If you’re looking for a way to use Homekit on your iPhone in combination with Siri, we’ve got a simple but perfect solution. Today we’re taking a look at the Koogeek Smart Socket. Put simply, it enables you to turn a home light on and off by tapping your handset or asking Siri to do it.
Koogeek Smart Socket review
The Koogeek is a simple adaptor that sits between a light bulb and your existing light fixture. All you need to do is screw it in place and pop in a bulb. Then to connect it to Wi-Fi, just press the tiny little button on its side until it flashes green. This enables Home Kit on your iPhone or iPad to connect to the Koogeek Smart Socket.
The electricity from the light fixture itself is what powers the socket, so there’s no need for extra cables. Setting HomeKit up to discover the Koogeek Smart Socket is also simple.
Setting up HomeKit
Fortunately, the manufacturer has placed a HomeKit pairing code inside the box. It can be added to the Home app or any other HomeKit app or any other compatible app you happen to have running on iOS 10. In fact, considering that this Koogeek Smart Socket has such basic functionality, there’s no need to download its app.
However, if you want to take advantage of the smart socket’s power monitoring feature, you will need to update its firmware. The setup process took us literally a few seconds; adding it to my Home was as simple as scanning the tag.
Siri voice commands
Once you have it set up, there’s almost nothing else to do at all; completing it enables you to control the Smart Socket instantly via Siri voice commands. Additionally, if you decide to pair it with your smartwatch, you can ask Siri to turn on the light or switch it off instantly. We were impressed by the responsiveness of the device; in fact, we would have liked to have tried it with multiple installations.
Monitoring power consumption
If you want to go beyond the Koogeek Smart Socket’s usefulness as a wirelessly-controlled light bulb, how about monitoring how much power it uses?
To do this, you will have to download and install the Koogeek Home app, as right now, there’s no way for HomeKit to do that. We don’t know how useful the data you could gain from one bulb would be, but it does exactly what you expect it to do by providing a detailed drill-down into the device’s power consumption. The provided details include graphs of monthly and daily usage and real-time usage, although there’s no way to use the data beyond the app.
Lights on, lights off scheduling
One of the better features of Koogeek’s app was its ability to schedule times for lights on and off. The times are stored in the Smart Socket itself, so there’s no need to have your iPhone or iPad in proximity. You can just set it and forget it.
Is there a need for a standalone product like the Koogeek Smart Socket? That depends on your needs, of course, but why would anyone want to have to verbally control multiple standalone products throughout their home? The better solution would be to purchase something like the Philips Hue White Starter Kit, which includes tow bulbs and a bridge.
This Koogeek solution is available on Amazon for $39.99 with free shipping.
