More and more consumer products are adding WiFi connectivity, but that often comes with unintended consequences. I know because I’ve often fell victim to having the latest, and have asked myself why didn’t I leave well enough alone.
Typically whenWiFi connectivity is included in a product, it enables the device to do things remotely via a dedicated app. The app can sometimes make the product easier to use, because you can control your device using a phone’s touch screen instead of buttons or a tiny screen on the device itself.
But products dependent on an app also can add complexity, might mean a new subscription fee, or even a product that may not be useable if the manufacturer goes out of business or discontinues support. There’s also the issue of whether the product will work when WiFi or power goes out.
While I’ve been resistant to products with WiFi connectivity when it doesn’t add much value, for some products it makes sense. Let’s look at a few examples and see if it’s feature or a gimmick.
Thermostats – The first connected thermostat was invented by Nest, now owned by Google. The original Nest product was the “Nest Learning Thermostat,” a smart thermostat that could learn your heating and cooling preferences based on your behavior and automatically adjust temperatures to save energy. It was the first widely recognized self-learning thermostat on the market when it was released in 2011. I made one unsucessful attempt to install a sample I was provided. But I learned thermostat wiring varies widely and it was incompatible with my HVAC.
I currently use a connected Ecobee smart thermostat that I like a lot and does more than the original Nest. It adjusts the temperature of my home when I’m not there, saving energy. It also can detect whether my home is occupied and reduce the usage of the air conditioner or heater when away. One of the best features is being able to set the temperature using your phone from your bed on a cold night.

Ecobee also monitors the outdoor temperature by connecting with the Internet to determine your local weather, and makes recommendations for the indoor settings. It then sends a monthly report on how efficient you are compared with others in your area.
My verdict for thermostats? Connectivity is a Feature!
Door Locks – I installed a Schlage door lock with a numerical touchpad on my front door about a decade ago. I specifically chose not to get a unit with WiFi, because my need was just to provide a keyless way to enter my home, and providing a code to others to enter when we’re not home. Also, I worried about the door unlocking when I was away from home if my WiFi was compromised.

The WiFi version works much the same, plus also lets it to be controlled remotely using an app. The app also lets you more easily manage creating and sharing multiple door codes. That’s useful for an Airbnb owner, but has no value for me.
However, Schlage’s new models introduced at this year’s CES make it tempting to upgrade. Their new model will make it even easier to unlock your door. It will unlock when you approach the door by detecting your presence, much like some automobiles. Here’s how they describe it: “The Schlage Sense Pro™ Smart Deadbolt introduces the brand’s latest development of Schlage Converge™ technology. This feature uses Ultra Wideband and the user’s paired and authorized personal device to intelligently calculate speed, trajectory and motion, ensuring seamless, intuitive entry that understands intent to enter and unlocks precisely as the user reaches their door. Offering hands-free unlocking, keypad access code entry, and tap-to-unlock and lock with NFC. ”
Now that’s interesting!
Appliances – Appliance makers have added WiFi to washing machines and dryers to do such things as control them remotely or help diagnose issues. Some let you even turn on an oven when you’re out or peer into your refrigerator from the supermarket to check your milk. I’ve yet to find any of them particularly useful. It’s also a ploy to get you to stick to a single brand so they can talk with one another. Wireless connectivity? – Gimmick!
Cooking Thermometers – I do a lot of outdoor cooking relying on temperature measurements to monitor the grill and the food. A recent number of temperature measuring devices have added WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity that significantly improve the entire experience. By using this $199 Fireboard 2 device I can keep track of multiple temperatures of both the food and grill remotely, even miles away. It even shows up on your Apple watch. Wired temperature probes connect to the unit shown below and then the unit transmits the data to your phone and watch via the cloud. No need to continuously hover over a hot grill.

Fireboard has a terrific app that plots temperature over time, lets you add photos to the graph and record the entire cooking experience for later referral. It’s one of the most satisfying products I’ve purchased in recent years.
More recently many companies have introduced all-in-one temperature probes with built in electronics the size of a thin pencil. Just stick it in the food and it measures both the grill environment and food temperatures. Works great on a rotisserie roast as well since there’s no tether. I use the earlier generation of this device from Combustion that has 8 sensors to measure multiple points in the food and the grill and predict when the food will be done.

WIreless connectivity? Feature, and a significant one.
TVs – With the popularity of streaming over WiFi, today’s connected TVs are a must if you chose not to get cable. The TV connects to the Internet using WiFi and allows you to stream various services, just as you can stream YouTube videos on your computer. WiFi turns a dumb screen into an entertainment juggernaut. Feature!
Confidentiality
One important point about wireless connectivity. Once you’ve enabled a wireless device, you need to assume your information will be sold, rented or shared. Any promises made at purchase time about maintaining confidentially is just that – what they will do at a point in time.
Few companies are able to resist bringing in more revenue if they can, especially with the growth of data brokers that are always coming up with new ways to make money off our information. So think carefully about whether sharing is a concern.
The most invasive device sitting in your home is your connected TV. It’s constantly capturing personal information such as your show preferences, viewing habits, voice commands, apps you use, and in some cases, video, and creating a profile used for targeted advertising by manufacturers and third parties. This article from Consumer Reports provides more details.
Wireless connectivity? Feature and a requirement unless you use cable.
The Onion?
One of the challenges we have in whether to get a product with connectivity, is being faced with an endless parade of new wireless products that border on the ridiculous. Here’s a pitch I received while finishing up this column that looke like it came from The Onion:
” I’m reaching out to share an innovation that’s reimagining infant care: AI-powered Woddle, a smart changing pad that’s solving real challenges for new parents.
Created by former Google leader Shaker Rawan after his own parenting journey, Woddle transforms the traditional changing pad into an intelligent hub that combines essential nursery tools with AI-powered insights. It’s designed to give parents exactly what they need, exactly when they need it.
Key innovations include:
- An integrated design that combines a changing pad, warmer, white noise machine, night light, and precision scale—eliminating the need for multiple devices
- Smart tracking capabilities that sync with our companion app to monitor growth, feeding, and sleep patterns, all measured against WHO standards
- An AI-powered Parent Coach that delivers personalized guidance based on your baby’s unique development patterns
Parents are already seeing the impact: less nursery clutter, deeper insights into their baby’s development, and most importantly, greater confidence during those crucial early months. “

Now, what could go wrong here with this $300 device?
WiFi, who needs it in a fridge. Mostly, the family refrigerators I have seen into are stuffed with stacked small odds and ends of leftovers to reheat (hard to identify for a fridge-cam, I should imagine), rehoused packaged items such as part of a block of cheese that was placed into a different wrapping to prevent it drying out too fast, (and who is going to peel or snip a label from original package to help the camera identify it?) and larger items that would obstruct line-of-sight for a fridge-cam, so there will have to be multi-point vantages to record the contents at any time. A single truly important use case might be monitoring temperature and compressor function to warn of failure with potential for loss of stored items, bad smell from rotten food upon your return if gone long-term, damage from leaking water if failure is persisting over more than a day or two, etc. Temperature recording device sans WiFi have long been in use, and it would probably be no trick to have them simply hooked to a phone app no more advanced than the pagers that used to be common among various classes. Those devices predated WiFi, I am fairly certain. And, of course, paper lists, knowledge of your habitual buying patterns, and smartphone grocery list apps seem largely to obviate need for an interruption, say,…. during your annual job perf. review, or sex, to ask if you have been aware you were facing a critical dearth of Camembert reserves in your refrigerator. Perhaps I am overly cynical (hah) but I see such capability as something for which the refrigerator company will charge you extra at purchase, lock you into its own franchised repair services at higher costs if (when) it malfunctions, discontinue critical parts manufacture within a few years so a repair call quickly escalates into “Sorry, Mac, you’ll need a newer model ’cause we can no longer get the parts for this old baby,” and, finally, “Well, we only offer this on a subscription basis,” but just try to find a model that doesn’t have the “feature” at that point. We will revert to the age of iceboxes, when you might “own” the box, but you had to subscribe to an ice delivery service to keep it functional.