Your home should be a safe and comfortable place. While your home can protect you, providing warmth and shelter, it’s also up to you to protect your home. Houses in Philadelphia are not immune from a number of threats, from break-ins and burglaries to fire. In 2013, the fire department responded to more than 95,000 fire calls. According to the Philadelphia Police, there were more than 7,700 residential burglaries in 2014.

While thieves and fire remain a concern, smart devices, which use WiFi and other technologies, can help keep your Philadelphia home safer than ever before. If you haven’t already, consider upgrading your home’s smoke alarm and security system to take advantage of 21st century technology.

Nest Protect

By law, your Philly home needs to have a carbon monoxide alarm installed, as well as smoke detectors. If you don’t have an alarm yet or want to upgrade your current alarm and detectors, the Nest Protect, or a similar device, might be the way to go. One way that the Nest Protect is different from older, less “smart” alarms is that it uses words, not beeps, to alert you to an issue. It’s also able to let you know the level of smoke or carbon monoxide in your home, and where it’s coming from, so that you can tell if it’s an emergency situation or simply a case of something burning in the kitchen. The devices also connect to WiFi, which means you can program each one so that it knows which room of the home it is in. Once the devices are on your WiFi network, you’ll be able to protect your home, even when you are at work or elsewhere, using the connected app.

Canary

Smart home protection extends to security systems, as well. While plenty of home security companies have revamped their services and devices to make them smarter, one product, Canary, was designed as a smart home system from the start. Anyone who has ever accidentally tripped their home alarm knows what a pain it can be to reset it or to scramble to answer the phone before the security company calls the police.

The device, which doesn’t need to be professionally installed, is ideal for smaller homes, such as apartments or rowhouses. It’s relatively small in size and is designed to be set in a central part of the home. After it is connected to the house’s WiFi network, it is able to program itself, learning when people are active in the house and when the house is usually empty. Once the system gets a sense of the rhythm of the house, it’s able to detect when something is amiss, such as a fire or break-in. If anything goes wrong, it will send you a text, and you can decide what to do from that point.

August Smart Lock

Keys are so last century, not to mention being a bit of a pain. You can lose them or forget them at home, meaning you’re stuck having to call a locksmith. With a device such as the August Smart Lock, you can skip the key entirely and use your smartphone and a code to enter your home. Along with eliminating the need for keys, the device will also automatically lock and unlock your door when you are a certain distance away from it.

When you live in a city, having a number of devices to protect your home is smart. Thanks to technology, those devices are better than ever and can seamlessly blend into your life, making it easy for you to keep your place safe.

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