How to secure your home while on vacation using technology

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The main way I protect our home is by not posting that we're on vacation. Social media is the worst place to share your vacation plans. By all means, post all your vacation photos when you get back home, but doing so while you're hundreds (if not thousands) of miles away can have unforeseen consequences. If you've been wondering how to use technology to protect your home, here are some practical tips to make your fortress less attractive to opportunist hunters.




Setting up a smart home alarm system

If you haven't installed a professional alarm system yet, DIY kits like those from Amazon's Ring are a great way to add peace of mind with sensors, audible alarms, and live monitoring. We managed to snag a starter kit in an Amazon Prime sale last year and use it daily. When you're on vacation, everything is configured to stay in Away mode and all sensors are active and monitoring for motion. The Ring doorbell already covers the front door, complemented by an indoor camera monitoring the back garden and an outdoor camera for the side driveway.


Every access point to the house is equipped with automatic responses and motion detection alarms. If you can grab your phone and quickly check on the house every now and then, you can enjoy your vacation without worrying about what's going on. You don't even need to configure such a system. A simple Raspberry Pi single-board computer (SBC) can manage cameras and record footage. Use a NAS and you can keep everything in the house. And if you want to go all out, there are smart door locks that can be remotely controlled and monitored.

Imagine being at home with smart light bulbs

Ring and Philips Hue bridges


Philips Hue and other ecosystems are great for turning lights on and off without you having to lift a finger, but they can also create the illusion that you're home. Different schedules can be used per day to give the impression that lights are being turned on and off manually. Mechanical timers are good for keeping to a low budget, but there's no variation in the schedules for each day. At the specified time, the lights will turn on (or off) every day. This can appear automated if someone is inspecting a property – though the absence of any movement, especially vehicles, can be a clue.


Other smart home technologies can be integrated into this approach, including automatic blinds that give the impression that someone is present. Smart plugs are another useful addition to the home and can perform several tasks. One is for the aquarium and can be reset to ensure the lighting timer is synced. For some reason, it doesn't save the current time when the power goes out and resets to 00:00 on boot. Connecting it with Bluetooth will reset the aquarium, but it can't do this when you're away. That's where a smart plug comes in, which can turn the power off and on at midnight and reset the aquarium lights.

A smartphone with Home Assistant and a remote control for a TV

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I created my own Smart Home Hub and I'm thrilled

When writing tutorials for XDA, I often have to do things I would never normally do, or things I just have to undo after all the testing is done. But last week I was asked to write about how to turn an old PC into a smart home hub, and to my surprise, the process of setting up Home Assistant was very rewarding. After setting up my own server, all of my Google speakers and Chromecast were already on the list, so I could manage playback on those devices. But with some work later, I even added full-fledged TV remotes for both of my smart TVs, which turned this from a fun little side project into a really useful tool. It even supports Wake-on-LAN magic packets, so after a little extra setup I can turn the TVs on too. I don't have a lot of smart devices in my house yet, but I love that I can have all of these things in one place, and what's more, they run locally, so I don't need an internet connection for everything. Do you use Home Assistant? What type of devices have you set up?

Notify trusted family members or neighbors

Ring door sensor


Technology can't solve all problems. That's where good old neighbors and family visits can work wonders. Giving a trusted person access to your home (and any necessary alarm codes) is a great way to have someone check that everything is OK. Not only do you have to worry about someone breaking into your home, but you also have to worry about a water pipe bursting or an appliance catching fire. Unless you have internal monitoring, networked smoke detectors, or other devices monitoring every aspect of your home, nothing beats a pair of eyes and a sense of smell.


Smart speakers and automation devices like Amazon Echo can even respond to smoke detectors or broken glass, though you may have to pay for that luxury. Even with countless cameras and sensors active and online, I would still recommend having someone come by to check that everything is OK, especially if you're away for more than a week. These are just a few tips to help you enjoy your relaxing vacation without having to worry about your home being left standing when you return and all of your contents being there. Just remember to approach things wisely.

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