2022 Smart Home Holiday Gift Guide
When we first started doing our smart home holiday gift guide in 2014, the shopping season started after Thanksgiving, with Black Friday. This year, it feels like it started before Halloween, and we’re late to the party. Amazon had their Prime Days in October, Costco is filled with Christmas gear and gifts, and every day we’re getting emails about “pre-pre” Black Friday deals.
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Of course the world has changed dramatically since then, both in terms of technology and how we shop. Last year we all worried if we could place our orders or get what we wanted in time for Christmas, and this year, retailers are overstocked and are expected to keep sales going through January.
We’ve expanded our shopping guide over the years to include our favorite tech gifts, including things to make your home smart. We hope you can find something for everyone on your list. There are a few gifts in here we continue to recommend, year after year, because they are solid choices that we still use.
If we’ve done a story or a video on these products, we’ve included a link so you can learn more, as well as links to buy. For the easiest way to shop this year’s guide, visit our Holiday Gift Guide on our Amazon store.
For Coffee (or Tea) Lovers
Ember Mug
Watch: Ember Mug Review
Buy: Amazon
We love love love our coffee at AppMyHome and our favorite gift from last year, the Ember Mug, remains at the top of our list for 2022.
The Ember Mug is a temperature-controlled mug that keeps your hot beverage of choice to its perfect drinking temperature for more than an hour on its own or all day if you use its charging coaster. It’s something you might feel is silly or self-indulgent to buy for yourself, but if your loved one is a coffee or tea lover, they will be happy to have it.
The mug comes in multiple sizes and colors and even in a travel version that displays the temperature and can plug into a car charger to keep it warm on the road.
Govee Smart Kettle
Watch: Govee Smart Electric Kettle Review
Buy: Amazon
Electric kettles are great for heating up water quickly for tea or coffee. The Govee smart kettle takes it one step further by connecting over WiFi.
We love our smart gooseneck kettle for making pour-over coffee. It has a number of presets to quickly heat up water to the perfect temperature for coffee, black, green or oolong tea, or you can set it to your exact preferred temperature using the app or by asking Alexa. With the hold function, it will keep your water at that perfect temperature until you’re ready to use it.
For Backyard Movie Nights
Kodak Luma Projector
Watch: Kodak Luma 350 Projector Review
Buy: Amazon
The Kodak Luma Projector is a tiny projector that can project your favorite movie or show onto the big screen. It pairs with its app so you can log into Netflix, Hulu or other services, or you can watch content from your phone or a USB stick.
We paired our projector with a weatherproof screen and set it up in our backyard. Your loved one can use it anywhere they have a screen or a blank wall, and plug in Bluetooth speakers for more expansive sound. It’s small enough to take on the road too, making it great for watching movies under the stars.
For your Favorite Gardner
B-hyve XD Smart Hose Watering Timer
Watch: B-Hyve XD Review
Buy: Amazon
We’ve been using our B-hyve XR Smart Sprinkler for more than a year and we recommended it in last year’s guide for homeowners who want to automate their full sprinkler system.
If you have loved ones on your list who water with just their regular garden hose, this is a great option. Add this timer in between your hose and the hose bib and you can set timers, schedules, and even adjust for drought conditions and watering restrictions.
The XD comes in 1, 2 and 4-zone versions to allow your loved ones to really optimize their lawn and garden without installing a full sprinkler system. Great for any plant lovers on your list.
For the Travelers in your Life
Apple AirTags
Watch: Apple AirTags Review
Buy: Amazon
Apple Air Tags are little battery-powered devices to put in your luggage, backpack, purse, on your keychain, or anything else you want to keep track of. We especially love them for traveling since we usually check our bags, and with the Apple Air Tags we know that our suitcases are with our plane and at our destination airport when we arrive.
You can buy them individually, but we recommend the 4-pack for the best value.
Apple Air Tags work with the FindMy App on the iPhone and are really easy to pair and use. If your loved one uses an Android phone, you may want to consider the Tile instead.
For your Party Animals (or for your own holiday party!)
Bev Home Cocktail Machine
Watch: Bev Cocktail Maker Review
Buy Bev Cocktail Maker: Amazon
Buy Bartesian Capsules: Amazon
One of our favorites from CES this year, the Bev by Black and Decker is like having your own bartender at home. Just load up to five bottles of your own liquor and use the Bartesian Cocktail capsules to make the perfect drink every time.
There are more than 40 drinks to choose from and you can set your own strength, from mocktail to strong. It’s a great gift for entertainers or for your own family.
For your Favorite Home Cooks
MEATER Plus and MEATER Block
Watch: How to cook with the MEATER Plus
Watch: First Look: MEATER Block
Buy MEATER Plus: Amazon
Buy MEATER Block: Amazon
The Meater is a great gift for the cooks and grillmasters in your life, or for aspiring chefs who want to make sure they get the best temperature every time they cook proteins.
The Meater Plus is a wireless meat thermometer that works with Bluetooth and WiFi to keep track of what you’re cooking with the Meater App. You choose your protein, set your preferred temperature, and the app tells you when the cook is done and even how long to rest the meat.
The Meater Block includes four Meater Plus probes plus a block that connects to the probes on their own or through the app so you can cook proteins to four different temperatures. Great for making everyone at the barbecue happy.
Breville Joule Sous Vide
Read: Joule Home Sous Vide: Cook Like a TV Chef
Watch: Joule Review
Buy: Amazon.com
Buy: Breville.com
We’ve been recommending the Joule Sous Vide in our gift guide since 2017, before the company was acquired by appliance giant Breville and it’s still one of our favorite cooking tools. The Joule works with its companion app to circulate water to heat up and cook meals to perfection. Your loved one will never have an overcooked pork chop, steak or chicken breast again.
If you buy the Joule directly from Breville it comes with a ChefSteps premium membership, with exclusive content, recipes and classes for more kitchen fun.
Blue Apron e-Gift Cards
Read: SmartPoints with Blue Apron WW Freestyle Menu
Watch: Blue Apron Unboxing
Watch: Blue Apron Meal Kit Review
Buy: Blue Apron
Blue Apron gift cards are another long-time recommendation in our gift guide. There are lots of great meal services these days but we’re still fans of Blue Apron, for their consistent quality, unique ingredients and superior customer service. We love that our meals show up every week with just what we need to cook, with interesting recipes and flavors to try.
In addition to their popular meal kits, your loved one can use a Blue Apron Gift Card for additional appetizers, sides, breakfasts and desserts and paired wines. Available in $70, $140, or $280 denominations.
You can now also buy Blue Apron meal kits directly from Amazon.
For the outdoor types
LuminAID Solar Lantern and Charger
Watch: LuminAID PackLite Titan
Watch: LuminAID PackLite Max
Buy Titan: Amazon
Buy Max: Amazon
We are big fans of Shark Tank and we remember LuminAid co-founders Andrea Sreshta and Anna Stork pitching on the show. They came up with their simple solar powered lantern after the devastating earthquake in Haiti and have sent thousands of lights to people in need all over the world.
LuminAid has since expanded and now makes 2-in-1 solar powered lanterns with chargers built in to power your devices. LuminAid makes a great gift for your friends and family who love camping, the outdoors, or maybe just need an extra lantern and charger in case of power outages.
Upgrade your Zoom Room
Toucan Streaming WebCam
Watch: Toucan Streaming WebCam Review
Buy: Amazon
We’re all going out more these days but home videoconferencing is here to stay. And video game streaming is more popular than ever.
If your loved one’s built-in computer cam is not the greatest, you may consider getting them an upgrade from Toucan.
The Toucan Connect Webcam connects to any USB port with its included cable, so it can plug into your loved ones PC, Mac, Laptop, Tablet or TV. It has an HD camera and a large, 89-degree field of vision to see much more than just one person. Plus it has a high-quality, omni-directional microphone for much better sound.
Print out your photos this holiday season
Kodak P300R Mini Retro Portable Photo Printer
Watch: Kodak Mini Retro Review
Buy P300R: Amazon
Buy P300R Accessory Gift Bundle: Amazon
We all love taking photos on our phones and sharing them online, but there’s still something special about a printed photo. Instead of sending your photos out to be printed to a drugstore or website, why not just print them immediately, wherever you are?
Your family and friends will love the Kodak P300R Mini 3 Retro 3×3” Portable Photo Printer. It’s a tiny, portable, rechargeable printer that connects via Bluetooth to your phone so you can print high-quality, 3×3 photos that will last for years.
You can buy the Kodak P300R on its own or bundled with print cartridges and accessories. For the best gift, we recommend the Accessory Gift Bundle that includes a photo album, tin, stickers, tiny clothespins, extra cartridges and a neat leather carrying case.
For Fitness Lovers (or someone who wants to love fitness)
Peloton Guide
Watch: Peloton Guide Unboxing
Buy: Amazon
If your loved one is looking for a way to improve their strength and mobility with a bit more guidance than a smartphone app, the Peloton Guide makes a great gift.
The Peloton Guide goes under your TV and has a built-in camera that works with the Peloton App to give you a more interactive strength training experience. You can compare yourself to the instructor using Self Mode so you can see if you are doing the exercises correctly, and the movement tracker makes sure you are on track and even counts your reps for you.
Your loved one will need a Guide membership from Peloton to get access to the thousands of classes available. If you or your loved one is interested in the Peloton experience at a lower price point and without all the extra room needed for a bike, treadmill or rower, the Guide is a good choice.
We also love our Peloton Bike Plus and yes, we still think it’s worth it. Watch our video if you’re still trying to decide.
Smart Home for Everyone
If you’re looking for practical, easy to use smart home devices for your friends and family, here are some of our top picks from our favorite brands.
Third Reality Smart Switch (Gen 3)
Buy Zigbee Version (works with compatible Echo): Amazon
Buy Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Version: Amazon
Now in its third generation, we still love this as a great smart home starter device.
The Third Reality Smart Switch goes over a regular switch and mechanically turns it on and off, allowing you to control it with an app or your favorite voice assistant without doing any wiring.
It comes in both Bluetooth and ZigBee versions that work with supported Amazon Echo and Google Assistants.
Pair it with an Echo for a mini smart home starter kit!
Smart Indoor Cameras
Almost everyone has a use for a smart camera, at home, for the office, to watch babies or pets. There are lots of great choices, but these are the brands we would recommend as gifts. Make sure the camera you are buying comes with a storage card or add one to your gift.
Wyze Cameras
Watch: Wyze Cam v3 Review
Watch: Wyze Cam Pan v2 Review
Buy Wyze Cam v3: Amazon
Buy Wyze Cam Pan v2: Amazon
We’ve been recommending Wyze cameras for years since they are solid, reasonably priced and go well with the Wyze app.
The Wyze Cam v3 is the third generation of their original camera, and now can be used both indoors and out. The Wyze Cam Pan v2 is a taller Wyze Cam that can pan and tilt to see the entire room, and can track motion in real-time. Both cameras have color night vision and will show the picture with a compatible voice assistant with display.
One thing to note is that in order to use the AI features with the Wyze Cam – for it to recognize people, pets, vehicles and packages, your loved one will have to subscribe to their Cam Plus Service.
Kasa Spot 2K by TP-Link
Watch: Kasa 2K Spot Review
Buy: Amazon
We’ve tested a lot of Kasa cameras this year and they also make a good choice for gifts. We especially like the Kasa Spot Pan and Tilt Camera, with a higher resolution 2K camera for crystal clear recording, and its Patrol Mode that you can program to watch a specific area.
Kasa also has an optional Kasa Care subscription plan for additional features, but the person, motion and sound tracking are available out of the box.
SwitchBot
Watch: SwitchBot Overview
Buy Indoor Camera: Amazon
Buy Pan/Tilt 2K: Amazon
We’ve just started testing the SwitchBot smart home products and they also make both small indoor cameras and Pan and Tilt versions.
But if your loved one has more space to cover and is interested in doing more automations, SwitchBot has both motion and door/window contact sensors that can work with their cameras to record what’s happening.
For instance, maybe you want the camera to turn on and point towards the front door every time it’s opened, or if you want all the cameras to turn on in the house if the back door opens.
You will find many different devices in the SwitchBot ecosystem for your loved one to experiment with, but make sure you include the necessary SwitchBot Hub mini if you’re buying extra devices with the camera.
eufy Solo Indoor Cam C24
Watch: eufy Cam Solo Indoor Cam Review
Buy: Amazon
This is an indoor-only smart camera with crystal-clear 2K resolution that also includes human and pet detection. We love that eufy cameras do not require any additional subscriptions.
If your loved one loves their Apple products they’ll also appreciate that the eufy Solo Cam works with Apple HomeKit.
Shop our Holiday Gift Guide on Amazon.com
Smart Plugs – Indoor and Outdoor
Smart plugs are the easiest way to get started controlling devices in the home. Almost everyone can find a use for a smart plug to connect and control lights and other appliances in the home. These make great stocking stuffers too. Here are some of our favorites.
Kasa Smart by TP-Link
Watch: Quick Look: Kasa Smart Plug Mini
Buy Smart Plug Ultra Mini (2-pack): Amazon
Buy Outdoor Plug: Amazon
Kasa Smart, the smart home brand from networking leader TP-Link, has some of the most compact smart plugs on the market, that won’t take up too much space on their outlet. Works with smart speakers or with the Kasa App.
Wyze Smart Plug
Watch: Quick Look: Wyze Outdoor Plug
Buy Indoor Plug: Amazon
Buy Outdoor Plug: Amazon
Easy to use and set-up with the Wyze App, you can get indoor smart plugs individually or in bundles or outdoor versions with two outlets, perfect for controlling holiday lights.
SwitchBot Smart Plugs
Watch: SwitchBot Devices Overview
Buy HomeKit Smart Plug Mini: Amazon
Buy Plug Mini Wi-Fi: Amazon
This compact smart plug comes in two models, one that only works with Wi-Fi and the other that works with Apple HomeKit too. Plus they both measure energy usage.
If you use it with the growing list of devices in the SwitchBot ecosystem, you can use it with other sensors to trigger different automations. To do that, make sure you also buy the SwitchBot Hub Mini.
Amazon Echos – one for everyone on your list
Watch: Which Alexa should I get? A tour of our Amazon Echos
We usually recommend Amazon Echo devices in our holiday gift guide, and this year is no exception. Alexa is still our favorite way to run our smart home, and pairing an Echo with any of the devices we recommend makes a great starter kit for friends and family.
Echo Dot – 5th Generation
Buy 5th Gen Echo Dot: Amazon
Buy Echo Dot with Clock: Amazon
Buy Echo Dot Kids Edition: Amazon
We like the ball-shaped Echo Dot smart speakers, which are still our favorites for giving. The newest fifth generation comes in three versions, the Echo Dot, the Echo Dot with Clock, and the Echo Dot Kids, available as a cute owl or dragon with special content and parental controls.
Echo Show – Alexa with a Display
If you’re looking for an Echo with a display, we recommend the Echo Show 5 or 10. The Echo Show 5 makes a nice bedside alarm clock and the Echo Show 10 is our favorite kitchen home hub with a nicer speaker and a swivel display.
Echo Show 5
Buy: Amazon
This small Alexa device makes a great bedroom Echo. When you’re not using the display for Alexa, it shows the time and has icons for the weather and temperature.
Echo Show 5 Kids Edition
Buy: Amazon
This Kids version of the Echo Show is wrapped in a fun chameleon pattern and includes kid content and parental controls.
Echo Show 10
Buy: Amazon
The Echo Show 10 is great for the kitchen and/or main part of the house. It has a much larger speaker and it swivels to “follow” your voice around the room.
Plus, it includes a built-in Zigbee smart home hub that greatly expands its compatibility with smart home devices.
Get the Echo Show 10 as a gift for your whole family or for that special someone who already loves their Alexa and wants it to do more.
Our Holiday Wish
Joule Oven Air Fryer Pro by Breville
Buy: Breville.com
If Santa is reading this, we hope he knows that we are wishing for the Breville Joule Oven Air Fryer Pro. It’s built by the same folks who make our favorite Joule Sous Vide cooking tool and it’s a multi-function smart oven and air fryer in one.
We have enjoyed air-fried food but have been stubbornly waiting for a smart version. The Joule Oven will not only air fry, but it will do 12 other pre-set cooking functions, all driven by the Element IQ heating system and the Joule App. We’re especially excited about the Autopilot function that moves between modes during the cook, with recipes from famous chefs.
If you’re listening, Santa, we really like the Joule Oven in black, though brushed stainless steel will work too.
Summary
We hope you enjoyed the 2022 smart home holiday gift guide. As always, we’d love your feedback. Did we miss anything? Are you looking for something special that’s not listed?
Check out our Amazon Live to see us share these gift ideas live and please bring your questions!
Shop our Holiday Gift Guide on Amazon.com
