Smart home buttons are an important thing now. You might think that as we move away from remote controls, switches, and applications and into a voice-controlled smart home, you won't need another physical control in your home.

However, the brilliance of the best smart buttons for your home is in their simplicity and multi-functionality at a single push.

Sure, you can turn on the bedroom light with the switch on the wall, as your grandfather used to - but this switch can turn off all the lights you left upstairs, you can turn on all the security cameras, set the alarm and you have some sound asleep on your smart speaker? He can not. Unless it's a smart switch, of course, but this is a different story.

From here comes the current crop of smart buttons. With a single tap, double-tap or long-press, you can trigger a series of smart scenes and automations. Sure, you could ask Alexa or Google's assistant to start these routines, but sometimes it's so easy to just push a button - especially since you can strategically place (and move) them around the house, where they want be. most useful.

Smart buttons: what to consider before buying

So these are the competitors. Smart buttons are still a fairly new idea, and the market doesn't exactly break with the seams of options. However, even if more competitors come to the party, they will not really do much more than the current offer.

Once you pass a button that offers two or three scenes at the push of a button, you enter the realm of a remote control, and this would be missing from the point of view. However, what you need to consider is what devices and platforms that smart button you are thinking of buying taps (see what I did there?).

Does it support HomeKit scenes, are IFTTT applications compatible? Will it integrate with how you already manage your smart home?

We have detailed some of these factors in each entry above and you can search for more information from each manufacturer. I have lived with the above examples for a while and they only work.

You will never have an unobserved click (or double, or triple or long press) and, on a strange occasion, this happens, no button below is more guilty than any other inappropriate behavior - I found them be on a level playing field when it comes to reliability.

The best smart buttons 2020

Here are our picks for the best smart buttons you can use in your smart home, whether you're trying to control a single device or trying to set up more routines and systems involved.

Best General Smart Button: Pop Logitech Smart Button

Purchase now: Amazon | From $ 59.99

Pop Logitech jumps on the smart home Wi-Fi to scan compatible devices it can control. In fact, his hub does. Smart Pop Button Logitech Pop is only able to push Bluetooth signals to the hub; is the hub that talks to your kit connected via the internet.

The hub itself is a small plug-like device that simply sits at a power point - just sync this to your home Wi-Fi in your smartphone app and add the buttons, in turn, on configuration.

In this category, it will provide controls for Lifx, Phillips Hue, Lutron, Insteon, August and Belkin WeMo devices and is also compatible with a number of smart home platforms, including Apple HomeKit, SmartThings and IFTTT. It can also be associated with a Logitech Harmony remote hub for the sheer wealth of controls it provides.

Each button offers three control options - single press, double press, long press - so you can configure a number of options for each. And, rather than relying on preset recipes, you can associate multiple devices on different platforms to work in harmony.

The great thing with Pop, which puts it ahead of its rivals, is that, after you've chosen a device to control, you can dig deeper - for example. choosing a Hue bulb that lights up in a specific color or brightness or that Sonos speakers start one of your favorite radio stations.

The button itself is a pretty boring plastic board, which Logitech says will last 5-6 years. There's a starter kit that comes with a button and hub, and while the Pop buttons themselves aren't exactly expensive (at $ 39.99, that is, pop), you're looking at about $ 60 to start this kit. .

What we love

• Additional features
• Simple configuration
• Compatible with a lot of platforms

What we don't love

• Boring design
• You have to make a HomeKit choice
• The Hub is extra money

The simplest smart button to use: File 2

Purchase now: Flic.io | From $ 29.99

Flic was in the game with smart buttons more than most - he first entered Indiegogo in 2014, smashing his goal of $ 80,000 and raising nearly $ 1 million. Son 2, who started his life as a crowdfunding campaign, is easily the most intelligent button-like smart button, weighing less than 10g.

The first-gen Flic system was excellent and the continuation is even better. The range of technologies it supports is huge - key points include Hue, Lifx, Sonos, Ecobee, Ikea Tréan dfri, WeMo and Wink - and the goals can be filled with IFTTT and Logitech Harmony controls and recipes. Like Pop, it is a simple method, two or two long touch controls.

Flic allows you to easily program routines and actions as simple or as complicated as you like. Bit hard if you remember exactly what each button does.

The application is also loaded with "fun" (ie naff games) and additional accessories; the most useful being the "find my phone" feature which sounds a powerful alarm through the Flic app on your smartphone. It is also compatible with a number of fitness platforms - you can start and stop a Strava running, for example. It even comes with a small strap for the strap so you can use it for a while.

It's a lot cheaper than Pop, because you don't have to be furious about a hub - it can only work using the phone as a gateway.

Now, this has its flaws, of course - you have to allow the app to run continuously and it will only work if it is in the Bluetooth range of your phone and that's why Flic offers a hub to combine up to the Flic buttons (from 99 , $ 99).

What we love

• Compact design
• It works without a hub
• Fun abundant extract

What we don't love

• No HomeKit sync
• The Hub costs extra

Runner-up: Eve Button

Purchase now: Amazon | $ 49.95

Unlike the Flic and Logitech smart buttons, the Eve button does not let you specify individual smart technology devices or add more gadgets to a touch control; relies on HomeKit to do the heavy lifting. Living within the Eve app, which is essentially the Apple Home app in different clothes (you can actually do all the configuration in the Home app, in fact), your single, double or long release options are reserved for starting the HomeKit scenes - and nothing. something else.

Now, while that sounds a bit restrictive compared to its rivals, if you live in a smart home controlled by the Apple ecosystem, then it's actually a great setup. Sure, if you just want to turn a single smart light on or off, it's a little faff to set up a home scene for that basic control, but for more advanced event chains, it definitely makes sense.

If you have a dedicated Apple HomeKit hub - that is, an iPad, HomePod or Apple TV - then the Eve button will work seamlessly in your home. However, if you only power your smart home using the iOS Home app on your iPhone, you'll need that phone nearby to make things work.

The Eve, design wise, is the largest beast of the bunch, although the anodized aluminum finish looks better than Pop and Flic's plastic construction. Since only Bluetooth LE powers the emission, the battery life is as long as the coin's battery life (ie long) so you won't have to disturb your charging.

What we love

• HomeKit compatibility
• Flexible uses
• Long battery life

What we don't love

• HomeKit restrictions
• Easy configuration involved
• Slightly bulky

Best for Alexa: Amazon Echo Button

Purchase now: Amazon | $ 19.99 for 2