Wemo - Mini WiFi Smart Plug - White

I decided to purchase a 3 pack of EEROs from Best Buy a few weeks ago and deployed them, one to my main floor office and the other two to either end of the upstairs hallway. The internet performance is significantly better throughout the house even though only one of the units is wired directly via Ethernet. My daughter is finally able to connect and stream from her bedroom TV which was a key issue I was trying to resolve. I do expect to purchase 2 more EERO units, one of which will be deployed hardwired Ethernet in the basement and one that will be deployed to the living room. Those areas are working fairly with what I have currently but I think the two additional units would ensure full coverage. Our house is around 5000 Sq. Feet including the basement. I also purchased 13 WEMO smart outlets from and replaced all of my timers. I now have them working both individually and in groups via Alexa. This works fairly well. I expect that in the next few weeks, I will drop Direct TV and go to a streaming service. It’s pretty slick when I can tell Alexa to “turn on the downstairs lights” and watch as they all cycle on in sequence. As I have two Echo dots, I can also use the one in the upstairs bedroom to turn off everything downstairs after retiring for the evening. Two items of note: I named the EERO network the same as my old network, using the same PW then renamed the original network to a different name. This allowed every device in our home to connect seamlessly without needing to reconnect every device to a new network name. That worked well. Second; some of the WEMO smart outlets had difficulty initially joining the EERO network even though the devices were initialized a few feet away from the wired EERO. I got around that by shutting down the EERO network, renaming the old network to the original name, initializing the WEMO plugs and then renaming everything back. It’s a little cumbersome but it resolved the issue and the WEMO outlets are now working with the EEROs network without issue. I have had some issues with the WEMO app working on an iPhone X and seeing all of the devices. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I initially set up a rule to turn on lights at sunset and turn off at 11:00 PM. I then added all of the devices to that rule. I also set up a rule to turn on one light in the kitchen in the morning. It’s set to turn on at 5:15 AM and off at sunrise. I’m hoping that during the summer, when sunrise occurs before 5:15, the light will not go on at all. Once set up, the WEMO outlets seemed to work well without using the app ongoing to turn on the switches. As I mentioned before, using Alexa to control the lights seems to work better than using the app. I’m giving the switches a 4 rating because of the app and the original connection issue. They’re good but not quite perfect as of yet.

I am an early adopter & have used various home automation devices over decades. I ditched X10, X10 Pro & Z-Wave, searching for reliable equipment that could offer easy control from a smart-phone with Amazon Echo & Google Home Control. Apple Siri Control would be a bonus. The first Homekit approved devices were extremely disappointing & were unreliable. They had to be unplugged & rebooted about 1ce / week. Meanwhile, WEMO has become a strong supplier of Home Automation gear. WEMO has built a reputation for dependability, so I tried 1 WEMO Mini WiFi Smart Plug. It was very easy to set-up & 3 months later, I added 15 more. WEMO wireless switches work 100% of the time. They respond to Amazon Echo & to Google Home. With the upcoming Apple (Siri) adaptor that WEMO is releasing, WEMO will respond to Siri, as well. When you command On or Off state, you get instant notification on your phone App. The timers in the WEMO App work just as consistently as the switch. Next, I need 4) weather resistant switches for landscape lighting, subject to rain / snow / freezing / 110 degree weather. And Wi-Fi is naturally weaker through the concrete / brick house exterior, where they will be located. At this time, WEMO does not offer such a switch. I wish they did! So I have 2) choices: 1- Buy a plastic enclosure, insert a WEMO switch, and pull inlet and exit wiring through weatherproof connectors. Basically, make it weather resistant. Or: 2- Buy an unproven brand that offers a weather resistant product. I am still weighing options for a weather resistant smart switch with WEMO reliability. Conclusion: WEMO Mini WiFi Smart Plug is a 100% reliable product & has earned my HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION! I hope they add an outdoor version, but for now, WEMO is the BEST of the BEST indoor smart switch!

I hate to be critical but here's my experience with the Wemo Mini. Bought 4 of these on the strength of a CNET review of smart plugs. Tried six hours over two days to find the magic recipe in an Android (Samsung) environment/recent model ASUS wifi router. The personalities of the two Wemo Minis I tried differed slightly and at one point I thought I had stumbled across the answer with the seemingly more cooperative one. The printed instructions say to factory reset by applying power while holding down the button, while online it says to hold the button down while unplugging, then to plug in still holding down button. The latter method does seem to work better. After extended effort the plugs appeared in the app but seemed to forget everything as soon as they were unplugged (NOT holding down the button!) to simulate a power outage. I could not ever get back to having even one plug appear on the app despite uninstalling the app, rebooting the phone, reinstalling the app, factory resetting, and so forth. One behavior I *could* reliably reproduce was disconcerting. I could personalize the plug with a name ("name your wemo mini", which I called 'Ficus') but get no further in the setup. The app said it couldn't find the plug and to start over. On doing this the app tried to perform initial setup yet the plug remembered the name I had given it previously, as in "name your ficus". At least I could tell when a factory reset had taken place, because it would forget the name. I eventually admitted defeat and took the Wemo Mini's back to the store (Best Buy gets 5 stars for the return process) and brought home five TP_Link HS105s (instead of four Wemos, with money left over). Had the first one going in five minutes that went exactly as the paperwork/app described; all the other installs were equally as uneventful. I can thank Wemo Mini for my better appreciation of the TP_Link product; persevering for six fruitless hours to solve the Wemo Mini puzzle is my own fault. No stars for you!!

I will preface this review and say that I am a tech guy, as well as an engineer by trade. I don't necessarily need a complete set of instructions for setup of most electronic things I buy; it would have helped here. I use an iPhone Xs to operate them, and from time to time, an iPad Air 2; both running the most current iOS at the time of this review. I have 2 switches. I bought these when they were on sale, but I wish I would have bought a competitor. At the time of purchase, it was NOT clear if I would need the WeMo Bridge in order to use them; you DO need it. So >$30 spent just to make them work. They easily pair with your home network, and they work great. If you were to use the WeMo app strictly to turn the switches on and off, this would be a 5-star rating. The app looks nice, simple, modern. However, in my opinion, it is marginally operational, and subpar from my expectations. First off, there needs to be more flexibility in scheduling the switches on/off, besides a time, or 'after dusk'. It was absolutely unclear how to transfer the switches into Apple HomeKit. HomeKit isn't as user-friendly as I'd like, but the only way I got the switches into HomeKit was by multiple trial-n-error attempts. Another source of ongoing irritation is trying to add them to an automation sequence, and expecting them to work all of the time. I have my smart lights set up to come on when I arrive home and park. It is the holidays, so I am using the WeMo plugs to activate holiday lights at the same time as I arrive home. I can't guarantee that the lights controlled by the WeMo switches will be on as expected; there is no rhyme or reason as to why they on occasion, do not function. Sometimes they appear on (lit 'green' in the WeMo app), when in fact they are not (and yes, I DO have Background App Refresh active for the app). I've had too much aggravation with them, but after buying two switches, and the WeMo Bridge, I feel like I'm stuck with them. The phrases 'stuck with' and 'technology' should never go together, when you have the latest and greatest on the market.

I think this thing was horrible.. right outta the box. It showed 4 ‘simple’ steps to get going. 1) it can’t connect to a 5 ghz network.. luckily I have dual networks set up. 2) getting connected was anything but easy. Following the steps, the Wemo app would find the plug, but fail to add to HomeKit. Over and over. I’m relatively tech-ey so I played around, power cycled the device, killed and restarted the app & my phone. Used the Home app to find the device and scan the 2D barcode.. At one point the Wemo app even told me I should kill the app and re-open. I had to laugh at that. Eventually I got them connected and working. 3) All seemed well for the first day. Then I started noticing that the Home app would have red error message that it couldn’t communicate with the device. So I’d open the Wemo app, and it was able to toggle the light still. (I was using the plug to control a small lamp) Initially I didn’t care because I figured as long as I could operate the light, who cares which app I had to open. Well then hours later, even the Wemo app couldn’t find the device. So I unplug the ‘smartplug’ and plug it back in to reset it. Everything starts working again! So off and on this went for 2 weeks. Literally every 24 hours it would just stop working. The plug was located in the same room as my router, with no real obstructions. Several times while the smartplug was not detected, I would switch to the 2.4 ghz network and make sure it was still working. I even moved it to a different receptacle in a wide open space. The only issue to be found, was the smartplug! Of course there is the possibility mine was defective. I have found some other similar reviews though. At the time I’m writing his, Amazon has reviews locked for this product because of suspicious review activity. So I have my doubts that all the 5 star reviews are legit. Before I returned it, I double checked if there was a firmware update.. nope.

My router is dual band, meaning, it does 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz. Wemo appears to like just the 2.4 ghz. After struggling an hour with it yesterday and not getting it to connect, I went into my office today (where the router is) to have it as close as possible. Then, I changed the settings (via computer) to rename the 5ghz network name -just- to make sure I didn't pick the wrong one. I don't think that honestly mattered, as the new name didn't show on the device anyway. Still, struggled for another hour between resetting and unplugging and what have you. Finally, turned off my password settings to the 2.4 network to make it open. Wemo connects. (By this point, at least I know it can.) It doesn't seem to have an update for firmware, which I thought it might and putting it on the open network might get it to update to resolve it. Noooope. Anyway, finally gave up and went into the router settings. Made a guest network of a totally different name on a 2.4ghz setting JUST for the wemo products and, lo and behold, it sees it and connects to it. So, just for the sheer struggle of setup with this product, 3 stars. I haven't even gotten to play with it at this point, mind you. Additionally, after connecting it to the fabricated guest network I made up, it now, all of a sudden, has a firmware update that it didn't offer before. @.@ I'm half tempted to try and take it off the guest network and put it back on the main one to see if it works now but, to be honest, I still have another one to set up and I'm not really interested in doing so at this time. I'm leaning with "yes, I'd recommend it" but only after either helping them set it up or warning them of the setup issues. I would definitely NOT recommend for a person who's not tech savy, such as my mom, because she'd have thrown it out the window by now. Granted, I will say I think this is mostly given my router is so new or advanced or what have you but you'd think they'd have an easier setup by now.

As a smart plug, it does its job marginally well. Initially when I programmed it took more time than other comparable smart devices. It worked fine for about 2 weeks, then stopped because of some software update I had to download (this should happen automatically without consumer intervention). I wrote the company threatening to return it and then it just started working again with my Alexa - however I never did get a response from the company. It had some issues about two other times since (for about a week or two each time - I have owned almost a year now). However, in October the new Amazon Smart Plugs came out - and they work much better and are way easier to set-up - like 1/3 the time or less. I would recommend that product. The only reason why I don't return this smart plug is because I already had the WeMo smart light switch wired into my home, and that works well and has nice features - so I keep both since I have to have the app for that anyhow. My WeMo plug is programmed to work with Alexa commands and routines, and probably about once a week will not shut off when the routine is run - requiring manual shut-off or another command routine request. I have in the past few weeks overcome this difficulty by programming the Alexa routine to shut down the switch two separate times so that if it misses it the first time - it will shut it down the second time - and this seems have cleaned up this issue - but again, that is an engineered solution to something that should not be a problem. I now have two Amazon smart plugs working great, and about to buy a third to control my Christmas tree - but still only the one WeMo plug. Once you have the Alexa app, which you need anyhow, you do not need to install another app on your phone taking up memory like you do with the WeMo app.

I bought 2 of these plugs and both were not working as expected. I'd like to say that I am very tech savvy and use other smart home devices as well, so, this issue I am explaining in the following is not due to an end user error. Setup was straight forward, however, the app seems to have an issue as well. It reported correctly a firmware update and I started the process, however, it did never finish. After 1 hour I reset the plug and started all over. Eventually the app reported then that my firmware was up-to-date. So, the plug reset did not go back to factory status? I don't know. The plug showed up in the app and I could schedule it, all ok so far. But once I removed it from the wall outlet to plug it into its intended wall outlet, it had lost its router / internet connection. It required me to go thru the router set-up again. That feature could be reproduced any time. Apparently it doesn't store the connection after removing it from external power?I installed the second plug and with that one the app was not able to initiate the firmware update. It reported the update but it did nothing when I tried to start the upgrade. De-installing the app and re-installing did not help. Reset of the plug didn't do a thing. To me it seems that WEMO smart plugs / app are just not ready and there are bugs to be ironed out. The second smart plug never got the firmware update but I could setup the device. However, after 5 minutes it would get disconnected from my router and was blinking orange, meaning it required a new setup. Conclusion: plug #1 (with the firware upgrade) worked fine as long as I did not remove it from the wall outlet. Plug#2 had issues getting the firmware update and without it it apprently never worked at all. I have a fully updated Netgear router that never has any problems with lots of other smart home devices from other brands. I would say that WEMO needs some more time to get its stuff ready.