Control your smart home.

When you're shopping for smart home gear, the product sheet never tells you how you'll actually control it. Will you tap your phone from your truck? Can you use a physical remote if the app crashes? Does it work over Bluetooth or only WiFi? What happens during an outage.

We built a guide that answers those questions first, before you wade through product reviews. It covers controlling through an app on your phone versus a website in your browser, controlling from anywhere versus only from home, WiFi range versus Bluetooth range, what happens when the internet goes down, and whether you get locked into one company's voice assistant. We also added control information to other sections of the site so you see the answer in context.

It's the stuff installers know but don't always tell you upfront. Read it before you buy, and you won't get surprised by a system that only works when you're home or a remote that needs the internet to do anything.