What's New in Home Air Purifiers
These days, the best home air purifiers donāt just remove pollutantsāthey're smarter, more energy-efficient, and sometimes even better-looking, too
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Home air purifiers quickly became a sought-after device with the start of the pandemic, but theyāve been around since the 1860s. Over time, these purifiersādesigned to clean the room theyāre placed in, as opposed to a whole houseāhave become smaller, smarter, and more attractive.
Consumer Reports doesnāt rate air purifiers on aesthetics, size, or app compatibility, but we do take note of the emerging trends within the market. Misha Kollontai,Ā who oversees testing of air purifiers at CR, says that more home air purifiers are aiming to be a design element. āPart of that might be because if youāre really focused on purifying your air, youāre probably looking to make it a mainstay in your living space,ā Kollontai says.
Heās also seeing a greater focus on interactivity and paired apps, as well as portable models.
Many models are also aiming to take away some of the guesswork that often comes with using an air purifier. For instance, thereās an uptick in designs with an indicator for when itās time to switch filtersāthough itās not yet clear whether thatās any better or worse than just swapping them out every set number of months. In addition, more home air purifiers now feature particle counters, which let users know if the particle count in a room is high.
In this article, we highlight three home air purifiers that balance a popular nice-to-have feature with solid cleaning capabilities.
CR members can learn more about how they rate in a range of areas (including cleaning capacity, noise, energy efficiency, and more) by exploring our comprehensive air purifier ratings. For tips on buying the best home air purifier for your needs, check out our air purifier buying guide.
Smart Features
WiFi-connected models that you can monitor via a smartĀphone app let you see a live particulate matter (PM) reading for your indoor air, as well as the levels of pollutants being filtered out. Some manufacturers, such as Blueair, offer models with extra sensors that can determine the indoor air quality. The app, which doubles as a remote control, also lets you set schedules for the device and alerts you when your filter needs replacing.
Sleek Styling
An air purifier is a visible part of your room thatās running all the time, so youāll want it to both work well and look good (or at least fade into its surroundings). New designs are increasingly more streamlined and aesthetically pleasing. The Samsung Cube, for example, a top performer in CRās tests, will soon offer custom-styling options like a range of colors, with a herringbone or striped front. Itās already available in silver and white.
Small Sizes
There are now many compactāeven portableāmodels on the market. Levoit and PureZone offer options small enough to use in a car, and LGās PuriCare Mini Air Purifier is so petite that you can carry it around your wrist. Note that CR does not test air purifiers in confined spaces like cars or planesāso the smaller models typically end up with lower Overall Scores simply because they canāt offer filtration thatās as powerful as that of their full-sized counterparts, at least in the larger spaces we test in.
Editorās Note:Ā A version of this article also appeared in the August 2021 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.