launched way back in 2011, and in that time, Google estimates it has saved over 39 billion kWh of energy worldwide. Our roundup below is a mix of our hands-on testing and rigorous research. We’ve investigated the best smart thermostats available no matter your budget, or whether you’re looking to heat a mansion or maisonette. We also assess how simple the app is to navigate and the ability to switch the heating on or off based on your smartphone’s location. We rate the smartphone app on how well it sets and amends schedules and how detailed the energy reports are. We also look at how intuitive they are to set up, how quickly the boiler reacts to instructions and how effective any motion and open-window sensors are. We check out the performance, ease of use and design of some of the top smart thermostats available in the UK. How the GH Tech Team tests smart thermostats Some others can use your phone’s GPS location to predict when you’re heading home, or automatically turn off the heating when you leave. This means they work out how warm you like the temperature, and when you’re not at home they can adjust the schedule for maximum comfort and energy saving. What’s more, some systems, such as Nest, are “self-learning” (more on that below). These give you total control, which may help to reduce the bills. Some have tablet-style touchscreen displays, while all have weekly, daily, and hourly schedules via their smartphone apps. The best smart thermostats feature individual smart radiator valves, which allow you to create different heating zones and adjust when, and for how long, each room is heated.īut aside from working like a remote heating control, smart thermostats are easy to programme compared to an old-fashioned wall-mounted push-button design. Most systems consist of a wireless hub (which connects to your boiler) and a wireless thermostat controller that can be wall or table-mounted, battery or mains powered.

By linking the two together you can control your home’s heating using a smartphone app whether you’re on the sofa or tucked up in bed. They’re intuitive to use, more affordable than ever, and can even be controlled using the latest voice control systems such as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.Įssentially, a smart thermostat connects your boiler to your wifi. They can learn when you’re at home or when you’re en route from work, adjusting the temperature accordingly and giving you insights into how much energy you’re using.Īnd while such innovation would have, in the past, required a degree in rocket science to understand, brands such as Google Nest, Hive, Tado and Honeywell have worked hard to develop smart thermostats that slot seamlessly into our connected homes. The best smart thermostats make it easy to control the temperature of each room at home from anywhere in the world using your smartphone or tablet. But in truth, the most exciting – yes, exciting – hi-tech home innovation of the past decade is the smart thermostat. When most of us think of a smart home, we’re imagining futuristic lighting controls, video doorbells, connected burglar alarms, robot vacuums and app-controlled appliances working together to make our lives easier. We updated this roundup in August 2023 to guarantee that our best smart thermostat picks were in stock and reflected up-to-date prices.

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