IKEA’s trio of cheap smart home sensors could save you from domestic disaster

IKEA Trio of new smart home sensors
(Image credit: IKEA)

IKEA wants to make your smart home ever smarter with the addition of a trio of new sensors.

Called the Parasoll, Vallhorn and Badring (which Ring is surely smarting about), the sensors are designed to detect motion and pick up on issues like water leaks, giving you real-time notifications of any problem that happens while you’re away from your property.

Parasoll (€9.99, around $11 / £9 / AU$17) is a sensor that’s mounted on a door or window to detect when it’s opened, and is designed to be very compact and discreet, warning you if an intruder is breaking into your home.

Then there’s the Vallhorn (€7.99, around $9 / £7 / AU$13) which is a traditional (wireless) motion sensor that detects movement, lighting up when it does so (with adjustable colors and intensity levels for that lighting).

Finally, Badring (€9.99, around $11 / £9 / AU$17) is the water leakage sensor. Place this near a pipe or other potential source of a leak (like a washing machine) and it can pick up any problem right from the off, sounding an alarm or sending a notification to your phone, allowing you to act quickly to get the leak sorted.

IKEA Badring

(Image credit: IKEA)

All of these sensors are relatively compact and designed so they don’t stand out, and IKEA promises that they’re user-friendly and generally easy to get to grips with.

Any of the Parasoll, Vallhorn and Badring sensors can operate as a standalone product, or can be integrated into your current smart home setup (they use Zigbee).

Naturally, the sensors can be hooked up to IKEA’s own Dirigera smart home hub (complete with its own app), as you might expect.

Availability may vary from region to region, but IKEA says the Parasoll and Vallhorn will be on shelves from January 2024, but Badring won’t be available to purchase until April 2024. We'll update this article as soon as we get official pricing for the US, UK and Australia.


IKEA Parasoll

(Image credit: IKEA)

Analysis: Affordable peace of mind

These are useful (and previously rumored) additions to IKEA’s smart home line-up, particularly the Parasoll and Badring. Having the latter on hand to guard against any mini-floods ravaging your home while you’re away makes for some extra peace of mind, for sure.

Sadly, we don't yet know the US, UK or Australia pricing for these new sensors, but their European pricing is affordable, so we’re expecting them to similarly be in impulse buy territory when that does become official.

Building out its range further, IKEA recently unveiled another nifty smart home gadget, namely a smart RGB LED light strip called the Ormanäs which also hooks up via Zigbee to IKEA’s Dirigera hub.

You might also like

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

Read more
The Samsung Bespoke line of kitchen appliances
What is Samsung's ambient sensing? Unpacking the new SmartThings AI features
The pink and blue versions of IKEA's Vappeby Bluetooth speakers, on a pink table and being held on a string
IKEA refreshes super-cheap Bluetooth speaker that we love, as part of new series that will ‘reimagine’ home tech
three smart home devices at CES 2025
I've been smart home hunting at CES 2025, and these are the coolest gadgets I found
Man and woman setting up home security camera
How to secure your home with smart tech
The Samsung Galaxy Ring in Titanium Silver Colorway
Your Samsung Galaxy Ring might be the key to a smarter home thanks to SmartThings' connected device roadmap
Swann MaxRanger 4k doorbell being pressed
These new video doorbell and security camera use AI to welcome visitors and deter intruders
Latest in Smart Home
Philips Hue
Philips Hue might be working on a video doorbell, and according to a new report, we just got our first look at it
Hatch Restore 3 in Putty
You can finally start your day with The Office theme song, and I couldn't be more excited
Nanoleaf PC Screen Mirror Lightstrip set up on gaming PC
This Nanoleaf light strip adds Ambilight-style illumination to your gaming setup – and it's amazingly cheap
Philips Hue
Setting up your Philips Hue lights is now quicker and easier than ever thanks to the latest app update
Two Ring video doorbells on blue background with white text reading 'TechRadar Price Cut'
Ring doorbells and cameras crash to record-low prices in Amazon sale
Alexa privacy
Amazon's big Alexa voice processing change may not be the privacy nightmare you think it is
Latest in News
Hisense U8 series TV on wall in living room
Hisense announces 2025 mini-LED TV lineup, with screen sizes up to 100 inches – and a surprising smart TV switch
Nintendo Music teaser art
Nintendo Music expands its library with songs from Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Tetris
An image of Pro-Ject's Flatten it closed and opened
Pro-Ject’s new vinyl flattener will fix any warped LPs you inadvertently buy on Record Store Day
The iPhone 16 Pro on a grey background
iPhone 17 Pro tipped to get 8K video recording – but I want these 3 video features instead
EA Sports F1 25 promotional image featuring drivers Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz and Oliver Bearman.
F1 25 has been officially announced, with this year's entry marking a return for Braking Point and a 'significant overhaul' for My Team mode
Garmin clippd integration
Garmin's golf watches just got a big software integration upgrade to help you improve your game