When the smart home devices Elly Bailey was expecting in the post never showed up at her Gold Coast home, she was frustrated. As a technology reviewer, these products were crucial for her work.<\/p>\n
When she eventually found the cause, she had to laugh. It wasn\u2019t a sticky-fingered neighbour or a rogue delivery driver causing her to miss parcels, but her smart doorbell \u2013 the very thing she\u2019d hoped would prevent missed deliveries, and part of exactly the range of internet-connected devices she was meant to be reviewing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty funny,\u201d says Bailey, 33, who goes by the handle @ellyawesome on TikTok, where she has more than 1.1 million followers. She\u2019d been loving her Google Nest doorbell up until then. She could see who was at the front door from upstairs and speak to delivery people through her phone while she was out.<\/p>\n
Technology reviewer Elly Bailey prefers a hybrid setup: \u2018I\u2019m an old-school millennial who\u2019s very happy to put my washing on myself\u2019<\/p>\n
But it had one obvious flaw: \u201cWhen someone presses this doorbell, all it does is send a notification to my phone.\u201d She says this feature is \u201cgreat\u201d when she\u2019s out, but without a telltale chime she was missing deliveries while at home and away from her phone. She complained about this to her followers in a clip that\u2019s been liked more than 1,400 times.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe crazy irony is the doorbell itself does make a little ding-dong sound when you press the doorbell button, but it\u2019s only loud enough for the person at the door to hear it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Bailey is far from alone in her scepticism around smart home technology \u2013 many adoptees have realised the devices designed to make life easier regularly achieve the opposite. Stories of people being locked out of their homes by faulty smart locks, woken up by pets activating cameras on the driveway, and being left in the dark by broken smart lights are rife on social media and product review websites.<\/p>\n
\u201cTechnology is brilliant \u2026 until it isn\u2019t,\u201d says Georgina Wilson, an architect in Sydney who learned this the hard way when her husband pressure-hosed the front of the house and accidentally watered their smart keypad unit. The incident hasn\u2019t changed her mind on the convenience of a smart lock, but it did result in an expensive emergency locksmith callout \u2013 and quickly forced her to put a backup plan in place: keys in a hidden lockbox, with copies distributed to family members and neighbours.<\/p>\n
Smart locks can present concerns for renters as well, as they may allow landlords to keep tabs on their tenants\u2019 every move. Photograph: Nico De Pasquale Photography\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
She says some of her clients have had similar, or worse, experiences. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen clients unable to flush toilets, lock front doors, or exit garages during power outages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since smart home technology uptake spiked during Covid lockdowns, Daniel Vasilevski, an electrician in Sydney, says he\u2019s seen many smart tech horror stories. One client in Maroubra got locked out of their house for two days. Others have ended up with no working lights. Subscription complaints are also rife, with even some relatively simple devices like smart doorbells and thermostats requiring monthly fees. Vasilevski estimates 15 to 20% of his callouts these days are for problems with smart tech \u2013 some are simple repair jobs, while others want their smart systems demolished altogether.<\/p>\n
There can be a more sinister side, too. Experts say smart homes are prime targets for cybercriminals. More than 120,000 smart home cameras were hacked<\/a> in South Korea last year and the Australian Signals Directorate recently warned<\/a> that Chinese hackers are exploiting people\u2019s home routers and smart devices.<\/p>\n When something goes wrong, it\u2019s not just the tech that\u2019s a problem, but finding someone to fix it, since many electricians find smart home repair jobs too much of a hassle. Photograph: d3sign\/Getty Images<\/p>\n While cases of spying fridges and doorbells being hacked are still rare, Emily Holyoake, a cyber and home-security expert based in Canberra, says technology facilitated domestic abuse is a significant issue.<\/p>\n \u201cThe scariest things I\u2019ve heard are about loss of privacy, where ex-partners have still had access to their partner\u2019s home and made changes either locking them out, letting themselves in or watching their every move,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Renters, too, have privacy concerns, as smart locks can allow landlords to keep tabs on their every move.<\/p>\n Julie Provenzano, a real estate broker with 83,000 TikTok followers, believes it might be smarter to stick with an analogue home. She recently told fans she was \u201capped-out\u201d. \u201cHi-tech doesn\u2019t necessarily mean easier \u2026 It leaves people in a hostage situation with IT departments,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n While you don\u2019t have to eschew the Internet of Things entirely, the key is to be intentional about the technology you\u2019re putting in your home, one expert says. Photograph: mrs\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Vasilevski\u2019s clients have faced similar issues. When something goes wrong, it\u2019s not just the tech that\u2019s a problem, but finding someone to fix it. Many locksmiths are not trained to work with sophisticated, connected devices. He says electricians will sometimes turn away smart home repair jobs because of how faffy and time-consuming they can be to troubleshoot. \u201cIt isn\u2019t worth the hassle, most of the time,\u201d he says. This is particularly true with lower-end smart tech suppliers who offer little in the way of after-sale support.<\/p>\n