So which is the best smart home platform? Do you go with the walled garden of Apple Home, the omnipresent Google Home or the vending machine-like Amazon Alexa? As of right now, Apple Home is the most polished smart home platform, followed by Alexa and then Google.

I've spent $1000's of dollars in the last few months getting a gaggle of different smart home devices and this video is a result of my testing all those different devices on different smart home platforms.

If you've been following the different Parts of this video, here's a handy TOC to help jump to the sections you haven't seen yet.

- Hardware Setup:    • The ULTIMATE Apple Home vs. Google Ho...  
- Home Control Apps:    • The ULTIMATE Apple Home vs. Google Ho...  
- Smart Home Automations:    • The ULTIMATE Apple Home vs. Google Ho...  
- Data Privacy:    • The ULTIMATE Apple Home vs. Google Ho...  
- Security:    • The ULTIMATE Apple Home vs. Google Ho...  
- Remote access:    • The ULTIMATE Apple Home vs. Google Ho...  
- Voice control:    • The ULTIMATE Apple Home vs. Google Ho...  
- The Fundamental Problem:    • The ULTIMATE Apple Home vs. Google Ho...  

Hardware Setup

It takes 7 steps to install a device in Amazon Alexa, 6 steps in Google Home and 1 in Apple Home. In Apple Home, all you have to do is install the accessory is plug-in/install the accessory, goto the Home App and line up the HomeKit code. You don’t even need to install the manufacturers app to use the device.

Apps & Automation

When it comes to the app, from a smart home perspective, the Apple Home is better. Why? Because I don’t want to verbalize everything I want to do to my home. Apple Home allows me to control all the devices using Siri but you can also toggle them on/off in the Home App. You can’t do that with Amazon Alexa or Google Home, you have to use the manufacturer’s own app to toggle the device.

When it comes to creating automations, the Apple Home again comes on top. Why? Because automations are baked directly into the app. I don’t need to sign up for another service like IFTTT and Stringify to make my devices talk to each other.

Data privacy & Security

The Amazon Alexa and Google Home are always listening. I have no idea what they are recording or not recording. It’s nice to know they are always there but there is a level of uncertainty of what they are actually doing.

Apple Home encrypts everything. Your requests are encrypted. The data stored about your home is encrypted so it sounds like it would be harder for somebody to figure out what you’re asking Siri to do in your home.

However, at the end of the day, if you don’t care much about your personal data, this isn’t going to be a big deal.

When it comes to overall security, Apple again has the upper hand as they claim everything is encrypted. For Amazon’s and Google’s smart home setup, I have to rely heavily on 3rd party services who might not be as invested in protecting my information as Apple is.

Remote Access

Apple Home offers the best remote access. Everything runs through iCloud and the Home app. You don't have to deal with 3rd party services at all.

With Amazon Alexa, you can verbally tell the AI to turn appliances on and off but it can’t handle queries about the status of the appliances. For me, the most awkward part is opening the Amazon shopping app in order to use Alexa. I can’t use Alexa in my Amazon Alexa app.

Google Home gives you a big fat bagel for remote access.

Voice Control

For Voice Control, I personally prefer Alexa. Because it's more natural to give a command without saying "Hey" like you do with Siri. In my opinion, "Hey" is part of a question where A or B can happen. It feels like I'm giving Siri an option to disobey my command which is ridiculous.

"Ok Google" is a problem on its own. Why? At least Amazon and Apple tried to give a personality to their AI. "Ok Google" is so bland and emotionless. "Ok Google" sounds awkward to me because I never use "Ok" as part of a sentence. I use "Ok" as an acknowledgement, not as a word to start a command with.

The Fundamental Problem

So here’s the fundamental problem with the current state of smart homes. In a nutshell, you can’t turn something “dumb” “smart” in one step. The majority of the appliances in our homes aren’t meant to be smart. I can buy all these gadgets to automate my house but at the end of the day my home isn’t going to be Jetson-esque.

There’s a break in the entire smart home automation process. If you turn the lamp off, you can't turn on your smart light bulbs. To automate your kettle, you need to turn on your kettle first and plug it into a smart plug that's turned off. Do you see the break in logic? I am sure it will get better over time and I’m pointing this out because I want to ensure that you understand the limits of the smart homes right now.

So if this video was helpful to you, give it a thumbs up and if you’re planning on getting some smart home gadgets, consider going through my links as it helps me makes future videos.