Wemo Smart Plug with Thread - Smart Outlet for Apple HomeKit - Smart Home Products, Smart Home Lighting, Smart Home Gadgets - Homekit Smart Plug - Tech Gifts - Works W/ Apple iPhone, Easy NFC Set Up

I have 4 Wemo minis that I use in tandem with 3 of the original plug switches, 1 Wemo insight plug and several light switches. I guess you could say I'm pretty well entrenched in the Wemo universe at this point.All devices work great over my older wireless G router which is on the first floor in the kitchen of my home built in 1875. Not only do I have to contend with thick plaster and lathe walls (and perhaps some lead paint I'd rather pretend isn't there), thick hardwood framing and floors, 3 stories (including the finished attic, but I also have a metal tile ceiling in the kitchen. It's literally the worst case scenario, aside from maybe masonry.Despite this, all my Wemo components across all three floors and even the detached garage manage to connect and show up in the app, both on the local and outside networks. I do see a lot of reviews that have an issue with this, but despite all the obstacles, I've had no issues. I do make the initial connection to the network on my first floor, but even after relocating the devices, they still show in the app with no issue.I like using these switches for multiple reasons:1) Automation: I can turn lights on and off based on sunset and sunrise times, exact time or any combination or sunset/sunrise and specific times. That means my porch light comes on at dusk and turns off at dawn and other lights turn on at dusk and turn off at the time I normally head to bed. This is especially great for holiday decorating.2) Remote control: I can turn lights or other devices on or off from anywhere the internet exists.3) Security camera control: I have several outdoor security cameras, but never wanted to have them inside since I didn't want to risk someone getting into the DVR and being able to view me indoors. With a Wemo switch, I can automate the cameras being on only when I'm not home or manually turn them on remotely at other times rather than activate or deactivate them through the security DVR. That means a hacker would need to have access to both the DVR and the Wemo switch to spy on me indoors. Granted, they would only see "public" areas on the first floor, but it's nice to have that extra security measure with two systems.4) Access to lighting controls from anywhere in the house: It's nice to be able to turn on outside lighting from my bedroom using the app to investigate a noise I might hear outside. Whether it's a raccoon or a human prowler, it's nice to say "get off my lawn" from the safety of a lockable upstairs room using outdoor lighting.Overall, installation, updates and use are pretty painless. I make it harder on my self by having MAC Address filtering turned on in my router, so I have to manually add each device address in before it will connect. Most people don't do this, so it's a problem I made for myself, not an issue for the device. Once I manually add in the MAC Address, things go pretty smoothly.I have a password with special characters in it, so I can conform there is no issue with using them. The devices also see unfazed my using the newer WPA2 security.Once you have one device connected, you can save those credentials to make adding more devices easier.Overall, things are easy, but it's not entirely peaches and cream. Here are the reasons for only 4 stars:1) The overall installation could be far easier if the app could simply read a QR code on the device and add it directly to the home network using the saved credentials that way. It's silly to have to connect to the device, send the credentials to it (or enter them manually if it's the first device), then connect back to the home WiFi network to use it with the other devices. Seriously: scan QR code through the app using the camera, input WiFi credentials (or select already saved WiFi network), plug in the device, then wait for it to connect and appear in the app. It should be that simple. It's not unworkable the way it is, but there's no reason for it not to be easier.2) You can't change your WiFi password on all the devices using the app. That means if you update your router password periodically (as you should), you have to first deprogram ALL the Wemo devices, change the router password, then manually add them all back in. Seriously. What moron thought that was a good way to do it? The app lets you save the Wifi properties for adding additional properties. You should be able to go into the settings and change it and have all the devices update in one shot. That's, like, how everything else in the world works. Stupid, stupid, stupid....3) Switches don't resume their previous on state if power is lost, then restored. They seem to reconnect to my network fine, but it's annoying my outside light remains off after power is restored instead of remembering the state it was on (or comparing the current state to the running program) and turning on if it should be on. If Belkin is worried something could trip a breaker or do something else bad if the switch somes back on unattended, simply make it a check box function for each individual switch. That way I can decide what should come back on following a power failure and what should remain off. Further, they can program in a delay to ensure the system is no longer at risk of brown-outs to avoid the effects of multiple power drops.4) These things aren't cheap. In comparison to other similar devices on the market, the price of the Belkin devices is becoming more out of line with the market reality. Fortunately, occasional sales make that less of an issue, but Belkin really needs to price their products more competitively to ward off competition from the cheap Chinese knock-offs.5) Belkin seems to take far too long to respond to new feature demands. It's only recently as last year they finally added a dimmable light switch, for example. Other manufacturers were already out with options for that long before Belkin came out with their product. Likewise, companies like Lutron not only have app controlled switches, but have options for adding additional switches to lights without the need for a direct connection with them. While the Belkin WiFi based system would likely at least need a power connection to an add on switch, they absolutely need to create "add-on" switches that can control a main switch, essentially creating a 3-way switch option to lighting. These add on switches would read the state of the main switch and show the the state in the app, and merely trigger the on/off press on that main switch they connect to. In short, they would only act as a remote control for the main switch. Belkin already has the ability to do this, as evidenced by the addition of the "long press" rule, but they need an option for a dedicated add-on switch to avoid the cumbersome "long-press" option that is really a complete pain to use.6) Belkin needs more options for the rules. Right now, the rules only let you set one on/off event for days that you choose. If you want a second or third on/off event, you need another rule. That means you need separate rules for work days and weekends, morning and evening, home and away, home and vacation, holidays and literally every single thing else you can think off. My thermostat lets me set all those options that can be accessed in an unattended manner for most (work day/day off, morning/evening, etc.) , and two touches for others (vacations, holidays, time of year, etc.). I should be able to use on rule to turn a light on in the evening and off at bed time, turn on in the morning and turn off when I leave for work and have separate times for my days off. There should then be a check box to enable whatever vacation or holiday rules I might have set. If you're like me and have a lot of devices, having individual rules for each occasion for each device means a whole lot of rules.Now, some of these negatives I can live with because there is at least a work around, even if it's more cumbersome. In some cases, I choose not to use a Wemo switch unless or until that option becomes available (such as my foyer light that has a three way switch). In the case of making it a pain when changing my WiFi password, I took off a star for making me jump through unnecessary hoops a couple of times a year. That star also includes the somewhat cumbersome method of adding switches.The fact is, once added, the switches do work great (for me, anyway). Belkin just needs to get on the ball and bring their product a few steps further to make them stand out from the competition that is in danger of eating their lunch.

As many reading this a probably aware by now, WeMo recently announced that their Mini Smart Plug was the first ostensibly non-HomeKit compatible device to gain HomeKit compatibility, via the new Software Authentication protocol. Intrigued by this, I decided a purchase was in order, despite the fact that I’ve already got quite a few smart plugs to spare.If you’ve read my previous reviews, you’ll be aware that I put a lot of stock into presentation (the packaging basically), and on this count I would say that WeMo have delivered admirably. As with many of the current manufacturers of smart devices, the container that the smart plug came in was super sturdy, being made of a thick recycled (?) cardboard, enclosed in a green and white outer sleeve. Green seems to be the colour of choice these days, with iHome and Vocolinc both also opting for this colour scheme. Whether this is an effort to imbue their products with some form of ‘eco-friendliness’ I’m not sure, but it certainly works on an aesthetic level.Once you’ve taken off the outer sleeve, you can really see that WeMo have gone the extra mile, with a lovely design on the inside of the carton – something you’d only see once you had already purchased the product, so this isn’t just to entice you, it’s to encourage and excite you into taking WeMo seriously, in that they think about the smaller details.After you’ve open the box fully to reveal the smart plug itself, you can see that it’s housed nicely within the centre of the box, giving it little chance to move around and potentially get damaged. There’s an included manual to help with quick setup along with any problems you might have with the plug, in the form of a list of troubleshooting tips.At the end of the day, of all the categories of smart devices, smart plugs offer the most choice, and while some can do small things that others can’t do (like monitor electricity usage for example), they all basically do the same job of turning a ‘dumb’ device on or off, giving said device some level of automation. This device is no different to any of those in that basic respect. It’s fairly slim, or wide, depending on how you look at it, but being this slim it does offer the advantage of not taking up more than one wall socket, which in turn means that it can be stacked with another WeMo smart plug quite comfortably.The design of the plug itself is quite unassuming, which would lend itself to blending into a typical, mainly white kitchen. Simple branding aside, the only other thing on the front is a rather convenient on/off switch, with a small LED that lights up in white, when there’s power going to the plug. Going back briefly to its dimensions, while it’s not quite as slim as the iHome iSPX6, it comes close, although it is slightly taller. it does beat out the iDevices Switch in the ‘skinny’ department, but once again it is wider/taller, so it really is down to the individual as to what works for them.Onto the setup: As this device isn’t a ‘straight-out-the-box’ HomeKit product, with no HomeKit code provided – or even needed – the procedure was a little bit more involved; not necessarily complicated, but a little long-winded nonetheless. First off, you need to download the WeMo app to get things started. Once the app is downloaded and running, you simply plug the device into an outlet and let the app guide you through the process of initially setting it up to work with the WeMo app. Interestingly, even though the setup process for getting it to integrate with HomeKit comes later, the first thing you’re asked on opening the WeMo app is access to your ‘Home Data’, meaning your current Apple Home data. Once you’ve okayed this, you choose which device you want to set up, you’re then presented with a few tips as to setup process itself. This involves connecting your iPhone or iPad to the wi-fi signal of the plug itself in order to exchange you home wi-fi network settings. Once all that’s ‘in the bag’, the app will attempt to connect to the device itself, which in my case took a little bit of time.It eventually spots the plug and asks you to name the device (if you so wish – I stuck with ‘Wemo Mini’). You’ll then be prompted to provide an email address to complete the process before it proceeds to finally connect directly to your home network. After that is complete, you then get to choose whether you’d like it to send you notifications.As I already mentioned, this was a lengthy, if straightforward process, but once you’re at this point, you’ll see the smart plug show up as a device that can now be programmed or controlled within the WeMo app. Chances are that there will be at least one, if not two firmware updates awaiting you. One of these will be for the plug itself, which is reassuring to know that kinks are spotted and ironed out by way of these updates. The other is to enable the plug to work with HomeKit, which is the whole reason this is being reviewed of course! Once you’ve updated the firmware, you’ll finally get to the section that allows for HomeKit connectivity. You’re given options for connecting the plug to IFTTT, Nest, Alexa and finally, the Apple Home App. Google isn’t on this list for some reason, but you can connect to Google assistant via the Google Home app.We’re on the home straight now, so it’s just connecting the plug to the Home app, which in most respects appears in the same way it would if you were adding a standard HomeKit compatible device, minus the part where you have to scan a code.From here on in, like with a standard install, it’s simply a case of choosing which room the plug resides in, whether it appears as a Light, Powerpoint or Fan, and whether you wish to add it to your favourites. It will then appear in your standard Home app, along with any 3rd party apps you may use.I’ve only been using it for about 24 hours, and so far I’ve found it to be as responsive as all my other plugs, with no real sign of extra lag from touching the tile in the app, to the corresponding on or off. The device itself emits a small ‘click’ when it’s turned on or off (which may be good for some and terrible for others), and the LED above the physical switch turns white or turns off respectively.As previously stated, it does work with other platforms, and while it isn’t compatible with Wink, unlike the aforementioned iHome smart plug, it does have IFTTT, which may actually be of more use.After setting the device up, I unplugged it from mains power briefly, to see if it would reconnect without any issues, and it did reconnect after about a minute or so. However, I did a second test, where I left it disconnected overnight, and on this occasion it took a full uninstall and reinstallation to get it back to where I had it, which in fact took two attempts, with the first take managing to somehow render the physical button unresponsive. A second full reset solved the issue and once I’d gone through the lengthy installation process again, it was all good.In my final assessment, it’s great to see how devices are going to work with the new Software Authentication process, and I’m hoping that when other manufacturers do get on board, the set up isn’t as long as this one was, even though I can see that most steps seemed to be necessary. However, there are a ton of choices for smart plugs out there, and while this device is a little cheaper than many of them, you do find some good deals occasionally, which essentially boils this down to just another smart plug.Prosslim, so easy to stack with another of these if neededrelatively cheapgood support from a reputable companyConslong-winded set up processnot great at remembering settings if left unpluggedStill, I’d recommend it for those on a budget who also don’t want to obscure two wall outlets with one plug.

I got this Wemo because I wanted the automation to work independently of my in-house wi-fi, yet have flexibility in controlling it in different ways as the Internet of Things (IoT) and thread technologies evolve. The Wemo device itself works fine. But what I discovered was that if Apple HomeKit is not set up properly, this was the obstacle preventing the Wemo from being programmed to turn on and off as I wanted. Once I got a connect hub working, then I had a way to communicate with the Wemo via the Home app. In my case, it was Apple TVs that needed to be properly reconfigured. The Wemo itself also had remembered my earlier programming attempts (directly from my iPhone), and so I had to get those completely erased. This Wemo is not designed to use wi-fi. Rather the properly connected hub is the key. if you intend to control the Wemo when away from home, the hub, in turn, needs to have a way to connect to the Internet, e.g., by wi-fi or Ethernet in the house, which is in turn connected to the Internet via the wi-fi/Ethernet router. As long as the Wemo has power, it nonetheless should be able to run the programming you established earlier. Thread technology is a different kind of network protocol for the IoT, separate and independent from wi-fi and Ethernet—once the smart devices have been programmed to do what you want. That's the main point of Thread protocols.

i cannot comment on the smart plug itself because i cannot get the android application to set up the smart plug. it constantly dies after it sees the wifi network on the new device. i've spent hours trying to make it work and it still crashes every time with a message about the connection request having been cancelled.the trouble shooting instructions on the belkin site are not up to date for android 10 and are also somewhat useless. resetting my router or wiping my phone back to factory defaults are not a solution.basically, if you want to buy any smart home belkin products, just don't. i have ring devices, nest devices, tp-link devices, and google devices running on my network, not to mention mobile phones, tablets, notebooks, and desktops, and i cannot get the belkin devices to work.

I have google Home setup in my house and the Wemo Mini smart Plug works very well with it.Setting it up was easy, but I found that when I added them separately to google home, I had to remove the previously installed one and do them all at the same time. Not sure why (I didn't plug them in all at once because I wasn't sure where to put the third one).When you plug them in for the first time, on your smart phone, switch to the Wemo wireless network that shows up (you'll get a warning that you have no internet connectivity, but that's ok, ignore that). Then, start up the Wemo app and it will take care of things for you. It was quite simple to set up. You can then set the plugs on any schedule you want, give them a name, control them remotely etc... It's home automation at your fingertipsI did the same thing for the Wemo light switch.Through google home I can now say "turn on living room light" and it will turn the switch on. The one drawback is that if the mini switch is off, you can't control the light from the built in light switch of the actual light. But it's great to have on a schedule, say turn on switch at 8pm and turn it off at 1:30am; When the lights go out it's a great reminder, if you get carried away watching too many episodes of Breaking Bad, that it's time for bed. I've also set up applets through IFTTT to (for example) receive a text message whenever the light switch is turned on (or Wemo mini switch button is pressed) although the delay is unacceptable if you want to know in real time. IFTTT notification sometimes shows up 15 minutes late, as can the text message.I attached a pic of what it looks like in your google home app and how it shows up in the Wemo app and also some options in the Wemo app.

Es bueno y cumple con lo que promete, puedes controlar un enchufe a través de tu celular, programarlo para que prenda o apague en cierto momento o hacer scripts sin embargo si siento que le quita puntos el hecho de que para hacerlo compatible con Homekit de Apple necesites un bridge extra pues eso de tener una aplicación para cada marca de cosas inteligentes que tengas en tu casa se convierte en algo muy incomodo

If you just use home pod and home app, then it is a breeze to setup. I have a number of older wemo devices and found it to be extremely difficult to setup. Once you get past that then it seems to work fine. This is why I gave it a low rating on install and overall

Update: After less than a year, most have stopped responding to Alexa voice commands. While the Wemo app or Amazon app still work, the voice commands do not work. Resetting or rediscovering the devices fixes the problem for a few hours or a day or so, then the problem returns. Numerous hours spend on the phone with Belkin/Wemo, and they have no solution. Even replaced one device under warranty and the replacement developed the same problem after a couple weeks. Many, many complaints in various forums about similar problem with other users. Don't waste your money on this product - no evidence they are taking the problem seriously and they have no solution.I have been using the Wemo with Alexa in Canada and everything has been working fine. The Wemo app is really only needed for initial setup - it doesn't have to be run again if you are using Alexa voice controls. The three pack is often cheaper than buying individual units. The form factor of the smart plug itself does not block the second wall socket, and would allow two of them to be used on one outlet.