U by Moen: The Smart Home Enters the Bathroom

If you’re building a house or plan to in the future, smart home appliances and connectivity has to be something that you think about to future proof your home. Here at CES, it’s all about the smart home and how these things are making our homes smarter and our lives easier.

Moen have released a series of products called U by Moen that bring the smart home into the bathroom with a wifi/cloud based digital showering system that offers mobile connectivity and complete personalisation.

The U by Moen shower includes a digital valve that offers precise, thermostatic temperature control, and enables the user to connect up to four shower devices (shower heads,hand showers, body sprays, etc.). The Wi-Fi-connected digital shower controller features a five-inch, non-touch, LCD screen that provides feedback on the shower status through on-screen messaging and notifications.

For safety, the shower valve will allow temperatures between 15 and 48 degrees. As they change the water temperature, the color of the screen will evolve from light blue, dark blue, purple, orange and red indicating the system is warming up or cooling down to reach the desired water temperature. When the shower is ready, the screen will turn white and provide an on-screen notification and signal with a tone.

With voice activation, users can ask Siri or Amazon Alexa to not only turn on the shower but also to turn it off. The U by Moen smartphone app gives users the ability to create up to 12 personalised presets, including name, greeting, outlets, temperature, shower timer and notifications. It also allows users to have the shower pause at initial start-up once it reaches the desired temperature. Not only can users create their personalised shower experience from within the app, but they also can fully control the shower from their smartphones. They can turn on the shower, change temperature and turn outlets on and off with the push of a button.