25 Gifts Your Techy Friends Actually Want in 2022

Amazon Echo Clock — Hannah Stryker / How-To Geek

Technology lovers can be hard to shop for. They tend to enjoy the process of finding the perfect product on their own. If you’re attempting to buy a techy gift for a techy person, you better do it right.

The trick to shopping for a tech lover is to lean on things with general appeal. Don’t try to pick out something specific like a smartphone or a pair of fancy headphones. People who are interested in technology usually will research and buy those products for themselves. You have to think outside the box a little bit.

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Smart Speaker or Display

Google Home Nest Mini — CoinUp/Shutterstock.com

There’s a good chance the tech lover in your life has already invested in some smart speakers or smart displays. There’s also a good chance they wouldn’t mind adding a few more to the mix. However—and this is very important—make sure you know which smart home ecosystem they use!

Amazon Echo Dot 5th Gen

The humble Echo Dot is an easy addition for anyone who already uses Amazon Alexa. There’s always room for one more.

Google Nest Mini

The affordable Nest Mini is a simple addition to any Google Assistant-enabled smart home. Easy to tuck away in any room.

Amazon Echo Show 8 2nd Gen

The Echo Show 8 features a 13-megapixel wide-angle camera and AI-powered zoom and pan features for video calls.

Google Nest Hub 2nd Gen

The Nest Hub has a 7-inch display, 3 microphones to hear you clearly, and is Chromecast-compatible for streaming video and music.

Apple HomePod Mini

A cute little Siri-enabled smart speaker for those invested in the HomeKit ecosystem. The HomePod Mini is available in five different colors, to boot.

Gift Cards for Their Favorite Services

Gift cards for specific services can be a great gift. You’re giving someone an excuse to try a new streaming service or buy that iPhone app they’ve been eyeing. Even if they already subscribe to the service, who wouldn’t want a few free months?

Netflix Gift Card

Give the gift of a few free months of Netflix.

Hulu Gift Card

Give the gift of a few months of Hulu live TV or access to the library of thousands of TV shows and movies.

Spotify Gift Card

The Spotify annual gift card is actually $20 cheaper than paying monthly for 12 months of Spotify Premium.

Apple Gift Card

Apple gift cards can be used for apps, games, music, movies, and TV shows, as well as physical Apple products, iCloud subscriptions, and more.

Google Play Gift Code

Google Play gift codes can be redeemed for apps, games, movies, TV shows, and eBooks from the Play Store.

Touchscreen Gloves

person using Moshi Digits gloves — Moshi

There’s no question that the tech lover in your life has a smartphone. If they live in a cold climate, they’re probably trying to use that smartphone with gloves in the winter. You can make this experience better with a good pair of touchscreen gloves.

Moshi Digits Touchscreen Gloves

The Moshi Digits are touchscreen gloves that don’t suck. In addition to making it easy to touch your phone with gloves, they also add grip.

Glider Touchscreen Gloves

A thinner option for those who don’t live in super cold climates but want a little extra warmth.

Alepo Sheepskin Leather Touchscreen Gloves

For a more formal look, the Alep touchscreen gloves are made with genuine sheepskin leather and cashmere.

Mini Photo Printer

A lot of people—not just techies—have tons of photos on their phone or saved to cloud storage, but that’s where they stay. The photos never make it into the real world. An instant photo printer is a fun and useful gadget to solve that problem.

Fujifilm Instax Mini Link 2

The Fujifilm Instax Mini Link 2 is an instant printer that can easily be recharged and taken along anywhere you go. It prints photos that are about 2×3-inches.

Fujifilm Instax Link Wide

The Fujifilm Instax Link Wide is essentially the same as the Mini model, but it prints larger 3×4-inch photos.

Canon Selphy CP1300 Printer

For even larger photos, the Canon Selphy prints up to 4×6-inches (with or without a border). It’s still small enough to be easily portable.

Standby Backup Power

Amazon Basics UPS next to computer — Amazon

You know what’s annoying? When the power shuts off briefly and you have to boot up your PC again, losing anything unsaved in the process. An uninterrupted power supply (UPS) can solve this by automatically detecting the power outage and switching to battery power—giving you enough time to save your work and shut down correctly.

Amazon Basics Standby UPS

A bare-bones compact UPS with unbeatable dimensions for the power. Plus, it has all the essentials and way more outlets than you know what to do with.

APC UPS BE425M

An inexpensive UPS with a small footprint. It provides enough power to keep small devices running after a power failure.

CyberPower CP800AVR

450W provides enough juice to keep routers powered for a really long time. Plus, there’s surge protection and AVR at a low cost.

APC BR1500G

An excellent battery backup with AVR and surge protection. It allows for easy cell replacement and the ability to add external backups.

CyberPower PR1500LCD

This 1500W beast is perfect for high-power draw equipment like gaming systems. In addition, it has AVR and surge protection and provides a pure sine wave output.

Upgrade to a GaN Charger

A charger may not sound exciting, but GaN (gallium nitride) chargers are an exciting new technology. These chargers are much more efficient than older portable chargers, which allows them to offer the same features in smaller packages.

Looking for more gift ideas? Take a look at our other gift guides:

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