Smart Home Gifts: Pick One That Works With the System They Already Use

A smart-home gift is only useful if it joins the app, hub and voice assistant they already have. Ask what they use to turn their lights on and talk to their speaker, then pick the row that fits.

Not every Hue home has a Hue Bridge, and some Hue gifts won't work without one. These are the Hue gifts we review and what each needs, according to Philips Hue.

The Hue Dimmer Switch is the safest Hue gift: a battery-powered remote on a wall plate with on/off, brighter, dimmer and Hue buttons that works without Wi-Fi or a phone, so everyone in the house has a normal switch for the Hue lights. It's for indoor use, it doesn't wire into the existing switch, and it doesn't stop people turning that switch off.

The Hue Smart Plug brings a lamp or a string of lights that can't take a Hue bulb into the Hue app and its scenes. It only switches on and off, so it won't dim a lamp, and it's for indoor use.

For a home that already has a Bridge, the Hue Play 2-pack adds color behind a TV or monitor, and one power supply runs up to three bars; matching the light to what's on screen needs Hue's Sync TV app or a Sync Box. The Hue Lily 3-pack is a set of outdoor garden spotlights with the power supply included, but it needs an outdoor outlet within cable reach. The Hue motion sensors turn lights on when someone walks in; the indoor one can miss someone who sits very still.

The Echo Dot Max is a speaker with a smart home hub built in: Amazon lists a Zigbee hub, Matter support and a Thread border router, so compatible devices can pair to it directly. It sounds fuller than the regular Echo Dot but plays in mono on its own. It suits a home that uses Alexa; for an Apple Home or Google Home household it isn't the right hub.

These are gifts to agree on first, because they go on someone's door or wall.

• Tapo DL110 smart lock: replaces the existing deadbolt and unlocks by fingerprint (up to 100), keypad codes (up to 200, including one-time and scheduled codes), the app or voice, with two backup keys. TP-Link lists doors 1.38–2.17 inches thick with a 2.36 or 2.76 inch backset, and it needs 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. It works with Alexa, Google Assistant and SmartThings; TP-Link doesn't list Apple Home or Matter.
• Tapo C615F solar camera kit: a pan/tilt 2K camera, an 800-lumen floodlight and a solar panel in one box, for a driveway or yard without an outlet. The mounting spot needs direct sun most days, it connects on 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi only, and local recording needs a microSD card (up to 512 GB, not included); cloud recording needs a Tapo Care subscription.

• Buying a Bridge-only Hue product for someone without a Hue Bridge: the Play bars, Lily spots and motion sensors need one.
• Buying an extension instead of a starter kit: Hue Lily 1-packs are extensions without a power supply, and the Play bars need the base kit with the adapter.
• Giving an Alexa hub to an Apple Home household, or a lock or camera without Apple Home support to someone who lives in it.
• Assuming a smart plug dims: the Hue Smart Plug only switches power on and off.
• Forgetting the extras: the Tapo camera's microSD card is sold separately.

• Check the exact model and pack in the listing title: Hue sells 1-pack extensions and base kits under similar names, and Tapo sells the DL100, DL105 and DL110 locks.
• Check who sells and ships it on the listing; our reviews say which seller we found when we checked.
• Check the return policy on the listing before you buy, especially for gifts given after the return window.