In this seemingly never-ending COVID-19 pandemic, one thing appears to be certain: people are learning to live smarter, more convenient, and more energy-efficient lives—and that means staying at home more with more smart devices at their disposal.

For some, smart assistants such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home have almost become like roommates: sentient beings they can confide in and ask questions of, even though the answers aren’t always the exact ones they were looking for or expecting. For others, staying home more just means more quiet time, more self time, and more time in front of a screen, working or virtually hanging out with friends and loved ones.

In these challenging times, smart devices from smart lighting to smart ovens are coming in quite handy for staying both sane and safe. At Tuya, we’ve seen our customers launch over 90,000 smart devices and we’ve seen lots of interesting applications. Based on our experience, here are some tips on putting your smart devices to the best possible use at a time when staying home has become the day-to-day norm.

1. Let your smart devices do some work for you

Anyone staying at home more than usual should be concerned about energy usage. The more you stay at home, the more energy you’ll use and you may start to be unpleasantly surprised by the bigger and bigger energy bills arriving in your mailbox (online or otherwise).

Conserving energy through smart devices is one of the greatest gifts of the Internet of Things. Smart bulbs don’t just last way longer than regular bulbs: they’re also up to 80% more energy efficient. Let your smart devices do some work for you

But the true power of IoT-based energy conversation comes from smart plugs.

A smart plug is a power-point adapter that fits between your outlet and the device you want to plug into it. A smart plug’s basic function is to allow you to turn things on and off from your phone, but when you link your smart plug to a smart home platform, it becomes far more powerful by allowing you to start tracking how much energy your devices are using. This will also allow you to control and conserve “vampire power”, or the power your devices use when you’re on standby, which can account for up to 10% of your electricity bills.

Smart plugs can also be used to control which devices get power at which times of the day, and to control the power supply to those devices at will and remotely, via your phone. This has tremendous benefits for people stuck at home, but also busy parents seeking to do things like get the oven started while out running errands or people with kids they feel are spending a little too much time on the Xbox or TV.

In sum: smart plugs allow you to save time, energy, and sanity.

2. Never underestimate the power of smart security

When you are spending a lot of time at home, smart devices like smart locks, smart doorbells, and smart cameras can make all the difference for feeling secure.

A smart door lock that lets people in based on their individual code is the perfect way to control who is coming in and out and who is just supposed to leave packages at the door.
Never underestimate the power of smart security

Likewise, smart cameras, especially when connected to the rest of your smart home hub, can become the eyes and ears of your smart home security, allowing you to monitor what’s going on outside your door 24/7, all from your phone.

Finally, smart doorbells can be synced with your smart door locks and smart cameras to complete your smart home security package.

Apart from having and using all three of the above-mentioned devices, the best way to do smart home security is through a smart home security SaaS platform, which ties all functionality together and allows you to add powerful services such as video cloud storage. View Tuya’s smart home security SaaS offering here: https://pages.tuya.com/SmartSecurity#form.

3. Know that smart lighting can change your mood when you need it most

Smart lighting has the power to change your mood and productivity with the flick of a switch—or in this case, the touch of a phone screen. It can also stabilize your circadian rhythms to help you get a better and deeper night’s sleep. When you’re staying home a lot, and working from home, how you choose to light your environment can make all the difference for how you feel about your situation and how well you are remote-working. Know that smart lighting can change your mood when you need it most

Tuya’s 16 million different hues provides endless smart lighting options to choose from. To avoid feeling overwhelmed by options, study the best lighting for certain moods to know which hues you want and when. These are our recommendations, based on the science of lighting:

-In general, use brighter lighting—no matter the color—during the day and dimmer lighting during the evening to help your body properly adjust to circadian rhythms.

-Blue lighting is great for getting and staying calm.

-Orange lighting is great for energy and motivation.

-Yellow and white lighting help with feeling joy and being uplifted.

Of course, different hues within each of the primary colors will have different types of effects. Play with your hues and smart lights to see how you react and respond, and then program your lights accordingly.

4. Put the power of smart scene linking into practice

If you understand the possibilities with smart scene linking and smart scene automation, you will understand how helpful it can be at a time when you are spending hours on end at home.

When your curtains know to open and close according to your sleeping habits, your lights know when to come on, your door locks know when to lock and unlock, and your humidifiers and dehumidifiers know the conditions in which you would want them to be on, you are essentially living in a home that knows your preferences and habits, making life much easier, more convenient, and a little more joyful. Put the power of smart scene linking into practice

“Tap-to-run” scene automatons put it all together with a single tap to make your rooms match your moods and your needs, per your personal preferences, leaving you with a seamless smart living environment that requires no plugging or unplugging, switching up or down, or manual actions of any kind. Just program it all and let your smart devices adapt to your lifestyle.

At some point—hopefully sooner rather than later—the pandemic will be over, but by then you will have already incorporated smart devices and smart living into your daily routines. Because in the end, it doesn’t matter if you are staying inside all day because you have to or because you want to, we can all benefit from the energy savings and improved lifestyles that smart devices enable.