This is the first entry in Conversations with Robots, a series of prompts and responses from conversations with large language models.
Prompt:
I’m annoyed when naming smart sensors because it has a name (e.g., thermometer) and a room (e.g. bedroom) but on the display screen it just shows a bunch of devices with the name “thermometer” on the all devices list which doesn’t tell me what room they’re in. But naming them Bedroom Thermometer is redundant and like how is this supposed to work I feel like I’m doing something wrong.
Response:
You’re not doing anything wrong — this is genuinely a common UX frustration with most smart home platforms. The issue is that most systems have a “device name” field and a “room/location” assignment, but the “all devices” view typically only shows the device name and ignores the room context. It’s a design oversight that’s been annoying people for years.
A few approaches people use:
Room-first naming like “Bedroom Thermometer” is actually the most common convention, and it’s what most experienced smart home users settle on despite feeling redundant. It’s not wrong — it’s compensating for bad UI. The room assignment is still useful for voice commands and room-grouped views, even if the name duplicates it.
Short prefixes can help it feel less clunky: “Bed Thermo,” “LR Motion,” “Kit Humid.” Depends on whether abbreviated names bother you more than long ones.
Room codes are another option if you have a lot of devices: “BR1-Temp,” “LR-Motion.” More compact but less human-readable.
The “right” way this should work is the platform displaying “Thermometer” in a room-grouped view and “Bedroom · Thermometer” in the all-devices view. Some platforms like Home Assistant actually handle this better than others — the entity name can differ from the display name, and dashboards can show room context automatically. If you’re using YoLink with a hub, you’re somewhat at the mercy of their app’s UI choices.
The pragmatic answer: “Bedroom Thermometer” isn’t redundant — it’s the workaround everyone uses because the platforms haven’t solved this properly. You’re not doing it wrong; the software is.