Foobot is the smart air monitor that warns you of indoor pollution [Review]

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Foobot review: The unobtrusive Foobot stands less than 7 inches high.
The unobtrusive Foobot stands less than 7 inches high.
Photo: Luke Dormehl/Cult of Mac

Thunderclap Newman once sang that there’s something in the air. The Foobot smart air monitor promises to tell you what that something is.

Designed to detect a variety of air conditions in your home, the pint-size Foobot gathers loads of data about indoor pollution. It then let you delve into that information on your iPhone or iPad. So is it a “must have” device or one gadget too many? Get our initial thoughts in our Foobot review.

Foobot review

A smart air monitor that assesses air quality

Made by Airboxlab, Foobot is a $199 cylindrical device that looks a bit like an automated air freshener dispenser. Despite its relatively diminutive size, one device is supposedly adequate to cover a regular-size house. Once you’ve taken it out of the box and connected it to your Wi-Fi network, the Foobot air monitor sits on your shelf silently sensing what’s going on around it.

That is until you open the associated Foobot iOS app (it’s also available for Android). This reveals both the indoor and outdoor air pollution for your home. The outdoor measure is ascertained using BreezoMeter, a location-based air pollution API.

The Foobot gathers indoor measurements itself. These include temperature and humidity, as well as three measures of air analysis.

Measuring indoor air pollution

The first of these is volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, defined as “toxic chemicals that can be dangerous even at low concentrations and have short and long-term adverse health effects.” The air monitor also measures particulate matter, such as dust, ash and aerosols. Finally, it tracks carbon dioxide.

Not having any other smart air monitors, I can’t vouch for the accuracy of all the Footbot’s readings. However, the humidity and temperature matched data from my existing hygrometer and thermometer.

The Footbot certainly seem sensitive, though. Moving it closer to my log burner, which hasn’t been used in a couple of weeks, caused an immediate uptick in particulate matter readings.

So did burning some toast on another floor of my house. That minor kitchen disaster did not set off the smoke detector, but ut still sent Foobot into an end-of-the-world panic about air quality.

Interacting with the Foobot smart air monitor

Foobot review: A look at the Foobot app.
The Foobot app provides information on air quality.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Interactions with the device come in one of several ways. You can open the app and dig through the data yourself. And you can opt to receive notifications, which go to your mobile device in the event that something changes. If you’ve got an Amazon smart speaker, you can use an Alexa integration to ask how your air quality is.

You can also double-tap the device itself, which triggers an immediate message to your iPhone. Or you can look at the LED lights, which intermittently light up Foobot in different colors depending on air-quality state. (These lights can be modified in the app. So if, for instance, your device lives in your bedroom, you can set it to not begin glowing at 2 a.m.)

Foobot minds your air quality

As with any new gadget, the big question mark hovering over Foobot is whether you actually need it in your life. I have to admit that, up until now, air quality was not something I worried too much about. I live in the suburbs of a city where pollution isn’t a major problem. I’ve got a smoke detector and a carbon monoxide detector, so I should receive warnings about potentially really bad stuff that could be in the air.

Foobot
Foobot will glow to reveal its pleasure or displeasure with your home.
Photo: Luke Dormehl/Cult of Mac

Looking at the Foobot data, both in real time and historically, certainly proves interesting. Along with the number for each metric, you get brief tips on why these readings matter — and how you can improve them. (For example, particulate matter in the air can cause headaches and nausea. Proactive steps might include getting an electric stove rather than a gas one, and maybe getting an air purifier.)

These could stand to be a bit more detailed, although they produce the desired effect — getting me to consider proactive steps I can take to improve air quality.

Foobot: Too much information?

There is a risk of too much information, however. After I received my umpteenth warning about global pollution levels and slight increases in carbon dioxide in the house, my wife asked whether this data triggered anxiety rather than reducing it.

I suspect the Foobot might work well for really dedicated (and possibly borderline obsessive) smart home enthusiasts. They might be willing to dive into Foobot’s IFTTT capabilities and use the air monitor to spur other smart home devices into action.

For example, you can configure Foobot so that, if air quality exceeds a certain level, your air conditioner begins circulating air to try and help. You can even get Foobot to call out a heating, ventilation and air conditioning professional if pollution remains too high for a certain length of time.

This is the really useful part of Foobot. If you live somewhere where pollution is a big problem, I can totally see the device playing a valuable role. If you don’t, it will likely remain more of a novelty — but one that certainly provides information many people will find handy.

Price: $199

Buy from: Foobot

Foobot provided Cult of Mac with a review unit for this article. See our reviews policy, and check out more stuff we recommend.

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