WIFIPLUG HOME - Smart Plug with Apple HomeKit Technology and Energy Monitoring

Having used Wemo Insight devices before I found the form factor of this product much better. Installation is easier and the product works well for me using Alexa and remote access. So far I haven't experienced any of the glitches which occur from time to time on my Wemo devicesHowever the Android app doesn't work very well on my Galaxy S7 Edge. The slide function which shows options such as timers usually disappears before you can make a selection which is frustrating. I only use timers and it is a pity that the sunset related options need IFTTT rather than being built in like the Wemo. With a bit more work on the app and a few more features this would be a first class product.Update 6 Oct: Since I bought these I have noted that their servers are off the air from time to time. One Sunday there was no service for 2 hours and access was slow at some other times. The products are useless when the servers are not accessible. As far as I could tell event the local timers don't work. It's a pity the Android app has such limited functionality and annoying bugs.Update 5 Jan 2019: New android App (v8.0.1) released. Big improvement on previous version

I got this to control a dehumidifier via IFTTT and HomeKit. Unfortunately it took over ten attempts of doing exactly the same process before either the WIFIPLUG app or Home App finally connected to the device. I did not do anything different when it finally worked, suggesting the connection process is very unreliable, as many other reviews have described. After about 2 hours of being connected, it disconnected and would not reconnect again. I followed all the troubleshooting advice on the support website (of which there is suspiciously a lot of) and did not get anywhere. Support was probably the worst I’ve encountered. They take about 24 hours to respond so you can only send one email a day. This is made worse by the fact that they will refuse to acknowledge there is a problem with their product and will instead blame your setup (which they will incorrectly describe to you). I tried three different brands of WiFi routers. Even plugged into the same power strip as the WiFi router (right next to it), it would not connect. I have over 30 other devices connected all without any issue. Still the support insisted it was my network. I since returned the product and got TP-Link kasa Wifi plug. In fact I was able to get two of them for less than the price of one of these. I was able to set them both up completely without flaw within 30 mins including connecting to IFTTT, Homebridge and Stringify. They have not dropped a connection at all and are 100x more reliable than this product. The British label and compact size drew me to the WIFIPLUG but sadly it is a completely unusable product.

UPDATE: The replacement device arrived today and I can happily report that is one worked fine. In just a few minutes I ran through the procedure I listed below and added the socket to my WiFi and HomeKit setup.The device replaces an Eve Energy that I was using to control the porch lights. Unfortunatly the Eve only uses Bluetooth and sometimes it did not receive instructions as no phone/tablet was close by. The WifiPlug, as the name suggests, uses WiFi so we can activate it from anywhere in the house, and due to our HomeKit Hub, anywhere in the world, in theory.It’s a shame my first experience was a broken unit but Amazon’s return policy helped us out.Will monitor the device over the next week or so but if it continues to function as advertised I’ll certainly be adding a few more to our setup.——————————I was quite eager to try this product and I’ve dived quite deep into HomeKit devices. They are usually dead simple to set up and easily incorporated into scenes and such.The instructions for adding to HomeKit seem very simple indeed. Use your phone/tablet to log onto the desired WiFi for the socket, plug in the socket, press the sync button and scan the HomeKit identification in the booklet.However, unfortunately the device failed at the very start because when I plugged it into the wall socket the device was totally unresponsive. I tried other wall sockets but the result was the same.I have requested a replacement that should arrive shortly and if that works I’ll update my review.

I want to start by saying that this product is a nightmare to set up. If you follow the simple instructions in the box, expect to waste hours with it not working. Skip these and go straight to the instructions on the website where it gives you vital steps that are not mentioned in the quick start guide in the box. The help section on the website is also excellent and it will have the exact problem you are having and how to fix it. In my experience any product that has HomeKit integration seems to have issues with set-up. That all said- once it is set up it is excellent! Works flawlessly with both Apple HomeKit and IFTTT at the same time. I am amazed at how fast it switches on when you turn on in HomeKit. Literally instant.I would definitely recommend and would buy more of them but make sure you understand, it will not be a quick set-up.

Do not attempt to set this up via the WIFIPLUG app. If you bought this to use with HomeKit / Siri / HomePod then use the Home app within iOS. It’s then easy to set up. It will show up in the Home app on all iOS devices linked to your Apple ID. Once successfully set up, I would recommend going into your router / access point and assigning the plug a static IP. I didn’t do this to start with and found it to lose connection only after a few hours. But on the plus side it now works well and is very compact. The switching on/off via the Home app and via my HomePod is instant