Smart Home vs. Home Automation: What’s the Difference?

A smart home is the broader setup: connected devices you can monitor or control, such as lights, thermostats, and speakers, often through an app or voice assistant. Home automation is what happens when those devices perform an action based on a schedule, sensor, or other trigger instead of waiting for you to give a command.

Check the product’s listed specifications when evaluating smart home versus home automation.

If you use your phone to turn on a lamp, you are using a smart home device, but you are still making the decision and giving the command. If that lamp turns on at a set time each evening, you have automated it; the device and action may be the same, but your involvement is different.

We recommend starting with a task you already do regularly, such as turning on a light before moving through a dark room, and deciding whether simple remote control or an automatic schedule would be more helpful. Automation can reduce repeated steps, while manual controls give you more flexibility when your routine changes, so you do not need to automate every smart device you own.

Check the product’s listed specifications when evaluating choosing what works for you.

Our Smart Home Automation for Seniors Checklist | Easy Smart Home Setup Guide for Safety, Comfort & Independence is a digital download you can use while thinking through a setup. For a step-by-step approach, see our guide to smart home setup for seniors, one routine at a time; you can begin with one useful task rather than trying to connect an entire home at once.