I’ve toyed around with smart home stuff for some years now. My heatings controlled by a smart thermostat, my lights are all Philips Hue smart bulbs, and there’s various other bits and pieces. It’s fun to play with, in a nerdy way. Even if sometimes it’s utility isn’t matched by it’s reliability…

But today’s the first time my smart home stuff genuinely earned it’s keep.

My partner had a parcel delivered yesterday, at least that’s what the parcel courier told her via email notification. But there was no parcel to be found. Nothing on the doorstep, nothing behind the side gate, nothing left with neighbours.

Luckily the front of our house is covered by a smart camera, an Aqara Camera Hub G2, connected via HomeKit and recording to HomeKit Secure Video. A quick check of this, and there, about 90 mins after the parcel actually was delivered, is footage of a male stranger walking down our driveway. And a moment later walking away with our parcel. Grrr….

My partner took the still images I sent her after downloading the footage via HSV and posted them to our local Facebook community group. Only a few minutes later and the local hive mind had given me both a name and address for the male, who lived only a few streets away.

A visit to his address and a rather blunt request to hand the parcel back was met with denials and pleas of ignorance. A call to the police and an arrest later and the denial was rather less convincing. Especially once his solicitor had seen the video footage I’d provided to the police.

We won’t see the contents of the parcel again – my partner will have to do without her ‘Energy Essence Mist’ for the time being, whatever that is – but it was satisfying to see some sort of justice done.

I know we’re not the first people to have this kind of experience, with the proliferation of home smart cameras, Ring doorbells and the like. But it’s still gratifying when it happens to you.

As a bonus, I have a feeling my next smart home purchase won’t be met with quite the usual amount of eye rolling!