As over 39% of UK households already use Smart devices in the home, Brits are clearly enjoying the extra convenience offered by WiFi enabled tv’s, thermostats, and appliances. The garden shed is such an extension of a traditional British home, so it comes as no surprise that the Smart shed is also gaining popularity. Despite some real concerns about the privacy practices and data collection of these advanced sheds, we explore the benefits of using smart technology in your shed.
Understanding Smart Garden Sheds
Your shed can be a gardener’s paradise, a relaxing escape, garden office, or just a really handy place to shove those unsightly garden tools. Almost a rite of passage for British homeowners, a garden shed expands your living space with versatile designs. But what is a smart shed? And how can it help to keep your garden shed safe and comfortable?
What Are Smart Garden Sheds?
Smart home devices are a sought-after way to secure your house and make living in it a lot more convenient. With over half of UK homes expected to use smart technology by 2027, we are clearly embracing this extra convenience as a nation.
By installing smart features in the garden shed, we can extend the home security and comfort boosting benefits to our outdoor spaces too.
How Smart Sheds Work
Whether you add individual smart devices to your garden shed or it arrives with the technology built-in, a sophisticated set of sensors and smartphone access can keep your space safe, comfortable, and easier than ever for you to access. A smart shed can include features like:
- Security cameras: Theft from outdoor areas like sheds and garages is common. But live security cameras with recording and smartphone notifications can act as a deterrent to wannabe thieves.
- Smart locks: Never lose your keys to the shed again with a sophisticated smart lock. Offering access with your phone, a passcode, or even from a distance, these strong lock systems save time every time you enter your shed.
- Entertainment with smart features: For shed owners who like to hang out for a while, smart TVs or home devices use your household’s wifi to enjoy your favourite streaming services while pottering outside.
- Lighting and climate: For ultra convenience, you can set up lights and heaters that respond to voice activation or smartphone control.
The Benefits of Smart Garden Sheds
Adding connectivity to your shed might seem like a completely over-the-top indulgence until you really consider the benefits.
Enhanced Security
A shed can keep our tools, lawn mowers, and other high-value equipment hidden. A favourite target for burglars looking to steal without entering the home, a shed or summerhouse alone is often not enough to keep them safe.
With 24/7 camera feeds directly connected to your smartphone, you can check in with your shed whenever you need, and even receive instant notifications when movement occurs. This advanced remote access means you can keep an eye on your shed or garden office wherever you are in the world.
Smart shed security can include:
- Camera monitoring via your smartphone
- Motion sensor security lights
- Ability to see and report crime without confronting thieves
- Video evidence of activity
Convenience and Efficiency
A shed can be so much more than an on-site storage unit. Many people turn them into craft rooms and garden offices. Unless you only intend to work during daylight hours during good weather, lights and climate help are crucial for a comfortable experience at any time of day.
Offering an experience way beyond a remote control light bulb, a smart shed setup can include:
- Dimmable lighting controls to work with modern lights in a range of colours
- Keyless smart locks
- Remote control of shed heaters, fans, or air conditioning
Automation Features
The less you need to remember, the more you can achieve in a day. Using smart controls for automatic lighting, heating, and lock settings, there is no more wondering whether you turned off a switch.
Privacy and Security Concerns
A smart shed has a lot of features and uses your internet connection to function. All of this connectivity comes with some potential downsides. With growing concerns about privacy and collected information from our devices, using smart devices includes a certain level of risk.
Data Collection and Surveillance
Smart devices collect a vast amount of information and save footage of our homes and gardens. While smart sheds provide a lot of benefits to us, it is worth keeping in mind the data being continually collected, including:
- Video and picture footage of the home, garden, family, and visitors
- Audio conversations where applicable
- Records of automated systems that often coincide with daily routines
- Usernames, passwords, and email addresses used for the smart device apps
Potential for Misuse
The internet is connecting the world and leading to breakthroughs everyday. But it is also a dangerous place with plenty of bad actors who love to get their hands on data that doesn’t belong to them. Any connected device in your home or shed is vulnerable to:
- Hacking: Any online device is vulnerable to hacking, with camera technology being a popular target. Hackers could potentially invade your devices to steal information, access your camera feed, or search for personal information in your account.
- Unauthorised surveillance: Some smart devices can report information back to their manufacturers, who have been known to sell data on for advertising purposes. Any device is vulnerable to unauthorised and unethical behaviour like this, but it is important to check your settings to make sure you are not unknowingly giving permissions away.
- Data breaches: When we use passwords and online controls, there is always a risk of data breaches to reveal our information. Some of the world’s biggest companies have been victims of aggressive data breaches. In case of a data breach at any company, do not reuse passwords from one site to another, limiting a hacker’s access should a breach occur.
Protecting Your Privacy with Smart Sheds
Any online device is vulnerable to privacy issues, but we still enjoy computers, smart TVs, home devices, and smartphones anyway. Just like we add security processes to our homes and cars, we need to be vigilant with our smart sheds and other connected devices.
Choosing the Right Smart Shed
Many issues can be avoided by carefully considering the right smart garden shed for you. Take a moment to think about the following before you purchase a smart shed or invest in tech for your current model:
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- Reputable brands: As the manufacturers of smart tech often have access to personal information and the ability to conduct unethical surveillance, selecting a shed or smart tech from a brand you trust is crucial. While choosing an unknown brand may save a little money upfront, the risk of dealing with bad actors is too high.
- Data encryption: Investing in the encryption of information to keep it out of the hands of hackers shows a brand’s dedication to customer security. Whenever possible, select smart technology from companies that prioritise data encryption and security measures.
- Features: Many connected devices have a long list of features. Consider which functions will truly improve your life and which are likely to be ignored. The fewer features you have, the less vulnerable your devices will be.
- Compatibility with current devices: If you already use smart home devices, designing a compatible smart shed can save you from downloading extra apps and learning new systems.
Best Practices for Privacy Protection
Choosing smart tech from a privacy-focused brand helps to limit problems, but any device connected to the internet still comes with a degree of risk. A lot of privacy issues can be prevented by good homeowner practices, including:
- Disable unnecessary features: As each smart feature has the potential for misuse or hacking, disable features you don’t use to eliminate the possibility of them becoming targets for hackers.
- Update software regularly: When privacy concerns or data breaches arise, manufacturers will often fix the software vulnerability that allowed the problem to occur. Staying on top of new software downloads ensures you always have the most advanced protection for your device.
- Use strong passwords: Most of us learned not to use the word password as a password many years ago, but people are often surprised by how complex passwords need to be in the modern era. Your pet’s name and a couple of numbers simply won’t cut it anymore. To keep hackers at bay, only the strongest passwords should be used to keep your information and camera feeds safe.
Monitoring and Control
Connected devices put your data at risk, but there are often more ways to stay private than you might think. Limit the information available to strangers with the following:
- Privacy settings: You can avoid many issues with sharing information by simply making your device as private as possible. Some devices have low privacy settings at the default when you get started, so checking each and every setting can help you stay aware of how your information is used.
- Routinely check sharing: Even when you distinctly remember limiting your privacy settings, it is worth checking on them from time to time. Software updates, factory resets, and using certain applications can all change your settings without you noticing.
- Limit data collection: Many manufacturers will collect data by default. More often than not you can opt out of this dubious practice, keeping as much data out of other people’s hands as possible.
Ethical and Legal Considerations
We want companies to behave well with our information. It is equally important for us to act accordingly as well. There are some big ethical and legal considerations to setting up the surveillance features of the smart shed in your garden, especially if you have visitors or neighbours who will be on camera.
Ethical Implications of Smart Sheds
Keeping an eye on the area around your shed can thwart thieves, but if your camera continually detects your neighbours going about their day, there may be problems. Aside from the potential for making visitors and your next-door neighbour uncomfortable, you don’t want to be in control of other peoples’ data either.
Legal Considerations
If your shed is well away from other homes and you don’t have any friends, this is not much of an issue. But if you like having visitors or your outdoor space is close to your neighbours, you may need to consider any legal requirements for surveillance when deciding on the angles for your cameras.
It’s so much easier to check national and local legalities before you start than find yourself in a not-so-neighbourly feud.
Final Thoughts
While there are still some concerns about the privacy and data collection habits of smart sheds, the benefits outweigh the risks for many homeowners. The convenience of keyless smart locks, automatic lighting, and 24/7 security camera monitoring give homeowners the confidence to truly enjoy their garden shed or summer house.
Whether you’re hunting for an outside log cabin office or a traditional potting shed to exercise your green thumb, Garden Buildings Direct offers options to suit every space. As technology moves on and our customers want a more connected experience, we work to find the best solutions from the finest brands available.
Visit Garden Buildings Direct to find the perfect solution for your outdoor space.
Image Credit: Ideogram