If you only buy one smart device for your home, make it a smart smoke detector. The best ones not only warn you of possible fires and the presence of carbon monoxide, but also have a ton of handy features that come with an internet connection: They’ll send alerts to your smartphone in an emergency, warn you of malfunctions or dead batteries (without ringing), and can be easily silenced with an app (no need to pick up a broom).
We continue to recommend Google Nest Protect as the best option for most people. It quickly sends smoke and carbon monoxide alarms to your smartphone. It plays an audio warning before the siren so you can shut it off if you know it’s a false alarm (burnt toast again?). Nest Protect constantly tests itself to ensure the accuracy of its sensors, and it even has motion-activated aisle lights. And for a smart device, it’s a beautiful looking one.
Our Recommendations
This model offers advanced fire detection capabilities as well as a self-test to ensure the sensors are working. It interconnects wirelessly with other Nest Protects and has a beautiful design.
Compatible with: Nesting
The Google Nest Protect has all the features you’d expect from a smart smoke detector: it can detect both slow-burning and fast-burning fires, and it can wirelessly interconnect with other Nest Protects. This model uses audio alerts to warn you which room is in danger, giving you time to check before the siren goes off.
Of all the models we tested, Nest Protect is the easiest to silence when the alarm goes off, either through the sleek, easy-to-use Nest app or by pressing the big button in the middle of the unit. This smoke detector is also the only one that periodically self-tests to make sure everything’s working properly, which reduces annoying sounds when the battery is low in favor of a handy smartphone notification. Nest Protect is available in both wired and battery-powered versions, so it should have a place in any home.
runner-up
This model lacks some of the great features of our top pick, but you can link it with a non-smart alarm to boost your IQ.
Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home
The Kidde Wired Smoke Detector with Indoor Air Quality Monitor doesn’t have as many features as the Google Nest Protect, but it still works well and is a much cheaper way to improve your smoke detector system. In our testing, the Kidde alarm reliably sent alerts when it detected smoke or poor air quality, and the “quiet” button allowed us to manually silence an alarm triggered by cooking. Unlike the Nest Protect, this alarm can interconnect with lower-cost wired alarms, including those from other brands, so if smoke is detected in any room, the Kidde alarm will also go off and send an alert (though installing multiple smart devices will remove some of the features that are normally available, such as room-specific alerts).
