The device essentially sits between your shower pipe and shower head, and is compatible with 99 percent of all shower heads, according to Swon. Once installed, the device connects to your phone, and will tell you exactly how much water and energy you’re using, how long you spend in the shower, and so on. It will then recommend slight changes that you can make to help reduce water use.
What this means, as we were told during the event, is that buying the device could end up actually helping you save money in water, sewage, and energy costs.
The Swon certainly comes at a good time — especially if you live in California, which has been going through a drought for some time now — when saving water is as important as ever.
Swon actually takes things a step further than simply tracking your showers. As a connected device, it can talk to other connected devices in the home, so, for example, if you shower during a certain preset time period, you can automate it to tell your coffee machine to turn on, or your lights to turn off, and so on. In other words, not only will the device save you water and energy, but it will also save you time.
Perhaps the best thing about the device isn’t how much water it could save you or how it works with the rest of the smart home, but how much it costs. While not available just yet, Swon will launch on a crowdfunding site in the next few weeks and will only cost $40 (unlike the $30 said in the video). Compared to how much money you could save in water costs thanks to the device, that’s a small price to pay.
