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Smart Home Gift Ideas: Connected Picks That Aren't Gimmicks

Find the best smart home gift ideas—smart thermostats, connected lighting, smart speakers, digital picture frames, and connected kitchen gadgets. Browse curated smart home gift picks or use our Gift Finder for personalized smart home gift suggestions.

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From the editors

Smart home is a cursed gift category. For every smart thermostat that somebody loves, there are three smart mugs and smart coasters collecting dust. The line between "useful" and "novelty" is mostly invisible from a product page.

Here's our rule: if the gift requires the person to install an app, learn a hub's interface, or troubleshoot a Zigbee pairing, it's a project, not a gift. The recommendations below lean toward the opposite — things that work five minutes out of the box and keep working. A Nest thermostat that sets itself. A Sonos Beam that plugs into a TV. A digital frame that an older family member can actually figure out without a tutorial.

We skip the smart-locks-and-cameras corner of the category on purpose — those touch security, privacy, and home wiring in ways that make them wrong as surprise gifts. If someone wants a Ring doorbell, let them install it themselves.

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