Nowadays, when a smart light bulb shifts from soft white to red, it usually means someone’s at the door, the dog got out, or another home automation routine has been initiated in your smart home app.
In the near future, that same light bulb might tell you the donut you ate for breakfast is spiking your blood sugar.
In some ways, this connection between health tracking devices and the smart home is already happening. One (not-so-consumer-friendly) option is using open-source software like Home Assistant, which allows Dexcom CGM users to create scripts that trigger automations on smart devices based on a predetermined blood sugar level.
There’s also new hardware like the Sugar Pixel, a Wi-Fi–connected alarm clock that integrates with a range of glucose monitors, including Dexcom, Libre, and Gluroo. Many of these connections aren’t through official APIs and are a bit MacGyver’d together, but according to the user guide, you can get your Stelo from Dexcom and other CGMs to send readings directly to the Sugar Pixel.
Startups are also moving into this space. Ultrahuman, for example, is building wellness-sensing devices, like smart rings and glucose monitors, alongside a home hub focused on health. The Ultrahuman hub already measures air quality, temperature, and light. It’s not hard to imagine them linking that hub to their M1 Live glucose monitor or Ring AIR smart ring, creating a home environment tuned around a person’s health biomarkers.
Apple seems like an obvious candidate to lead here, given it has both a smart home framework (HomeKit) and a health framework (HealthKit). But so far, there’s no sign the company is interested in merging the two. That’s not shocking since Apple’s support for the smart home has always felt half-hearted, but it’s still worth keeping an eye on Cupertino for future moves.
For now, these integrations are the domain of early adopters, people comfortable tinkering with open-source software or willing to trust a Wi-Fi alarm clock from a small startup. Long term, though, as CGMs become more democratized and widely used, I expect we’ll see a much stronger connection between wellness tracking and the smart home.
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