Spent the last few months testing smart home gear that survives apartment living (no drilling, no hardwiring, no losing your deposit). A few things I learned:

Skip anything that needs an electrician. Smart switches that replace your wall switch look great on YouTube but most leases don't allow it, and reversing it before move-out is a pain.

Battery + adhesive > hardwired every time. Motion sensors, door sensors, and cameras that run on battery and mount with 3M strips give you 90% of the functionality with 0% of the commitment.

The hub matters more than the gadgets. A lot of people buy random smart plugs from different brands and end up with 4 apps on their phone. Start with one hub that speaks a common protocol (Matter/Zigbee) and build around it — way less headache.

Landlords care about reversibility, not tech. If you can point to "this leaves zero trace," you'll almost never get pushback on the lease.

Built a starter kit around exactly this after getting tired of recommending a scattered list of products to friends — happy to answer questions if anyone's setting up their first apartment.