Seven Smart Appliance ‘Upgrades’ That Aren’t so Smart

Whether you like it or not, home appliances are getting smarter. It’s increasingly difficult to find even basic models without some sort of “smart” functionality or artificial intelligence built in. If you don’t believe me, just try finding a “dumb” TV at your local Best Buy. You will be disappointed.

While it’s true that many of the “smart” features offered by these nifty new devices are very useful. The ability to preheat your oven or adjust your thermostat with the press of a button on your phone is awesome, and getting alerts when the refrigerator door is left open or when you forget to move your laundry from the washer to the dryer is definitely a godsend.

But sometimes the convenience these features provide is an illusion, because many so-called smart features of modern devices aren’t smart at all and can actively make your life harder instead of easier. If you’re buying a new device, consider avoiding these not-so-smart features.

Dryer with humidity sensors that leave your clothes damp

Modern dryers offer many great features. Some can even talk to your washer, presetting for incoming laundry, and many can remind you to collect your laundry, saving you wrinkled clothes, and to clean the lint screen. But modern dryers often come equipped with moisture sensors that turn off the dryer when it senses your clothes are dry. In theory, sensor drying saves you time and money over a fixed drying time. But the sensors in these dryers are notorious for being inaccurate and turning off the dryer when your clothes are still a little damp. And you still have to guess how much drying you need and set the sensor to the appropriate level. At best, this may mean running another drying cycle. Worst case scenario, your clothes will remain moldy until you remember to check the machine.

Dishwashers with “eco modes” that leave dishes dirty

New dishwashers often come with efficient or “eco” modes that use less water and less energy to clean your dishes. It’s a great idea, in theory. But these modes achieve these efficiencies the only way possible: by operating at lower temperatures and literally using less water in their cleaning cycles. This can often leave your dishes visibly dirty after running a charge, forcing you to negate the benefit by running it a second time. Worse yet, these modes don’t get hot enough to kill dangerous bacteria like E. coli, so even if your dishes appear clean, they may not be sanitary.

Smart refrigerators that misidentify your groceries

Smart refrigerators often top people’s list of complaints for two main reasons: First, they are often abandoned by their manufacturers soon after hitting the market, with updates and support disappearing in just two years. This turns your expensive smart fridge into a stupid, expensive fridge. Even more frustrating, smart refrigerators that are supposed to use artificial intelligence to identify your groceries when you place them inside (to help you track your shopping needs and their expiration dates) often get it wrong. For example, this woman complained that her smart refrigerator often mistook her husband’s head for an avocado, among other issues, making the feature worse than useless.

Sensor Cook Microwaves That Don’t Cook

Although the modern microwave remains the boxy, unsexy beast it’s always been, there have been attempts to make it smarter, and sometimes those attempts backfire. Some microwaves offer “sensor cooking,” the ability to detect the weight and moisture level of food to adjust cooking time and power levels to cook your food perfectly. Except when it detects incorrectly and leaves you with a half-cooked mess, or you try to cook something that just doesn’t work well with sensor cooking, like dry foods that don’t produce enough steam for the sensor to detect.

Smart kitchen scales that just guess

A smart kitchen scale may seem like a good idea; you weigh your food and use an app to get nutritional information, like how many calories are in what you’re about to eat. That’s nice, but it just adds an unnecessary step to your cooking routine, since most “smart” scales are just standard kitchen scales and an app that does a Google search on your behalf. You’ll get the same general experience — and probably better accuracy — by weighing something and using your phone to look up nutritional information yourself.

Less secure smart garage doors

Smart garage doors are a great example of technology that doesn’t get much better by being smart. And the core technology that makes the garage door smart — a WiFi connection to a cloud server — can also make it worse than useless. Aside from the fact that any disruption in the door’s connection can cause it to remain locked in the open position, leaving your home vulnerable, there is also the fact that the manufacturer can make changes at any time, which could potentially change the way your door functions or brick it completely.