First Look: iHome’s HomeKit-compatible SmartPlug

In the first wave of HomeKit products to launch, iHome’s SmartPlug is the first standalone HomeKit outlet control module to hit the US market. A typical outlet module plugs into a wall outlet like an electric outlet adaptor and has an onboard outlet that can be controlled remotely. Lutron and Insteon both already have HomeKit-compatible outlet modules available, but they require using their respective hubs to operate. iHome’s SmartPlug operates on Wi-Fi without a hub. The module supports up to 1800 watts and 15 amps. It’s designed for North American 120-volt standard grounded outlets.

Unpacking

iHome’s SmartPlug looks a little unusual when compared to most other outlet control modules. Instead of something roughly the size of a cigarette box—a form factor used for years by Lutron, Insteon, and many others, the SmartPlug is short, stubby, and wide. It’s an ingenious design, actually, because it solves one of the biggest problems that has plagued outlet modules—it allows you to use two modules on a double outlet. Most modules are designed to hang down from an outlet, and since North American outlets and plugs are polarized, they have to be plugged in in the same direction. This makes it typically impossible to plug two modules into the same double outlet without the use of an extender of some sort, making your home control devices even more of an eyesore.

With the SmartPlug, however, the bulk of it extends to the sides of an outlet, easily allowing for two modules on a double outlet. An added bonus of this design supports newer electrical code in some jurisdictions that requires the ground pin to be on top. For most controllers, this “upside down” orientation results in the module sticking above the outlet box—another eyesore. With the SmartPlug, you just flip it and plug it in. It fits perfectly.

The SmartPlug also features a button on a corner extrusion that, like on most outlet modules, can be used to locally control the connected light or appliance. Since the SmartPlug offers no dimming capability, this button simply toggles the connected device on and off.

Configuring

Since we’ve been testing HomeKit devices from their first availability, we checked out iHome’s Control application as soon as it was available in the App Store, which curiously preceded the release of the SmartPlug itself (maybe so they could identify—if not fix—unforeseen HomeKit issues?). Right off, we noted some problems. Like other HomeKit apps, the iHome app uses the existing home configuration from HomeKit, but is doesn’t “see” other accessories (devices) that have already been added to HomeKit. We assumed this to be a bug. Otherwise the app seems a bit unpolished compared to those released by the other HomeKit device manufacturers so far. Curious color selections and font sizes give it a 1.0 feel—nor the polished UI that iOS users typically expect.

Nonetheless, adding the SmartPlug was fairly straightforward. After creating an iHome account [is this starting to feel a little like UltraViolet to anyone?], we added the new device. We plugged the device into a wall socket, and after waiting for a quick scan, we selected the new plug in the app. Like other HomeKit apps and devices, the app facilitated connecting the SmartPlug to the Wi-Fi network. This is one of the great features of HomeKit, which eliminates the need to re-enter your Wi-Fi password for each new added accessory. We were also prompted to change the “Accessory Name” at this point. We learned the hard way that this only changes how the device appears on the network—not in HomeKit.

After a 75 second wait, which seems excruciatingly long, we were prompted for our HomeKit accessory code (the unique number on all HomeKit devices). The SmartPlug has this code printed on a label affixed to the bottom of the module, which can be hard to read when the device is plugged in. iHome provides a duplicate of the label in the box, though, so we were spared from crawling on the ground to read the code. After entering the 8-digit numeric code, we were prompted to provide a name (this one is used by HomeKit, so we named it “Reading lamp”) and a room location. We tapped Done, and the outlet was ready to control.

A quick glance at our router’s management console showed the newly added device as an independent node on my Wi-Fi network [sorry, Kevin; I don’t like it either].

Controlling

With the SmartPlug configured, we were able to control it immediately. Not one second after completing the configuration, a tap on Reading lamp in iHome Control turned on the lamp we had connected to the module. With few exceptions in our testing, response was nearly instantaneous—as if we had just flipped a switch on the wall. The connected lamp turned on without any delay, though with a slightly audible “click,” which is all too common for relay-based on/off control modules.

While testing the plug, just minutes after configuring it, we received a “New Firmware Version” alert to update the newly-installed module. Presumably this will happen to everyone, and it’s becoming more and more common as companies continue to refine or fix the onboard bits after a product is in the distribution channel. iHome should probably upgrade their app, too, because the update process, while successful, yielded a series of repeated prompts and errors.

Turning the lamp on or off with Siri was less reliable, but that had more to do with Siri than the SmartPlug. It’s also notable that iOS doesn’t recognize the SmartPlug module as a light, even though we could name the SmartPlug “Reading lamp” and reference it that way with Siri. So “Turn off my office lights” wouldn’t work, but “Turn off my office outlets” did. It’s understandable, since we could technically have a fan or a coffee maker plugged into the outlet, but when used to control lights, that could get confusing. But who are we kidding? We’re never going to control this with Siri anyway.

iHome Control lets you create “rules” for individual or multiple devices, allowing you to, for example, set timers for your lights. You can also create scenes to control multiple devices simultaneously, on demand. An available Device Usage view seems entirely useless as it’s currently designed. While a graphical or temporal representation of device usage might be interesting, an activity log dump is not.

Compatibility

In all of the HomeKit devices and apps we’ve tested so far, we’ve seen a great inconsistency in how manufacturers’ devices expose or publish their attributes and functions to other HomeKit apps (apps other than their own). The iHome SmartPlug is no exception.

The SmartPlug appears in the Insteon+ app and displays status (although it didn’t properly appear under Lights & Devices in the Dashboard until after the firmware upgrade). Viewing the device specs exposed a significant amount of superfluous information, but more importantly, the app could not control the SmartPlug.

Turning to Elgato’s Eve app, our one SmartPlug dominated the “At a Glance” view with seven odd pieces of information, most of which seemed like garbage. Three of these went away after the firmware upgrade. Those attributes also cluttered the device page itself, though we could turn the lamp on and off using the Eve app.

Both apps exposed and enabled scenes created in iHome Control, and Elgato’s Eve app even allowed for granular editing of a scene’s actions.

Only an independent, third-party HomeKit app properly exposed and controlled the switch status while showing none of the other information. This causes us to wonder if Insteon and Elgato are exposing attributes that are meant for control and state management only and should remain hidden. It’s as if the various manufacturers had no way of testing their products with other apps (and vice versa) prior to release. That’s very likely true with this first round of products and hopefully will not be a problem as the platform matures.

After testing the various apps and writing most of this article, returning to the iHome Control app revealed a painful weakness in iHome’s “smart” solution: we had to log in again. No pre-filled user name, no Touch ID, no option to stay logged in. If smarthome technology is supposed to be magical, this is one quick way to make that magic disappear.

Conclusion

iHome has created a controllable on/off plug module that should easily compete with others already in this category. It’s the first HomeKit plug that can be controlled without a hub—it connects directly to your Wi-Fi network. It doesn’t offer dimming capabilities, but it may be one of the least expensive modules in its category at $39.99. It also has the most practical form factor we’ve yet seen in any similar product released in the US. But perhaps most importantly, its response to app control is instantaneous. And it’s shipping now from Amazon.com [and that’s an affiliate link].

Like most HomeKit products so far, though, the SmartPlug’s weakness is in the software. Whether using iHome’s own control software or that of another vendor, you’ll encounter one problem after another. Hopefully this is something the manufacturers and Apple can work through quickly. We know there are significant improvements coming to HomeKit in iOS 9, and it’s possible we may not see Elgato’s Eve sensor line until that drops.

If you want to get the best out of this product, for now you should probably set it and forget it. Create some rules and scenes to automate lights in your home, and hope for better product integration with the coming HomeKit updates.

Did we mention it works on Android? There’s a surprisingly similar-looking Android app without all the HomeKit mess. When we configured our SmartPlug in iOS, it automatically appeared and worked on Android once we logged into our iHome account. Again.