The best smart speakers add music, calling capabilities, and smart home controls to any room These speakers are activated by passively listening for wake words such as "Hey Google" or "Alexa" using the built-in microphone Once activated, they can speak voice commands or ask questions within a short period of time For example, saying "Alexa, turn on the bedroom lights" to an Amazon Echo device can turn on a set of connected smart lights

From serving as an everyday assistant to remind me of calendar events to cool features like linking music across multiple speakers, there are many things I love about these devices This wealth of functionality is one of the reasons I have a smart speaker in every room of my house But between privacy concerns and the occasional glitch, there are a few things to consider before making the purchase Here are five things I wish I had known before adding a smart speaker to my home

From Amazon's low-cost Echo Dot to Apple's Homepod, the latest smart speakers have a wide variety of built-in sensors These are used in automation routines and can trigger actions when motion, sound, or temperature changes are detected The Echo Dot in my bedroom instructs the smart thermostat to turn down the heat when it detects that my room is too hot (over 68 degrees) To maximize the value of your smart speaker, read carefully what features are included on your smart speaker In the case of my Echo Dot with Clock, not only did I get it on sale, but I no longer have to purchase an alarm clock or smart temperature sensor separately

Recognize that you are adding a microphone to the space that is always listening, and if this bothers you, you will need to get used to the physical mute button Smart speakers record conversations after using the wake word and send the audio to the cloud for processing You need to find out what data a particular smart speaker collects, where it stores its audio recordings, and how the company protects the data Remember that voice recordings can be managed and deleted; here's how to clear Alexa's history and delete recordings, and here's how to delete Siri's recordings

In addition to a variety of sensors, modern smart speakers support wireless smart home protocols, making them the best smart home hubs This means no more cluttering your home with separate hubs to connect Zigbee, Thread, and Bluetooth devices to the main platform Amazon's latest Echo and Echo Dots, if in the Eero ecosystem, can also act as extenders for Eero mesh routers that extend the range and speed of Wi-Fi networks

No, there are no ghosts in your house; the Google Home or Echo speaker may start talking randomly in the middle of the night It took me a little while to figure out what was going on, but it was the sound of a car passing by that woke me up Be aware of possible unintended triggers, such as the distance between the smart speaker and the TV or window When my cousin Alexa comes to visit, my echo collection is triggered

If you don't want to repeat a command twice, you need to remember to take your time when speaking Even the best smart speaker microphones can misinterpret phrases Whether you are playing a particular song or operating a device, you need to speak slowly and pronounce words clearly Indeed, even I sometimes forget this while multitasking For this reason, I like to keep one of the best smart displays in the kitchen, living room, or any other loud room in my home