The Amazon Smart Plug turns any standard wall outlet into one you can control with your voice or your phone. Plug it into the wall, connect a lamp, fan, coffee maker, or any other device with a physical on-off switch to it, and you can turn that device on or off through Alexa from anywhere with an internet connection. There is no separate hub to buy, no rewiring, and no monthly fee. Setup takes about two minutes from the moment you pull it out of the box.
An easy way to turn “dumb” tech into something smart
In most cases, plugging the Smart Plug into an outlet near an existing Echo device is enough for Alexa to find it on its own and walk you through naming it. Once it’s added, you can say something like “Alexa, turn on the bedroom lamp,” and the lamp comes on, no matter where the Echo is in the house. If Alexa doesn’t auto-detect it, or if you don’t have an Echo, just scan the barcode on the back of the plug, and the app handles the rest.
Through the Alexa app, you can set routines that trigger at specific times. For example, one can turn on your coffee maker and a bedside lamp connected to the Smart Plug at the same time when your alarm goes off. You can set an away mode that turns on lights at sunset to make it look like someone is home. Also, you can group multiple Smart Plugs together so a single command turns on every lamp in the living room at once.
The Amazon Smart Plug is small enough to leave the second outlet on a standard wall plate free for another plug. That might not sound like a big deal until you’ve dealt with a bulky smart plug that covers both spots. The white finish blends into most walls, and there’s a small status light on the front that you can disable in the app if you don’t want a glow at night.
A few requirements are worth knowing about before you buy. The Amazon Smart Plug only works with Amazon Alexa, so it isn’t a fit if your house runs on Google Home or Apple HomeKit. It needs a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network, which most home routers broadcast alongside their 5GHz band, and it’s rated for indoor use only. Anything plugged into it needs to have a physical power switch set to on for Alexa to control it.
The Amazon Smart Plug is on sale for $20 instead of the usual $25. For the cost of a couple of fast food meals, it’s an easy first step into voice-controlled smart home gear for anyone already using an Echo or the Alexa app.
