We’ve all experienced the struggle of trying to get the shower to be the perfect temperature. Instead of fiddling around with a handle that will turn the water from freezing cold to scalding hot in a matter of seconds, you can go hands off and get your shower just the way you like it through your voice assistant. At CES 2019, Moen showed of its voice assistant-compatible U by Moen Shower that gives you total control over your shower time.
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The U by Moen is an attempt to bring the shower into the smart home ecosystem. The shower offers compatibility with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri through the Apple HomeKit. That means you can connect your shower to your voice assistant of choice and manage your showering experience with simple commands.
You can remotely start, pause, or stop your shower with your voice, or use specific commands to set things up just how you want.
In addition to just turning the shower on or off, the U by Moen also gives you precise control over just about everything. You can set your water to a specific temperature (it’s limited to between 60 and 120 degrees for your safety) or even create presets for different situations. If you like your showers one way in the morning and another way after the workout, you can create completely different settings that you can turn on any time. You can even tell your voice assistant to fire up one of your presets so your shower is how you like it before you step in.
If you’re not into voice control, the U by Moen shower also comes with a smartphone app for Android and iOS and in-shower controller that allows you to change the water on the fly. The controls in shower act like a thermostat in your shower with a 5-inch, LCD screen that provides immediate feedback when you change a setting, and can display messages and notifications.
“At Moen, we’re committed to developing smart innovations that enhance people’s everyday experiences with water, and that innovation doesn’t stop once we’ve launched a product,” Michael Poloha, group manager of IoT at Moen, said in a statement. “With the increasing popularity of digital voice assistants, we wanted to make sure consumers have several options available regardless of the smart home ecosystem they choose, as well as streamline the commands to make controlling your shower as simple as possible.”
Moen didn’t announce when the U by Moen shower will be available to purchase or how much it will cost. When it does come to market, it’ll be one of the first showers that you can control with your voice.
