Satechi launched its first HomeKit-compatible product this summer, the Dual Smart Outlet, a HomeKit plug that turns dumb appliances and electronics into smart electronics that can work with other HomeKit products.
There are several HomeKit-enabled smart plugs on the market, but Satechi’s version is relatively compact and offers some bells and whistles that not all ‘HomeKit’ plugs provide.
Design-wise, the Dual Smart Outlet is made from a seamless white plastic and offers two separate ‘HomeKit’ plugs. It plugs horizontally into a standard socket, leaving the other socket free for use on your standard dual socket outlet. Satechi’s Smart Outlet is one of the best space-saving plugs on the market, although it’s not exactly the smallest
Other options from the company, such as iHome or Wemo, take up the same amount of space, but only offer one smart outlet. There are some small single plug options on the market that are good choices if you only need one smart outlet, but Satechi’s is a good way to connect two devices.
Each socket has an LED light at the top that lights up when something is plugged in, so you know the device or appliance is getting power. The lights are also activated for the ‘HomeKit’ pairing process.
Satechi says the Max AC output of the Dual Smart Outlet is 15A 1800W, so it will work with lights, fans, space heaters, humidifiers, coffee makers and more.
Setting up the Dual Smart Outlet is as simple as plugging it in and then scanning the HomeKit code, although it’s worth noting that it can only connect to a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network. Limiting connections to 2.4GHz is always a hassle and can be confusing for some users. To get Dual Smart Outlet set up, make sure your iPhone is connected to your 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network, which may include entering the router settings.
The Dual Smart Outlet can be controlled via Siri voice commands, via the Satechi app, or via the Home app available on iOS devices and Macs. With Siri–, you can turn it on, turn it off, check its status, or activate scenes or automations that use the smart outlet.
As with any other HomeKit product, you can use scenes to associate devices plugged into the Smart Outlet with other HomeKit devices, and with automation, you can turn the Smart Outlet on or off at specific times or when certain conditions are met.
With scenes, for example, you can set up a “good night” option that turns on the fan connected to the smart outlet, turns off the lights, lowers the temperature, and more. Meanwhile, automations can do things like turn on a coffee maker at a certain time each morning or turn off lights at a certain time of day.
With HomeKit products that can activate triggers like motion detectors, you can set up devices plugged into smart outlets to activate or deactivate based on motion or other parameters.
This review is intended for people who already have a bit of an understanding of HomeKit, but if you’re completely new to HomeKit, be sure to check out our HomeKit guide for more information on how scenes, automations, and triggers work. . You can set up scenes and automations in the Home app or in the Satechi app — both work.
A useful feature of the Dual Smart Outlet is its power monitoring. It monitors and tracks how much energy each device is using, so you can get a clear idea of how much energy a fan, heater, light or other product is using.
Power monitoring options can be viewed in the Satechi app and are not available in the Home app. Like many other apps for ‘HomeKit’ devices, Satechi’s app shows your complete Just setup ‘HomeKit’ instead of your Satechi plug. From the app, you can control all your devices, create scenes, create automations and adjust ‘HomeKit’ settings.
The Satechi app has a simple layout, but it doesn’t let you set filters or preferences so it can be a bit difficult to find what you’re looking for if you’re visiting your Satechi Smart Outlet HomeKit product.
To get the power information you need to locate the two outlets in the list of ‘HomeKit’ devices, long press the icon (and not just tap, as it’s an on/off control) and then select the “Details” option. It’s not exactly streamlined, and hopefully Satechi will make some improvements in the future.
In the app, you’ll see the current power usage for what’s plugged in, the total cost per kilowatt hour, and the total cost, if you’ve added your area’s power consumption to the app. Beyond total consumption and total consumption, you can set schedules and timers from this interface, although you can also use ‘HomeKit’ scenes in other areas for this purpose.
Power monitoring doesn’t seem to be separated by outlet, so you won’t see separate power metrics for each item plugged in. It all comes together.
I had a problem with my original dual smart outlet causing the power monitoring to not work at all. A second unit worked fine, so I’m not sure what the problem was. I will note, though, that I still don’t see specific metrics for spending over time (although I can see total spending), which is a bug that could be worked out in a future version of the app.
Since I can see total lifetime power consumption estimates, not being able to see consumption with a time metric isn’t a big problem, but some people might miss this feature if it doesn’t work. The power consumption with time graph works well, showing me power usage for plugged-in devices by day, week, month or year.
The Home app restricts you to turning the dual smart outlets on and off, so the Satechi app needs to be used for power monitoring purposes. You are limited to turning your outlets on and off in the Home app.
bottom line
Satechi is new to HomeKit–devices, but it’s a solid first offering. The Dual Smart Outlet is competitively priced at $60, and offers two ‘HomeKit’ plugs that add connectivity to non-HomeKit products.
Since the outlet can be placed horizontally, it doesn’t take up much space, and during my testing, it worked well with no disconnections or other issues. I had issues with the power monitoring features though and the app could use some refinements and updates. I wouldn’t buy a smart outlet specifically for the power monitoring function, but it’s likely to be a useful bonus if it’s not something you specifically need.
How to buy
Satechi’s Dual Smart Outlet can be purchased from Amazon.com or from the Satechi website for $60.
Note: Satechi provided MacRumors with a dual smart outlet for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received. MacRumors is an authorized partner with Satechi. When you click on a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps keep our site running.
