I own a safe that is bolted to the floor of a closet and is opened a handful of times a year. I would use it more often – and to store a wider variety of things – if it were more accessible and less annoying, and that’s the idea behind Trova Home: a biometrically unlockable safe that is more attractive than an ordinary metal box and that so it blends harmoniously into your home, both in terms of decor and functionality.
It follows in the footsteps of the Go and Go Plus, two portable mini safes designed to keep items discreetly hidden while on the go. It’s larger (roughly the size of a shoebox), heavier (2.2kg), and can be secured to a surface using a bolt or a Kensington lock if you like. But the ability to move the Finder from room to room changes how you might think about a smart safe. Items you hide from children (remotes, phones, medications) now have an accessible, comfortable resting place. Items that you don’t want nosy visitors to peek at (and your imagination might be better than mine in that regard) can be stowed away easily. Familiar phrases in common use such as “Where did you put X?” or “Have you seen Y?” stop pronouncing it so often, because you think: “he will be in the find.”
The Trova Home safe joins the Go and Go Plus portable mini safes
From the outside it’s sleek and simple, with a USB charging port, power button, and LED light. You open it through the Find app, which in turn leverages your phone’s authentication system (so a face ID, fingerprint, or passcode). There are a couple of other ways to open it: via NFC (like making a contactless payment) or, in an emergency, by pressing the power button in a morse code-like pattern you’ve pre-programmed. It has WiFi connectivity, so it can be opened remotely and secondary users can be authorized as well. If it moves or is tampered with, you get an alert. Find Home may not be the place for priceless jewelry or your last will, but it meets smaller security needs better than a traditional safe ever could. Finds House, £449
A guardian angel
Run Angel Wing can send a loud alert or silent alarm to three “guardians” via SMS and email
Wing is a small personal safety device that is extremely loud (120dB) and capable of sending alerts to friends and family in the event of an emergency. He is the younger cousin of the wrist Run Angel and can be clipped to clothes, bags, belts and so on. Load it up, connect via Bluetooth to the supplied app and add up to three ‘guardians’ who will be notified via SMS and email when the alarm is triggered. This is done via a button press, which instructs the phone (which must be nearby) to send the alert; a double press will send it without alarm, if discretion is important. The alert has the date and time it was triggered and a link to a map showing your location. runangel. com
Always alert
Effectively an always-on security camera for your car, it does everything you’d expect from a dashcam, but also streams sharp video to a Garmin app and cloud-hosted storage over an LTE data connection. When the car isn’t running, the cam can be powered from your car’s OBD-II port via an optional £45 extra. The cam doesn’t have a touchscreen, but it’s still a tidy box and easy to use. After activating a subscription through the app, I was soon able to remotely watch people walking past my car. The app offers alerts for theft and sudden impacts, should unruly teens choose to repeatedly jump on your hood. Garmin Dash Cam Live, £349.99; LTE connectivity from £9.99 per month
Do self-service
It might seem safer to pay a company to security your home, but self-installed sensors are becoming more reliable and a lot easier to set up. This kit consists of a hub with a 1TB hard drive (two years of recording) and a set of four wireless, high-resolution, waterproof cameras with long-lasting batteries (we’re talking weeks) that are easy to swap out and recharge . The initial setup requires you to connect an external screen to the hub – a TV will do – but as soon as the cameras are detected (very quickly in my case) you can detach that screen and use the Swann Security app for live views, activity reports and to set notifications for heat and motion detection. swann.com
A sleeping beauty
Having spent much of the last few months staring at a baby monitor, I’m aware of the insatiable desire for information about your sleeping baby. Combined with the SimHome app, the USB-powered 360-degree Baby2 offers parents a crystal-clear view of the nighttime action, but more importantly, the built-in AI features can send alerts if it detects that baby is moving about, has his face covered, turns away, or is unhappy. It measures room temperature and breathing patterns, and generates a sleep report in the morning (although you’ll be brutally aware of many of these details already). Then, as they get older and move into a bed, Baby2 can ping you if they leave a safe area you’ve defined. Simshine Child2, £199
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