Belkin Wemo Mini Smart Plug - Review 2022

The newest addition to Belkin's family of smart home devices, the Wemo Mini Smart Plug ($34.99) is a Wi-Fi-enabled switch that lets you lot control things like lamps, tabletop fans, coffee makers, and other small-scale appliances, using your Android or iOS mobile device. It supports Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant phonation commands, and offers hourly, daily, and weekly scheduling. But equally with all Wemo products, it does not support Apple HomeKit. It also lacks the energy reporting capabilities that you lot get with its older sibling and our reigning Editors' Choice, the Wemo Insight Switch.

Pattern and App

At 1.4 by three.8 by two.4 inches (HWD), the Mini Smart Plug isn't all that mini. In fact, it's a tad wider than the Zuli Smart Plug (1.four past 1.six by 2.7 inches) and the wall switch in the iDevices Smart Dwelling house Essentials Kit (1.5 past two.7 by ane.6 inches), but it'southward pocket-size enough that you can fit two of them together in a two-socket outlet. The switch sports a glossy white finish and has a iii-prong outlet on its face, forth with an on/off push and a tiny LED indicator that blinks white and bister during setup and glows a steady white when the switch is on. Around dorsum is a three-prong plug.

The Mini uses the same Android and iOS app equally other Wemo devices including the Wemo Insight Switch, the Wemo LED Lighting Starter Set, the Wemo Light Switch, and the Crock-Pot Smart Slow Cooker with Wemo. The app opens to a home folio that displays a listing of all installed Wemo devices and their status (on, off, not detected). The Mini has a push that lets yous turn the switch on and off from inside the app. In the top correct corner of the page is a pencil icon that allows yous to reset devices and edit the names and pictures that identify each ane. At the bottom of the page are buttons for Rules, More, and Devices.

Belkin's Wemo Mini Smart Plug The Rules page is where you go to set schedules for the switch, configure the timer, and gear up an Abroad Mode, which turns devices such as lamps on and off at different times to go far expect as if someone is dwelling. You tin can schedule the Mini to turn on or off at specific times and on specific days, or you can have it turn on and off when the dominicus rises and sets. The More button takes you to a page with settings that permit y'all to enable/disable Remote Access and set the switch up for use with If This Then That (IFTTT) recipes.

If y'all have a Nest Learning Thermostat, you tin can configure the Mini to do things like turn off continued lamps when the thermostat is in Away manner, or plow them on when you arrive home. You tin likewise conform basic Nest settings without leaving the Wemo app. If you have an Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, or Tap, you can turn the plug on and off using Alexa voice commands. Similarly, yous can use Google Assistant if yous have a Google Dwelling house.

In the More section of the app y'all'll find setup instructions for calculation new Wemo devices, and a link to the Wemo Community website. But you won't discover annihilation about energy usage. The Mini lacks the energy consumption monitoring capabilities that you go with other switches like the mydlink Wi-Fi Smart Plug, the iDevices wall switch, the Zuli Smart Plug, and the Wemo Insight Switch. And every bit mentioned earlier, Wemo devices don't work with Apple HomeKit, then you can't use Siri.

Installation and Operation

Belkin's Wemo Mini Smart Plug The Mini Smart Plug connects directly to your Wi-Fi network and doesn't require a domicile automation hub. To install it, download the app, plug the switch into a wall outlet, go to your phone's Wi-Fi settings, and connect to the Mini's SSID. When you open the app, a setup screen will launch and ask you to name the switch and if yous want the app to think your Wi-Fi settings. Subsequently most thirty seconds, the Mini will appear on the device listing.

In my tests the Mini Smart Plug performed flawlessly. It responded instantly to on and off commands using the app, and followed my schedule without consequence. I created a rule to have the Mini turn off at sunrise and on at sunset and it never missed a trounce. I also created two IFTTT applets; I had the plug plough on when an Arlo Pro camera detected motion, and also when a Kevo Touch-to-Open Smart Lock was opened. Both recipes worked perfectly.

Conclusions

The Belkin Wemo Mini Smart Plug provides an piece of cake way to catechumen lamps and other small appliances into smart devices that you can control from your smartphone. Information technology offers enough of scheduling options, supports IFTTT recipes, and vox commands with Alexa and Google Assistant. It'south too a breeze to install and performed wonderfully in testing. That said, for an boosted $15, the Wemo Insight Switch does everything the Mini does, and gives yous daily and monthly energy usage and cost reports. Equally such, it remains our Editors' Choice for smart power outlets.