I've amassed a collection of a number of the best smart plugs over the years. Smart plugs work by simply allowing or blocking power flow to turn connected appliances on or off. These affordable gadgets attach to your electrical socket and then connect to your Wi-Fi network. You can plug any of your outlet-powered devices like lamps, fans, and appliances into this middleman to control them from anywhere through an app or voice assistant.
The newest models are both much smaller and smarter with advanced energy monitoring and complex scheduling features. Yet smart plugs aren't so smart in my eyes. My biggest beef with what most would argue as one of the best smart home devices is that they cannot retain the settings of gadgets plugged into them once they lose power. There's a variety of devices with adjustable settings like the flashing modes on a string light to the brew strength of a coffee maker—a challenge since you can't select your preference because smart plugs don't do any more than enable or take away power flow to your gadgets.
