Why Geofencing Is The Next Buzz Word In Smart Home Tech

In layman’s terms, a geofence is an invisible boundary around your neighborhood that recognizes when you approach. When you cross that invisible line, the Honeywell Lyric heats or cools your home to a desired temperature before you walk in the door. There’s no pattern learning or schedule programming needed — it just turns on before you arrive and shuts down when you depart. In the mean time, the HVAC is dormant, keeping your heating and cooling bills to a minimum. This post is sponsored by Honeywell. I received a Lyric thermostat and compensation in exchange for coverage. All opinions and thoughts about this product are my own. Geofencing isn’t a new technology. It’s been used in academic and private environments for about a decade, but it’s never been widely employed in consumer tech. Before the Lyric, geofencing had been tested in child location services, vehicle theft alerts, wildlife tracking and other applications. Honeywell has taken this mostly-theoretical technology and given it a common application in a next-gen thermostat. The timing is perfect for Honeywell, because nearly all of us are carrying around network-enabled geolocation devices in our pockets. Your app-enabled iPhone or Android device is the “other half” of the geofencing formula that makes the Honeywell Lyric a great introduction for this technology. It’s geofencing that makes the Lyric a stand-out among smart thermostats. Others require a programmed schedule or time to learn your habits. The Lyric works immediately once it’s set up, and recognizes when you and your smart phone depart or approach. Installation is a breeze. The Honeywell Lyric app guides you through the process from start to finish. I have very little experience with electrical work at home, but I have an understanding of the basics. It was essential to cut power on my circuit breaker and to photograph the wiring of the old thermostat I was replacing. The rest of the steps were clearly guided in the Lyric app. In minutes, the Lyric was powering up, asking for WiFi network permissions and ready to keep me comfortable. Once the Honeywell Lyric was running, I was ready to set up my geofence. In my case, the Lyric will be connected to three devices — an iPad and two Nexus 5 smartphones. Both my wife and I work from home or close by, so our geofences are set at 500 feet. When we’re both away, our home HVAC goes dormant. Just how “dormant” is also up to us, as we can set a maximum and minimum temperature to balance savings and a healthy environment for our pets. It’s entirely up to us, and we can control all of these settings from our mobile devices as needed. That’s another feature that’s important to note: the Honeywell Lyric isn’t solely operated by geofencing. I can control my home’s temperature from my smartphone whenever I want. I can adjust the temperature without leaving my desk throughout the day. And I can still control the thermostat from the device itself, using the touchscreen on the central display. For all intents and purposes, it’s a thermostat, but it can be controlled remotely from a smartphone and it can be managed automatically from the geofencing system. As a technophile, I’ve enjoyed the Honeywell Lyric for more than its stated purpose. It’s an excellent thermostat. It’s an ideal introduction into smart home technology. For me, however, there’s more to it. It has me wondering just how far geofencing can go, and what kind of value it can have for the smart homes of tomorrow. Can a geofence alert us when a package is about to be delivered? Can a geofence let us know when Fido gets loose? In the future, can it alert our maidbot to begin preparing dinner? Will the snowblower bot clear our driveway before we arrive? The applications for geofencing technology are limited only by our imagination. For now, I’m just thrilled to see geofencing in action. It’s used by the Honeywell Lyric to keep a home comfortable and efficient. That’s the whole point — to conserve energy and save money when you don’t need your HVAC running. In a phrase, “comfort need not be costly”. And no, Robert Frost didn’t say that either.