Your garage door might be the last thing you think of in terms of being “smart”…in fairness though they have had their own remote opener since the early 80’s which is way before your phone could program your DVR while you are in Bermuda getting some sun. However, in the age of “smart” there are several companies that will connect your garage door to your phone to make it even easier to control.

First up is from Chamberlin, which is the largest manufacturer of garage doors in the world. Chamberlin was the first to introduce wi-fi and Bluetooth enabled garage door openers. Their devices with MyQ technology allow for easy connection to the homes wi-fi so that a customer can access their door right from their phone. Your MyQ app allows you to check and make sure your closed the garage no matter if you are sitting at your desk at work after rushing the kids because they were late for school or, in bed and can’t remember if you shut it after taking the garbage out. MyQ can also control outdoor lights in addition to your garage door. As well, they have partnered with Wink, the “smart” app that allows you to control your appliances and home lights from your phone Chamberlin has also partnered another home monitoring company and with Nest, that can link your MYQ app with its thermostat monitoring. They also have an integrated partnership with Xfinity’s Home Monitoring products to monitor your entire home. To install the MyQ app, you will need to replace your garage door opener though as the technology cannot retrofit to your old opener. Also, these services do incur monthly fees.

While Chamberlin might have the most integrated “smart” door, Garageio, still has a little something on them. While their device is strictly a wi-fi enabled garage door it has one feature MyQ doesn’t, it can be enabled by Amazon Echo. This device also can connect to your original garage door opener so you will not need to take time out of your busy weekend to install a lot of new hardware. Garageio also does not have any service fees associated to it once it is purchased.

Then there is Asante Garage Door opener, that can work with your current garage door opener. While their product is very similar to the above, they offer live video streaming with no monthly fee. Asante can also work with up to 2 doors which is great for those who have a two-car garage. One super cool feature they offer that their counterparts don’t; infrared night vision on their cameras.

If you are looking for just a basic wi-fi opener without all the extra’s, Aladdin Connect by Genie might be best for you. They offer a basic system that allows you to check on the position of garage door, whether it was opened manually or by control and can provide an opening/closing history. While this system works with most garage door openers, you will need to make sure yours is compatible first.

After all of these different types of openers you might be thinking, “Ok that is really the furthest into the smart world my garage door can go.” Well, your garage door might actually get even smarter…yes you are reading that right! There are a couple of openers and devices that are going through crowdfunding campaigns that have features added to them like cloud support, integration with your front/back door locks, ability to give specific date and time access to friends or family to enter your home without you, connectivity to Apple HomeKit and even the ability to have more than two garage door in one opener.