Awareness about smart home appliances is increasing every day as more devices with smart capabilities are launched. However, to make them a part of your life often means replacing your existing set of non-smart appliances with smart ones. That might not be easy, especially if you're looking to do it for all the appliances in your home. In such a situation, smart plugs are the right solution to get started with. Compared to many smart appliances, smart plugs bring nearly the same set of features at a fraction of the cost – as long as you're willing to have them as minor additions to the switchboards in your home. Setting them up mostly involves using a corresponding app to pair the plug with your home WiFi once, and subsequently controlling them from the app itself or a compatible smart assistant. Here are some leading options available on Amazon that cover most use cases for you. Do note that these products were selected based on the features that they offer.
An easy setup process makes the TP-Link HS100 a simple plug-and-play solution to smarten up your high power consumption sockets. Controllable from the Kasa app, all you need to do is plug it in and connect it to your home WiFi through the app. If you’re mostly away from your home, using the Away mode on the smart plug with light can be useful. It will automatically switch the light off and on at random intervals to make it seem like someone is at home. With a simple and elegant build in white, the plug will fit in seamlessly into your home while adding a dose of smart living to it.
The most useful thing about the Wipro Smart Plug is the energy monitoring feature available on the Wipro Next app. With its support for high power devices, it is important to keep tabs on how much power they’re consuming and optimise accordingly. The plug supports voice control via Amazon Alexa as well as other leading smart assistants, making it super easy to command the plug using a smart speaker and more. In addition to that, as it can directly connect to your home WiFi, there’s no need for a separate hub. You can use this plug with your microwave, geyser and more and control them all easily from the Wipro Next app.
While most smart plugs come with one plug point, the Smarteefi Power Extension Strip extends smart capabilities to three connections with one board. All three points are individually controllable using the Smarteefi app, while you can also configure them to work as a group with a smart assistant. The strip supports voice commands from Alexa using the Smarteefi skill. Features like a manual override, scheduled usage, countdown timers and more make this a versatile power connector. This smart strip is especially useful for use cases where you require multiple connections for the same purpose, for instance, a living room entertainment setup.
The Mini WiFi Smart Plug from Oakter allows you the convenience of simple expandability with other Oakter smart plugs. Using the Oakter Smart Home app, you can control and view the real-time status of your plug, as well as set schedules for the same. The app also gives you access to usage history. The plug is designed with inbuilt protection against power surges within a sleek plastic build, which is also fire resistant. Overall, the Oakter Oakplug Mini is a reliable choice for your next smart plug.