Smart home gadgets have no limits these days. You can control everything from a garage door to every single light bulb in your house … if you have enough gusto to replace them all. Front doors have had smart accessories added to them over the years—smart door locks, video doorbells, sensors to tell you whether the door is shut—so why not make the door itself smart?
At least, smart in a certain aspect. Home Depot’s newest smart door, made by Feather River and powered by Home Depot’s smart-home Hubspace platform, incorporates a smart glass window, and starting today you can purchase it on Home Depot’s website. It’ll require either a USB-C power connection or using the included battery to power that smart window.
It’s not the company’s first foray into smart doors, though it’s the most affordable option, with a price that ranges from $798 to $998 depending on the window size. That’s still not cheap, but it isn’t a terrible price for a front door with a large window, let alone a window you can control.
For Opacity’s Sake
Photograph: Home Depot
The Smart Glass door has one main trick: You’re able to control the door like you would a light, tapping to toggle on and off the opacity rather than a bright bulb. You can control it through Home Depot’s Hubspace app, or connect your Hubspace app to a voice assistant to control it with voice commands to a Amazon Alexa or Google Nest speaker. The window can either be a clear window allowing for light and a view into the great outdoors, or frosted over for privacy. No more choosing only one style of window for your door: Now you can have both.
Hubspace is Home Depot’s in-house smart-home ecosystem. It works similarly to any other smart-home app, with options to control your Hubspace devices and create schedules and routine options. While Hubspace is a lesser-known name and a little newer to the space after launching in 2021, everything I’ve tested from it has worked well. It also plays nice with the two most popular voice assistants, so it’s pretty painless to add to your home.
With the Smart Glass door’s paintable fiberglass construction, composite window, and decorative panels at the bottom, the Smart Glass door has a nice, contemporary look. It offers four window size options, letting the smart glass fill up most, half, or just the top quarter of the door’s center. The door with the small, Craftsman-style window is the least expensive at $798, while the three-quarter window and full-size window both retail for $998.
The Smart Glass door does solve a privacy issue homeowners might face: Does one really want to have a massive window in their front door? There’s absolutely an aesthetic appeal, but without other security measures, a true clear window might not always feel safe. It’s certainly nice to have if you want more light in your front room, and you might want a view of your yard or to give your pet a clear view of the mail carrier. It’s equally nice to have privacy from potential home invaders and door-to-door salespeople who don’t need to know you work from home. The Smart Glass door lets you have both of these things without sacrificing the other.
Battery Without Brains
Photograph: Home Depot
The Smart Glass door can work on both battery and USB-C if you’ve got a nearby outlet on the hinge side of the door; the battery is expected to last around two months depending on usage. If your Wi-Fi goes down, you can connect to the door via Bluetooth to continue being able to control it. If the door loses power, it’ll automatically switch the window to opaque mode, giving your home privacy while you wait for power to come back on or for the battery to charge.