Smart Home Cheat Sheet: Tips for Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Apple HomeKit

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Amazon released the first Echo smart speaker over a decade ago -- but CNET has been covering the smart home space for even longer. Since that time, CNET experts have been constantly reviewing the smart home landscape, which consists of smart lightbulbs and speakers to video doorbells and security cameras. There are far more smart devices than just those categories.

Whether you're looking to find the best products on the market, figure out how to get started, or discover how to find all the hidden features that devices like the Amazon Echo, Google Nest and Apple HomePod have to offer, we've got you covered with this cheat sheet.

Below, you'll find helpful articles detailing tips and tricks for the most popular smart home brands -- Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Apple HomeKit -- plus a variety of articles breaking down tips on where to put your devices, how to change the device settings and even how much you can expect to spend. (Since home security, home internet and home energy content have already been compiled into their own respective cheat sheets, I'm leaving out home security cameras, video doorbells, smart locks, thermostats and routers.)

What are the best smart home devices?

With thousands of smart home devices covering a broad spectrum of types and styles, it can be difficult to even know where to begin. Whether you're trying to find the best smart plug or outdoor string lights, there are loads of options and lists to sort through. Luckily, CNET experts have spent years testing out new tech to determine what's worth your money and what you can probably pass on. 

To start, you might want to consider the brand. If you're looking for a system that is compatible with thousands of devices, you may want to go with Amazon Alexa. Or if you're looking for devices that can easily connect to your iPhone, Apple HomeKit may be the way to go. Here's the best of each brand:

• Best Amazon Alexa devices
• Best Apple HomeKit devices
• Best Google Assistant and Google Nest devices
• If these don't appeal, here are the best smart home products not made by Google or Amazon

If you don't care about voice assistant technology but are simply looking to find the best of each type of device, refer to our roundups of our favorite smart products:

• Best smart speakers
• Best smart displays
• Best smart plugs
• Best smart lights

How much will a smart home cost me?

With so many smart home devices on the market, it would be easy to go overboard and spend a lot of money on different products to deck out your home completely, but you don't have to. How much you'll ultimately spend will depend on how many devices you get, the type of devices and the brand you go with. In each category, there are plenty of great options from brands you may not be familiar with but have a long lineage in the smart home space.

It's difficult to tell you an exact number of how much it will cost for your smart home build, but we've tried our best to give you an estimate to help you get an idea of what to expect.

• Here's the real cost of turning your regular home into an Amazon Alexa smart home.
• Here's what the cost is for Google Assistant devices rather than Alexa gadgets.
• Make sure to stay on top of the latest deals to save as much as you can on lights, speakers and more.

Does it matter where I put my smart home device?

While you may be tempted to just put your new smart speaker or display anywhere in your home, location does actually matter. There are usually ideal places to put your devices, as well as places you should never put them. 

• Avoid these five places for your Alexa device.
  
• Where (and why) you should put your Amazon Echo device in your kitchen.
• Test these cool ways to use your Echo device located in your living room.
• Try the four best uses for an Amazon Echo in every room of your house.
• Put an Echo device in every room of your home and watch the magic happen.
• If you want to use your Echo device in the bathroom, here's where to safely put it.
• Put your Google Home and Nest devices in these five places for best results.

How do I figure out the settings on my smart home devices?

Some smart home devices are simple and won't need many changes to the settings to be personalized. Others, like smart lights, can be so much more helpful if you take the time to add some customizations. For example, you can schedule them to turn on with a warm glow at 10% brightness when it's time to wake up.

The enjoyment you get from your smart home device depends on how well it operates. That means your settings can make or break your experience. Rather than just sticking to the default settings, adjust them for better privacy, audio, notifications, and an overall more optimized experience. 

• First, adjust these five settings on your Google Home device to enjoy it more.
• Learn how to make your Google Assistant less annoying by turning off these five settings.
• Enable this feature to be less frustrated with your Nest and Google Home devices.
• Set up these essential settings on your new Amazon Echo device.
• Change these six Alexa settings as soon as you can for more privacy and usability.
• Disable these Alexa settings and watch your device work even better.
• Fix Alexa's communication problems by changing these settings.
• Adjust the privacy settings on your Amazon, Google and Apple devices.

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