There's no surprising my house.

Chris Wedel is a fan of all things tech and gadgets. Living in rural Kansas with his wife and two young boys makes finding ways to stay online tricky — not to mention making my homestead smarter.

Apps are merely tools for controlling and automating your smart home devices. Popular examples include Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, IFTTT and SmartThings. Notably, apps can perform basic scheduling ...