Geofencing is a feature offered in most of the smart thermostat models like Nest, Ecobee & other popular thermostats. ‘Geofencing’ feature in a thermostat tracks the homeowners location (via GPS in his/her smartphone) and adjusts the thermostat settings based on the location (away/home). In this article we write about geofencing thermostats – those smart thermostats like Nest, Ecobee, Emerson Sensi, Mysa (line volt), which offer the geofencing feature.

What is geo fencing?

Nowadays owning a smart phone is no big deal and hence most of us have one. The GPS feature of such phones help in tracking your location. This is smartly used by some smart thermostats to deliver optimum performance in terms of reduction in energy consumption through a feature called “geo fencing”.

Geo fencing can be imagined as a virtual fence around your home, the diameter of which you can set.

The thermostats with geo fencing feature, when linked to your smart phone use the GPS to track your position. Once you cross the “virtual” fence, you will be considered to be at home. Now the thermostat will automatically set the temperature according to the input value entered by you.

However, if you are outside the “virtual” fence, you will be considered “out” by thermostat. This will turn down the thermostat and allow the room or home to cool down a bit, which will help in reducing the unnecessary energy usage.   

Why go for a Geofencing Thermostat ?

Well, when you spend some good bucks on a smart thermostat, why not choose a model which gives you comfort and savings at the same time? Let me explain how geo fencing thermostat adds to the luxury of a thermostat.

As already mentioned geo fencing senses your location through the GPS of your phone. Once you enter into your home the thermostat switches on and sets the temperature of your room according to the  pre-programmed schedule.

This means after a long tiring day you would enter into a house that is already cosy and comfortable for you. If you are day in and out all day or if you do not have a fixed schedule, this feature is a must have!

Another benefit is its power saving nature. Once you leave your house, the thermostat moves to away mode, and lets the room’s temperature rise/fall. This means your home HVAC system will work only when it’s needed, thus reducing the power consumption. Obviously, this would be a great relief when you save on your energy bills!

Now that you have clarity about the advantages of geo fencing thermostats, here is a brief review of some of the geo fencing thermostats to help you choose the right one that suits your needs.

Best Geo fencing thermostats:

The year 2011 witnessed the launch of original nest learning thermostat, which was welcomed by the consumers wholeheartedly. It could learn your daily routine and set heating/cooling schedules for you. Even though it was not the first smart thermostat, it sure paved a way for many other companies to launch smart thermostats. Ever since then the companies are striving to make the thermostat smarter with each passing year. Since this article deals with the geo fencing feature, below are reviews of some thermostats focussing on the same.

We have picked three thermostats to review: Nest, Ecobee and Sensi to guide you to select the apt thermostat for your needs.

Nest Thermostats

If you own a nest smart thermostat which has “Home/Away assist” then your thermostat offers you the geo-fencing feature.  

In the present market scenario, Nest has thermostats which has implemented the geo fencing in the most effective way. Since it supports multiple accounts, it tracks the location of all the members in the house and turns to away mode only when the last person leaves. This is one of the important advantage of this thermostat.

Some of its pros and cons have been mentioned below:

Pros:

• Supports multiple accounts
• Moves to “away mode” automatically when the last person leaves the house and changes the temperature automatically. Similarly moves to “Home” mode when it senses someone is nearing your home.
• Geo-fencing  can be used in the compatible version of nest thermostat which are Nest Learning Thermostat (flagship model) and Nest Thermostat E (budget model)

  Cons:

• If you do not have a fixed day in and out schedule, there are chances that geo-fencing feature would interfere with the learning capabilities of the thermostat.
• In case you need to set radius of the geo fence, this thermostat does not have that option.    

Ecobee Thermostats

Even though Ecobee has some great models when it comes to smart thermostats, its geo fencing feature still needs much improvement. If you own an android phone, it would be easy for you to configure it through the ecobee app itself. However, if you are on iOS device, you have to configure it through the Apple’s own homekit. This means it would require a hub like an iPad, HomePod etc which will be available at home every time.

After configuring, you still might not be satisfied with its performance. Therefore, even ecobee suggests the use of IFTTT and life 360 to gain optimal experience it.

Pros:

• If you have an irregular schedule, the ecobee geofencing thermostat will work for you.
• Use of IFTTT and Life 360 gives an optimal geofencing experience.

Cons:

• It is found to conflict with the schedule programmed by us, thus creating a lot of inconvenience.
• If you and your phone are out, you will be considered “away” and thermostat will rise/lower the room’s temperature accordingly. Even if there are people inside the room, their motion wont be enough for the thermostat to be in “home” mode.
• When you return to your home, the thermostat instead of resuming to the pre-programmed schedule, goes into the “hold” mode. This means if you need to go back to the intended schedule, you will have to flip back. This unnecessarily adds an extra step.

Emerson Sensi Thermostats

The geo fencing feature of the Sensi thermostat is very basic and easy to use. It works as if it has created a virtual circular fence with a radius of 3 miles around your home. This means if you are within this 3 miles, you will be considered “home”, and “away” in case you are out of this radius. All the members have to use the same login credentials, which can be a drawback.

The pros and cons have been listed below:

Pros:

• This works even if you do not have a fixed day in , day out timings.
• Pre-programmed schedule is not a necessity for it.

Cons:

• Does not work with any other home automation devices other than sensi products.
• Single account has to be shared with all the members of the house.
• The fixed radius of 3 miles cannot be altered. This means if you are out all day but within these 3 miles, you will be considered home. This in turn would lead to unnecessary energy consumption.

These thermostats have the geo fencing feature. However, if your thermostat does not have this, you can still avail the geo-fencing through various Smart home hubs.

Geofencing using SmartHome Hubs

If you already have smart thermostat which does not have the geo fencing feature, do not worry! You can still avail this feature using various Smart Home Hubs like IFTTT, Life 360, Apple’s HomeKit etc.

So lets start with the basics, what is smart home hub? It is just another version of IoT, where the home equipments are connected with each other through the internet and can be controlled over your phone.

Some of the popular smart home hubs include IFTTT, Samsung smart things, Apple’s home kit etc.

The IFTTT setup is free and simple. It tracks the location of every member through their phone GPS. It also has the option to set multiple fences. It sets the thermostat to “Away” mode, when the last person leaves the home and resumes the program when the first person enters.

It can be used to control any wi-fi enabled thermostat and is very simple to use.

The Apple’s HomeKit on the other hand can be used only for iOS devices. Also it requires a HomeKit hub that remains at home all day and does not support nest products.

Another most recommended SmartHome Hub is the Samsung’s Smart things. It offers all these features as well.

Let me explain how this works by taking IFTTT smarthome hub as an example.

First, you need to download the IFTTT app on your Android/ iOS phone.

Next turn on the location of your phone, and link your thermostat with this app.

Whenever the app senses that you are in the geo fencing radius, it will send a signal to the thermostat to set up the pre-programmed schedule and make your home nice and comfy.

Wrap Up

Geo fencing has indeed transformed the way thermostats are used. With more and more advancements in the technology and companies thriving to make the best use of the smart home and IoT, geo fencing thermostats have a long way to go. They not only add to your comfort but also help you in saving a huge amount of money while optimally using the power for your HVAC systems.

The SmartHome hubs have made it easy to avail the geo fencing feature for your wi-fi enabled thermostat. It means anyone with a smart phone and a wi-fi smart thermostat can enjoy the benefits of the geo fencing thermostats.

Google Home – is a smart home automation hub which can interconnect different smart gadgets like your smart TV, smart Lights, smart Thermostats and other devices. Once paired, you can control any smart gadget using your voice through Google Home hub. You can initiate many actions with your voice, say play Youtube videos on your smart TV, change temperature setting on your smart thermostat, turn ON/OFF your smart lights, well the possibilities are endless. In this article, we feature Google Home Thermostats – which are nothing but the popular smart/WiFi thermostats compatible with Google Home hub.

Google Home is powered by Google Assistant – which is an AI (artificial intelligence) based smart personal assistant program from Google. If you’ve ever used an android phone, you should be familiar with Google Assistant already. Analyzing your voice and deciding the correct action to take based on your voice is the prime duty of Google Assistant.

If you’ve read our article on Homekit compatible thermostats and Alexa compatible thermostats, you already know how smart home hubs are useful in managing thermostats. You can turn ON/OFF, you can set/change temperatures and do a lot more with your voice, if you pair your smart/wifi thermostat with a smart hub like Google Home or Apple Homekit. A thermostat should have compatibility with the smart home hub (that you’re planning to use) for making use of voice control and other features.

Now that you’ve learned a bit about Google home and its intelligent personal assistant, let’s see the best Google home thermostat models available – their features, their good and bad!  Let’s begin with smart thermostat models having Google home support.

Smart Google Home Thermostats

You may already know Nest – the pioneer in smart thermostats is now owned by Google. When it comes to smart thermostats , there are only 2 choices literally – The Nest thermostat models and Ecobee thermostat models. Both Nest and Ecobee has two smart thermostat models each – a full featured version (Nest T3 and Ecobee 4), and a budget version (Nest E and Ecobee 3 Lite). All the 4 variants are Google home compatible and syncs well with the smart hub. In addition, they are compatible with other smart home hubs like Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Samsung SmartThings, Wink and more.

Nest thermostat models (Nest T3 and Nest E) goes well with Google Home hub than Ecobee models. Nest (as it is owned by Google) has optimised its thermostats to go well synced with Google home. On the other hand, Ecobee is also equally compatible with Google home but the perfect sync can be found only in Nest model. If you’re giving high priority for a thermostat that syncs well with Google home hub, then you should definitely go for Nest models. If you don’t have any such specific demands, you’re free to choose any one of the thermostats listed below.

#1 Nest 3rd Generation and Nest E

As we wrote above, Nest has two thermostat models – Nest 3rd Gen (the full featured model) and Nest E (the budget model) – both of which are optimised for Google Home smart hub. You can read our detailed review of Nest thermostats to know more about features, compatibility and other essentials.

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#2 Ecobee 4 and Ecobee 3 Lite

Ecobee has two models – Ecobee SmartThermostat (the high end model) and Ecobee 3 Lite (the budget version) – both of them are compatible with Google Home hub. You can read our complete review of Ecobee smart thermostats to know in detail about its features, pros, cons, compatibility and more.

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WiFi Google Home Thermostats

If you don’t have budget for a high end smart thermostat, your next best option is to go for a wireless/WiFi thermostat. These days, all popular WiFi thermostat models have support for smart home hubs like Google Home, Apple Homekit, Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings. Let’s see the best WiFi enabled thermostats compatible with Google home.

#1 Honeywell RTH9585WF

Our #1 choice is Honeywell RTH9585WF – which is one of the best selling WiFi thermostats from Honeywell. You may read our full review of Honeywell RTH9585WF to know in depth about its features, highlights, compatibility and more.

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#2 Emerson Sensi ST75

Our #2 choice in Google home compatible WiFI thermostats is Emerson Sensi ST75 – which is a best selling model from the automation expert Emerson. We’ve covered every detail about Emerson Sensi ST75 in our review – where we outline its best features, pros, cons and compatibility with different HVAC systems.

We’ve seen 4 thermostat models compatible with Google Home hub.

If you’ve read our article on “Homekit Thermostats“, you should already know about the innovations happening in the home automation industry. The “Big 3” tech giants – Apple, Amazon and Google compete each other with its own flagship home automation hubs – Homekit, Alexa (with Amazon Echo) and Google Home respectively. If you’re still wondering what is a home automation hub – this is simply a smart device which interconnects different smart gadgets together into a single hub. You can then control each connected device using your voice or internet (using mobile apps/browser) as you like. In this article we write about Alexa Thermostats – which are basically thermostats compatible with Amazon Alexa.

Before reviewing Alexa thermostats, let’s learn a bit about Alexa and how it functions. For Alexa to work perfectly, you’ll need an Alexa enabled device in your home. There are many devices with built in Amazon Alexa like the Amazon Echo speakers, or the Alexa Remote for Fire TV stick, or third party products like Harman Allure speakers, or Bose speakers or other products in the market. Ecobee 4 is the only thermostat with built in Amazon Alexa. All other thermostat models are ‘alexa compatible’ but they don’t have built in alexa. You’ll need an alexa enabled device in your home for any ‘alexa compatible’ product to utilise its alexa features & capabilities.

If you’ve any device with built in alexa (like Echo speakers, or other devices), an alexa compatible thermostat (say Emerson Sensi ST75, or Honeywell RTH9585 or Ecobee 3 Lite) will easily integrate with the device. Once integrated, you can control the thermostat using alexa voice commands.

Thermostats are basically two types – low voltage thermostats and line voltage thermostats. In America, about 90% of homes uses HVAC systems that require low voltage thermostats to control them. Only about 10% of homes uses heating systems that require line voltage thermostats. Both types (line voltage and low voltage) have Alexa compatible thermostat models available. Let’s see them in detail.

Let’s first see “Low voltage thermostats” – which are used for hvac systems like central furnace systems, boiler based systems and heat pump based systems. Line voltage thermostats are used for heating systems that use direct electricity like a baseboard heater.

Smart Alexa Thermostats

“Smart Thermostats” are the pioneer smart home gadgets that came to market in the year 2011. Nest released the first smart thermostat in 2011. Later, companies like Ecobee joined the party. Smart thermostats come packed with smart features that sets them apart from other thermostat models.

All smart thermostat models have voice control facility (enabled via smart home hubs). The most popular smart thermostats are Ecobee & Nest; and both of them are compatible with Alexa. Let’s see other highlight features of smart thermostats

Self Learning – Nest smart thermostats are self learning – which means you don’t need to program them manually. They learn your habits and lifestyle patterns using artificial intelligence and finally creates a program/schedule (for thermostat) that best suits your lifestyle.

High Energy Savings -The next important smart feature is “high energy savings” – where smart thermostats save energy like no other thermostat models.

Geofencing – Another smart feature is geo-fencing – where they track homeowners location and act accordingly. If you’re starting to home from office, “geo-fencing” feature in your thermostat will sense this and sets your thermostat to the most comfortable temperature setting.

WiFi connectivity – All smart thermostat models are WiFi enabled and they have mobile app based control from anywhere in the world via internet. You can do things like turn thermostat ON/OFF, change schedule/program, read energy usage reports, get alerts etc on your mobile app.

#1 Ecobee 4 and Ecobee 3 Lite

As a “smart thermostat“, both Ecobee & Nest deserves to be #1 by all standards. In this guide about “Amazon Alexa Thermostats” – we choose Ecobee models as #1 for the reason that it goes well with the “Amazon Alexa” device. Both Ecobee models (Ecobee  4 and Ecobee 3 Lite) are well optimized to work in sync with Alexa. Nest thermostats are compatible with Alexa but the performance is not in tune compared to Ecobee devices. Nest thermostats are better optimized for Google Home and Apple Homekit. If you’re looking for a good smart thermostat that works perfectly with Amazon Alexa, you can choose Ecobee with blind eyes.

Ecobee has two models – Ecobee 4 and Ecobee 3 Lite; where Ecobee 4 – is the full featured model which comes with integrated Amazon Alexa device and an extra room sensor (to manage any hot/cold spots in your home). Ecobee 3 Lite – is the budget model thermostat, which is basically a trimmed version of Ecobee 4. We’ve compared both models in our detailed review of Ecobee 4 and Ecobee 3 Lite.

#2 Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E

Nest Labs were the pioneer in “smart thermostats” and you can read the full review about Nest thermostats in our article. As I wrote above, both Nest and Ecobee make excellent smart thermostats. In the context of this article (on Amazon Alexa compatible thermostats), we consider Nest #2 because Nest thermostat models (Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E ) are not perfectly optimized for Amazon Alexa. They both (Nest models) are compatible with Amazon Alexa but not as optimized as Ecobee models. Nest thermostats are better optimized for Google Home and Apple Homekit.

As we noted above, Nest has two thermostat models – Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E. Out of these two, Nest 3rd Gen is the full featured model with all functionalities of a smart thermostat (including higher compatibility with different type of HVAC systems). Nest E is the budget model – which is basically a trimmed version of Nest 3rd Gen. Read our full review and comparison of Nest 3rd Gen vs Nest E.

WiFi Enabled Alexa Thermostats

If you don’t have the budget for a high end “smart thermostat” but prefer a model that has WiFi based control and voice control through smart home hubs like Homekit or Amazon Alexa, go for a WiFi enabled thermostat with smart hub compatibility. We’ve found Honeywell RTH9585WF and Emerson Sensi ST75 two great choices as a Homekit compatible WiFi thermostat.

#1 Honeywell RTH9585WF

Honeywell RTH9585WF – is one of the best selling WiFi thermostat out there currently. This model is an upgraded version of Honeywell RTH9580WF – which was #1 best seller for a long period of time. This model is compatible with a lot of HVAC system types and you can check the compatibility in our guide.

#2 Emerson Sensi ST75

Emerson Sensi ST75 – is the next best choice in Homekit compatible WiFi thermostats. We’ve covered the model very detailed in our review of Emerson Sensi ST75 – which you should read if you’re considering this thermostat.

“HomeKit” – the smart home hub from Apple, is one of the most popular home automation hubs in USA.  The “Big 3” tech giants – Apple, Google and Amazon compete each other in the “smart home” space. Amazon has “Alexa and Echo”,  Google has “Google Home” and Apple has “HomeKit”. All of them are equally popular among the households in USA. In this article, we write about homekit thermostat models – thermostats which can be controlled using Apple homekit.

Apple HomeKit is – #1 in popularity among all the 3 models, as it goes well with people owning the “Apple Ecosystem” – with iPhone, iPad, Mac, iTunes and the Apple watch. If you use more than one Apple product, “HomeKit” should be your obvious smart home hub choice. In this article, we write about HomeKit thermostat models – where we list out different thermostats compatible with the Apple HomeKit.  Let’s see the best homekit thermostats for your smart home.

If you read our article – “Types of Thermostats” – you will understand there are different types of thermostats, say low voltage thermostats (like Ecobee, Nest, Emerson Sensi ST75, Honeywell RTH9585WF) and line voltage thermostats (like MySa, Honeywell and more). Thermostats are also classified based on features, say – Smart thermostats, WiFi thermostats, Programmable thermostats and more. Let’s see which of these thermostat models goes well with Apple HomeKit.

Smart Thermostats for HomeKit

In our opinion, there are only two companies that make truly smart thermostats – Ecobee and Nest. Both companies have two variants each; for Nest – Nest 3rd Generation and Nest E, and for Ecobee – Ecobee 4 and Ecobee 3 Lite. Nest and Ecobee models are basically low voltage thermostats suitable for low voltage heating/cooling systems like central furnace, heat pumps and central boilers. They are not suitable for line voltage heating systems like baseboard heaters, forced-fan heaters etc. Currently there is only one company, named MySa – that makes smart thermostat for line voltage systems. All these smart thermostat models works well as “Homekit thermostats” – which means they syncs well with Apple Homekit. Let’s quickly brief through the highlight features of each smart thermostat models for Homekit.

#1 Ecobee Thermostats

Ecobee currently has two models – Ecobee SmartThermostat and Ecobee 3 Lite, both of them are homekit compatible.

We consider both Nest and Ecobee thermostats equally good by all standards. We’ve reviewed both of them in detail, and you can read them here – Ecobee smart thermostat review and Nest smart thermostat review! We chose Ecobee as #1 because its full featured model (Ecobee 4) comes packed with an extra room sensor (you’ve to buy this room sensor separately for Nest) and Ecobee models don’t require a C-wire (as they have PEN – power extender kit – which can be used if you don’t have C-wire in your home).

Ecobee 4 - View Details

As a smart thermostat, Ecobee thermostats has all necessary features like self learning, high energy savings (Ecobee claims 23% annual energy savings), geo-fencing, WiFi and internet based control, voice control and integration with smart hubs like Apple Homekit, Amazon Alexa, Google Home and more. Ecobee 4 – is the full featured model with built in Amazon Alexa and comes packed with an extra room sensor to manage any hot/cold spots in your home. Ecobee 3 Lite – is the budget model (which is basically a features trimmed version of Ecobee 4) which has all essential features of a smart thermostat but not as good as Ecobee 4.

Ecobee 3 Lite - View Details

The prime difference between Ecobee 4 & Ecobee 3 Lite is compatibility, room sensor and Alexa. Ecobee 4 is compatible with most of the commonly used HVAC systems and supports accessories like humidifiers, ventilators etc. Ecobee 3 Lite does not support accessories and has lesser compatibility compared to Ecobee 4. There is no built in Amazon Alexa for Ecobee 3 Lite and room sensors have to be purchased separately.

#2 Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E

When you write about smart thermostats, an article would be incomplete without mentioning the pioneers – Nest Thermostats. Unfortunately Nest thermostats (Nest E and Nest 3rd Gen) are not compatible with Apple homekit. If you’re serious about your thermostats having homekit compatibility, you should not consider Nest thermostats.

With Nest thermostats ruled out, the best smart homekit thermostat choice is Ecobee 4 or Ecobee 3 Lite.

#3 MySa – Smart Line Voltage Thermostat

Mysa is a homekit compatible, smart line voltage thermostat suitable for baseboard heaters, convectors and fan forced heaters,

MySa – is a smart line voltage thermostat with essential features like energy savings, remote location control via WiFi & internet, mobile app based programming/scheduling , energy reports, geo-fencing and a lot more features.

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Line voltage systems are basically heating/cooling systems that operate on direct electricity, say 110 volts or 220 volts. They convert electricity directly to heat energy; hence they are usually used in states where electricity costs are comparatively low.

WiFi Enabled Homekit Thermostat Models

If you don’t have the budget for a high end “smart thermostat” but prefer a model that has WiFi based control and voice control through smart home hubs like Homekit or Amazon Alexa, go for a WiFi enabled thermostat with smart hub compatibility. We’ve found Honeywell RTH9585WF and Emerson Sensi ST75 two great choices as a Homekit compatible WiFi thermostat.

#1 Honeywell RTH9585WF

Honeywell RTH9585WF – is one of the best selling WiFi thermostat out there currently. This model is an upgraded version of Honeywell RTH9580WF – which was #1 best seller for a long period of time. This model is compatible with a lot of HVAC system types and you can check the compatibility in our guide. Read our review of Honeywell RTH9585WF – if you’re interested in this model.

#2 Emerson Sensi ST75

Emerson Sensi ST75 – is the next best choice in Homekit compatible WiFi thermostats. We’ve covered the model very detailed in our review of Emerson Sensi ST75 – which you should read if you’re considering this thermostat.

Nest 3rd Gen and Nest E

As we wrote above, Nest thermostats are equally good as Ecobee when counted as a smart thermostat. However, the full featured Nest thermostat – “Nest 3rd Generation” – is compatible with higher number of HVAC system types than Ecobee 4 (the full featured model of Ecobee). Nest 3rd Gen – is compatible even with 4H/2C (4 stages of heating and 2 stages of cooling) type multi stage HVAC systems. You may read our thermostat compatibility guide – where we comprehensively cover compatibility of different popular thermostat models.  Both Nest & Ecobee models are compatible with the most commonly used HVAC system types in America – which is either single stage (furnace/boiler) or heat pump based systems. If you’ve a multi stage system, you will have to check compatibility before deciding on your thermostat model.

Note: As we’ve figured out, Nest thermostats are not compatible with homekit. You can not sync/pair a Nest thermostat (be it Nest E or Nest 3rd Gen) with Apple homekit. According to latest news reports, Nest Labs is considering this feature (homekit compatibility) seriously as the homekit ecosystem has a significant user base. We see lots of requests in the official Nest forum demanding homekit compatibility for Nest thermostats. However, Nest Labs has not made an official declaration whether they will add this feature or not.

If you’ve already invested in the Apple Homekit ecosystem, and you want an excellent smart thermostat compatible with Apple homekit, your #1 choice should be “Ecobee Smart Thermostats“.

Nest is owned by Google and they have better tuned their product for Google Home (their own smart home hub). Nest thermostats are also compatible with Amazon Alexa (only for 1 skill – changing temperature), Samsung SmartThings and IFTTT and they work well with them.