Home, family & everyday life
The big change this year is the voice assistant, with Alexa+ in UK Early Access since March 2026 and free with Prime, and Gemini replacing Google Assistant on Nest speakers by June. The smaller apps do narrower jobs, such as PictureThis naming 76% of plants correctly in Michigan State University's 2025 test, and most of them push a subscription hard. AI toys for children, such as the Miko robot, stay off the main list because the Online Safety Act does not cover them and early research found them misreading emotions.
Updated monthly.
Kenning's picks
Ranked by Kenning score out of 25. Tools scoring 12 or less are marked not recommended.
Google Home with Gemini
Gemini replaced Google Assistant on Nest speakers and displays and reached most UK homes through early access by June 2026. The basic assistant is free and understands loose requests such as turning off every light except the bedroom, but The Verge found it slow and sometimes confidently wrong. Gemini Live chats and smart automations need Google Home Premium at £8 a month, and camera summaries need the £16 plan.
Best for Homes already using Nest speakers, displays or cameras
Alexa+
Alexa+ reached the UK on 19 March 2026 as an invite-only Early Access trial on Echo speakers, the Alexa app and Alexa.com. Trusted Reviews called it light years ahead of rival assistants, though individual reviewers report slow replies and smart-home routines that broke. It is free during the trial and stays free with Prime afterwards, but costs £19.99 a month without Prime, and every request is now processed in Amazon's cloud.
Best for Prime households with Echo speakers and smart lights
ReciMe
ReciMe turns a shared TikTok or Instagram cooking post into a written recipe with a shopping list, which is the job most people download it for. It works when the creator wrote the recipe in the caption, but Android Police found it failed on a video with no text and missed a key step on another, and individual reviewers report dropped ingredients. Free users get 5 AI imports a week, and the trial needs a card up front.
Best for Cooks who save recipes from TikTok and Instagram
Samsung Food
Samsung Food saves a recipe from almost any website, merges a week of meals into one shopping list and is free for that core job, which works on iPhone and Android as well as Samsung phones. The AI parts are AI-built weekly meal plans, a step-by-step cook mode and turning cookbook photos into recipes, and most of it needs Food+ at £6.99 a month. Reviewers find the app busy, and the explore feed pushes recipes from strangers.
Best for Households planning a week of dinners from saved recipes
PictureThis
PictureThis came top of Michigan State University's 2025 test, naming 76% of plants correctly against 54% for ChatGPT and less for Google Lens. It is the biggest plant app in the UK store with 167,474 ratings. The catch is billing, since the free version is hard to find past the trial screens and the 7-day trial turns into £34.99 a year, the top UK complaint.
Best for Gardeners naming garden-centre plants and weeds
Planner 5D
Planner 5D lets anyone draw a floor plan, drop in furniture and walk round it in 3D on a phone or browser, and its newer AI tools turn an uploaded floor plan into a 3D project and restyle a room photo. TechRadar rated it an excellent service but found it slowed a MacBook to a crawl. Half the furniture catalogue is free, the rest costs £19.99 a month or £59.99 a year, and Trustpilot reviews average 2.7 from 790.
Best for Homeowners testing a furniture layout before buying
Ring (with Ring Pro AI features)
The Ring app is free with a Ring doorbell, but the AI features need Ring Pro at £15.99 a month or a £3-per-device add-on. T3 found Familiar Faces, launched in the UK in April 2026, quick and useful, while individual reviewers report cats labelled as racoons and a husband described as armed. Mozilla calls Ring one of the most privacy-hostile products it has reviewed, and face recognition scans visitors who never agreed to it.
Best for Ring owners who want to find a clip without scrolling
More tools
ChefGPT
Suggests recipes from what's in the cupboard, plans weekly meals with a shopping list and logs calories from photos.
Cozi Family Organiser
The most-rated UK family organiser, with a shared calendar, lists and meal planner; little AI, but the default family tool.
DecorAI
A web tool that restyles a room photo in a chosen interior style. Its own 16-app comparison ranks it first.
Eat This Much
An automatic meal planner that builds menus and shopping lists to hit calorie and macro targets.
Hint
Home maintenance app co-founded by Martha Stewart that tracks upkeep and checks repair quotes
Houzz
A home renovation ideas and tradesperson directory app with room visualisation tools; AI is a minor feature.
IKEA app (Kreativ)
IKEA's shopping app, whose Kreativ tool places IKEA furniture in a room scanned from photos. UK users can design bedrooms.
Maia
AI relationship app for couples, with chat and voice sessions, conversation prompts and shared goals
Mealia
An AI grocery and meal-planning assistant that tops UK App Store searches for 'AI meal planner'.
MealPractice
Plans a week of meals, suggests AI recipes and builds the shopping list to match.
Miko (AI robot for children)
UK-sold AI robot for children. Chatbot toys fall outside the Online Safety Act, and researchers found unsafe answers.
OH, a potato!
Saves recipes from cookbooks or social videos and suggests meals from food already in the fridge.
Planta
A Swedish houseplant care app with watering reminders, AI plant identification and a 'Dr Planta' diagnosis tool.
PlantNet
A free, non-profit citizen-science plant identifier backed by French research institutes, stronger than PictureThis on wild plants and weeds.
Rainbow Weather
Weather app that forecasts rain minute by minute for the next few hours at a street level.
Renovate AI
Takes a photo of a room or house front and shows redesigned versions in different styles.
SuperCook
A free recipe finder that suggests dishes from the ingredients already in the kitchen.