In 2012 tado° launched its intelligent heating control system to market in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. One year later sales began in the UK and other European countries.
tado° helps households to save on the necessity that uses the most energy: in an average UK household, heating the building accounts for over 66 percent of energy use. This is where tado° steps in – the heating app makes use of modern, smart technology to automatically prevent energy from being unnecessarily wasted.
At CeBIT 2014 tado° presented the latest version of its web app, which makes it even easier for users to see how the app controls their heating system based on real-time data and to influence its operation themselves.
Once the tado° Hardware Kit has been installed, the user downloads the app onto their smartphone and chooses a few basic settings such as their desired sleeping temperature. From that point onwards tado° automatically takes care of heating the home, like a personal assistant. There is no need to programme periods of presence or absence, as the intelligent tado° algorithms automatically ensure that the heating is adjusted to the exact requirements of the users. But how is that possible? Through the proper use and combination of various pieces of information and data.
Thanks to the smartphone location services, the tado° app knows when the last resident has left the house and automatically turns down the temperature, with no user action required. As soon as a resident starts making their way home, tado° will begin heating in time for the house to warm up by the time they get home. With just one glance at the app the user can see how far the other residents are away from home and how the heating system is currently operating. This view is now also available on the browser-based web app. But how does tado° know when to lower the temperature, by how much, and when exactly to start heating again?
As well as the distance of the user from home and the speed they are moving, the tado° control takes into account the properties of the individual building. The system gets to know these properties over the first few days of use. How quickly does the home cool down and how long does it take to warm it back up to the desired temperature? What influence does the sun have on the inside temperature? Sunshine will heat up homes with large windows more rapidly than homes with small window surfaces. 
In order to know when the sun is shining or how warm it currently is outside, tado° also includes weather forecasts from the Internet. Always in view: the new app displays the current weather in the background. The weather forecast allows tado° to act in plenty of time. Particularly with heating systems that take some time to react, such as underfloor heating, the system can be turned down in advance when the weather forecast promises higher outdoor temperatures or sunshine. Not only does this save energy, it prevents the home from becoming overheated, as otherwise both the heating and the sun would be warming up the home at the same time.
All customer data is transferred and stored using the latest security technology, equivalent to the current online banking standard. “Ensuring that our customer data is secure and protected is our highest priority,” explains Christian Deilmann, CEO and founder of tado° GmbH. User security and privacy are part of the core product strategy at tado°.
tado° uses these real-time data, combining presence and absence, weather forecasts and learned building characteristics, to optimise energy use and the indoor climate while also making the users’ lives far more efficient and convenient.
