British Gas originally invented Hive to allow its customers to control their heating from their phone. This allowed you to turn your gas on or off when you were out; perfect for those winter months when you forget to put your heating on a timer. From there, Hive have introduced a variety of different smart home plans and products to allow you to control your entire home from your phone. Let’s take a look at what they have to offer.

Hive Products

Hive have a variety of monthly subscriptions plans available to get your home smart ready but they also sell individual products so you can tailor your home to all your smart needs:

Heating

• Hive Active Heating Kit – The Hive Heating Kit allows you to remotely control your heating from your smart phone wherever you are. You can easily set your heating to come on and go off at specific times and change this while you are on the go. This could save you hundreds of pounds a year if you’re prone to forgetting to turn your heating off when you go out.

Cameras

• Hive View Camera – This indoor camera starts recording when any motion is detected and sends a notification to your phone instantly. The camera records in HD and also includes the sound. Playback and watch your recorded videos in HD quality and even tell the Camera to ignore pets, this smart camera is all you need to keep your home safe.
• Hive Camera – This indoor camera continuously records and allows you to log on to your Hive App wherever you are and check on your home. You can also speak through the app and it will play through the camera – perfect if you’re missing your pets! You can zoom in and out form your smart phone and the camera also has night vision settings so you don’t have to worry about missing anything at night.

Sensors

• Hive Window and Door Sensors – The Hive Window and Door Sensors are perfect if you’re worried about intruders entering your home. Attach them to any door or window in your home and you will receive a notification to your smart phone is one of them is opened. It also allows you to check whether you have closed the windows properly when you’re out.

Lights

Hive have a variety of fun smarty light bulbs available, our favourites include:

• Hive Active Light Colour Changing Bulb – This colour changing bulb allows you to change the colour of the room to one of 16 million colours via your smartphone. You can schedule the brightness and colours to come on at any point wherever you are!
• Hive Active Light Cool to Warm – If bright coloured lights aren’t your thing, you may want to try the Hive Active Light Cool to Warm White bulb, this allows you to adjust the brightness and warmth of the room with ease. Perfect for those night owls who want soft lighting in the evenings.

Plugs

• Hive Active Plug – The Hive Active Plug allows you to control a plug socket from your smart phone wherever you are. This is perfect for those who forget to turn their TV or hair straighteners off or want to turn a light on when they are getting home late. Simply plug it into the socket and plug the device you want to control into the Active Plug and away you go.

Plans

Hive home plans are monthly subscription services providing you with a variety of different gadgets to fill all your smart home needs. Let’s take a look at the most popular plans.

Welcome home

The Welcome Home Plan transforms your home into a smart home in an instant and includes a bit of everything to make coming home more pleasant. It includes a Hive Hub which connects all the products together and connects to your smart phone, 2 Hive Active Light Bulbs, 1 Motion Sensor and finally 1 Hive Active Plug.

Heating

The Heating Plan comes with everything you need to control your heating from your smart phone. This plan comes with the Hive Hub, Hive Active Heating, Hive Receiver which connects the Hive Thermostat to your boiler. The perfect addition to any home in those cold winter months.

Warm welcome home

Have you ever been away for the week in the winter and dread coming home to a cold, dark home? With the Warm Welcome Home Plan, you’ll be excited to get home to your well-lit and warm house. This plan comes with the Hive Hub, 2 Hive Active Light Bulbs, 1 Hive Active plug, a Hive Active Heating Kit and 1 Hive Motion Sensor. In addition to this, this plan also includes an Amazon Echo Dot Speaker which can be controlled by your voice and includes the personal assistant service Alexa.

Close to home

The Hive Close to Home Plan is a security plan comes with a variety of smart security devices that will keep your mind at ease whilst you are away. The plan comes with the Hive Hub, 2 Window and Door Sensors that alert you with any movement, 1 Hive Active Plug, 2 Hive Active Light Bulbs, 1 Hive View Indoor Camera and Video Playback. All the smart gadgets connect to your smart home and can be monitored and controlled wherever you are.

From security cameras to heating control to coloured lighting Hive really do have smart home covered allowing you to control all aspects of your home from your phone.