15 Cool Tech Gifts And Gadgets For Mom On Mother’s Day

Flameless candles, a purse light, and a UV-powered smartphone-cleansing charger are among our top gadget gift suggestions for your techie mom.

This One’s For The Moms

Mother’s Day 2021 is arriving on Sunday, May 9, and after more than a year of unknowns – and most likely, limited gatherings -- this year may be the time to pull out the stops for mom.

Whether you’ll be meeting in-person or jumping on a video call, CRN can help you find the perfect gift for the techie mom in your life. This year, moms may appreciate gifts to help relax or unwind, such as a smart candle or white noise machine. Or perhaps, she’s ready to start hitting the road again, so a smart backpack that can charge her devices or a purse light could come in extra handy. Then there’s the practical tech gifts, such as a UV-powered smartphone sanitizer or noise cancelling headphones for the women that are still working from home.

Here is CRN’s roundup of our top tech gifts for Mother’s Day 2021.

SNOOZ White Noise Sound Machine

Help mom make her room a haven for sleep. The SNOOZ White Noise Sound Machine contains a real fan inside, making for the perfect portable white noise machine that produces full-spectrum sound. The device features an adjustable tone and 10 volume settings, as well as optional iOS and Android companion apps for added functionality.

The SNOOZ White Noise Sound Machine can be found for $79.99 on the company's website.

Aura Mason Digital Photo Frame

Aura Mason’s offering in the digital photo frame category is widely considered one of the best, thanks to its great display and design along with an easy setup. Users can add an unlimited number of photos to the WiFi-connected frame using the Aura Frames app. As a gift for Mother’s Day, the Aura Mason digital photo frame has another benefit too--you can actually add photos to the frame in advance so that they’re ready to go once mom powers it up. You can also invite family members to add photos in advance, and the frame works both in portrait and landscape orientation.

The Aura Mason Carver digital photo frame is currently priced at $169 on the Aura Frames website.

PhoneSoap 3

Staying healthy is top of mind for everyone right now. The PhoneSoap 3 promises to kill 99.99 percent of germs on a smartphone using UV-based technology. The device can safely sanitize both a phone and case, and even charges the phone in the process. The PhoneSoap 3 also promises to fit all smartphone sizes and includes an audio amplifier for hearing notifications and alarms, too.

The PhoneSoap 3 is priced at $79.95 on the company’s website.

Apple Watch Series 6

Physical activity has never been so important, but the sixth-generation Apple Watch does much more than count steps. Mom will be able to track her workout metrics, including blood oxygen levels, whether she’s on the road, at home, at the newly opened gyms, or while swimming. The Apple Watch Series 6 can also track sleep and heartrate and can trigger emergency services. And with the new iOS 14.5 update, wearing the watch can help unlock your iPhone when you wear a mask.

The Apple Watch Series 6 has a starting price of $399.

Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones

She may have been taking meetings and working from home for the past year, or maybe she could use some help unwinding with her favorite podcast or music. Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 offers improved noise cancellation with a six-microphone array that can block even the most disruptive sounds. The headphones also have a touch-sensitive pad on the right earcup to enable touch commands for volume control, changing the song or starting/stopping a track. The headphones provide an impressive 20 hours of battery life, as well.

The Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 (black) are currently priced at $329.

Aera Smart Diffuser

Creating a relaxing atmosphere at home (or within the home office area) is critical right now. The Aera Smart Diffuser is a fragrance system offering “surround-scent” technology to evenly distribute a scent throughout a room—with adjustable settings for small, medium or large rooms. Aera also says the strength of the fragrance can be maintained so that it doesn’t fade during usage, and the scents can even be controlled and scheduled using a smartphone app. Plus, the Aera Smart Diffuser can be controlled by voice using Amazon’s Alexa smart assistant, as well.

The Aera Smart Diffuser is priced at $199 on Aera’s website and 20 percent off is available for first time shoppers.

Instant Pot Smart WiFi

Many swear by the Instant Pot to simplify the cooking of a variety of foods, but the Smart Wifi version provides a number of helpful capabilities including controlling the cooker from a mobile device. The Instant Pot Smart WiFi comes in a six-quart size and features a total of eight modes, including Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker and Rice/Porridge Cooker. Using a mobile device, users can cook, schedule and adjust their dishes--and even monitor the progress of meals from their device and with Alexa.

The Instant Pot Smart WiFi is currently priced at $158.01 on Amazon.

Google Nest Hub Max

The Google Nest Hub Max is the ultimate kitchen assistant since it can pull up cooking how-tos on YouTube while working, but the Nest Hub can be useful in any room of the house. It uses voice control via the Google Assistant and features a 10-inch HD screen along with stereo speakers and a three-inch woofer, and the device can display photos from a Google Photos library when not in use.

The Google Nest Hub Max is priced at $229.

Mighty Purse Phone Charging Wristlet

For the fashion-forward mom, this wristlet features a 4,000mAh battery that can charge both iPhones and Android smartphones. The purse comes with a micro-USB connector with an iPhone lightening and a USB-C adapter. The Mighty Purse is made from 100 percent genuine leather and comes in eight different colors.

The Mighty Purse is priced at $49.99 on Amazon.

Nordace Siena Smart Backback

For moms getting back on the road, the streamlined Siena Smart Backpack is a must-have. This compact backpack features a discreet luggage strap, secret pockets for valuables, a USB charging port, and a padded laptop compartment.

The Nordace Siena Smart Backback can be found for $99.99 on the Nordace site.

Purse Light

Speaking of bags, who hasn’t rustled through a bag to find a pair of keys? The sensor-activated purse light can be clipped to the inside of a purse, workbag, tote, or duffle bag to immediately illuminate the inside to hunt down items that find their way to the bottom of the bag. The light turns on when the bag is opened and stays on for 15 seconds.

The sensor-activated Purse Light can be found for $11.99 on Amazon.

Lenovo USB-C Travel Hub

Anyone on the go could use a compact connectivity device. The Lenovo USB-C Travel Hub is ready to power a USB-C-compatible notebook. The hub can be connected via a single USB-C cable to provide access to HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, USB-C and two USB-A ports, and the hub won’t weigh anyone down at just a quarter of a pound.

The Lenovo USB-C Travel Hub is going for $59.99 on the Lenovo site.

PLAYBULB Bluetooth Flameless Candle

The PLAYBULB Smart LED color-changing flameless candle can do what many smart candles cannot. It can support mom blowing out the candle to turn it off. By shaking or tapping, the color of the candle can change, or four different lighting effects can be selected to create the right ambiance. The candle can also be controlled via smartphone.

The PLAYBULB smart candle can be found on Amazon for $15.99.

JBL Flip 4 Bluetooth Speak

For the music or podcast aficionado, one powerful but portable speaker option is the JBL Flip 4. The Flip 4 can connect over Bluetooth to up to two devices, such as the Amazon Echo Dot and smartphones. It features enough battery life to run for 12 hours on a charge and is ultra-water resistant.

The JBL Flip 4 is priced at $79.95 on Amazon.

Apple iPad Mini

Help the mom in your life simplify by ditching her laptop in favor of something smaller and more travel friendly. The iPad Mini is the most compact version of the iPad and it also supports the Apple Pencil.

The iPad mini features a thin, light, and portable design at 0.66 pound and 6.1 mm thin and can hold up to ten hours of battery life at a time.

The Apple iPad Mini comes in three colors and is available for a starting price of $399.