Ikea Trådfri Smart Plugs Appear on U.S. Online Store for $9.99, Not Available to Purchase Yet

[MacRumors]

Last month Ikea began rolling out the HomeKit-compatible Trådfri smart plug to Sweden and a few other countries in the European Union. Today, HomeKit News spotted the same smart plugs in listings on the United States Ikea website, suggesting a launch in the U.S. sometime later this month.

Ikea's Trådfri smart plug connects to the company's existing Trådfri Gateway ($29.99), which connects a variety of other smart home products like light bulbs, dimmers, motion sensors, and more. Among the list of Trådfri products, U.S. shoppers can now see the "Trådfri Wireless Control Outlet" -- or smart plug -- near the bottom. At the time of writing, the smart plug is not available online and not sold in stores yet.

In the U.S., the Trådfri smart plug will cost $9.99 for a single plug and $14.99 for one plug and a wireless remote control button. The price of a single smart plug at Ikea is far lower than the cost of rival HomeKit smart plugs, like Eve Energy ($49.21 on Amazon), Wemo Mini Smart Plug ($29.95), iDevices Switch ($28.40), and the iHome Wi-Fi Smart Plug ($22.86). The Trådfri Wireless Control Outlet was also spotted on the UK Ikea website for £9.00.

When added to HomeKit, the Trådfri accessories can be controlled through Siri, scenes, and custom automations. For smart plugs, you can attach a regular lamp, coffee maker, tea kettle, or other household appliance to the plug and control it through Ikea's own app, or with Apple's Home app. Ikea first introduced HomeKit support for the Trådfri system in November 2017.

Article Link: Ikea Trådfri Smart Plugs Appear on U.S. Online Store for $9.99, Not Available to Purchase Yet

 

[TwoBytes]

Hey Siri. Turn on the meatball machine!

------

Great stuff Ikea!

 

[benz240]

So are you required to have the gateway to have one of these outlets? If so, kind of brings up the price of entry up above the competitors.

 

[yaxomoxay]

Hey Siri. Turn on the meatball machine!

Best sentence in human history!
As long as Siri doesn’t say: “Buying Pinball machine for you”

 

[imola.zhp]

Motorola Cable Modem
Apple Timecapsule
Apple Airport Express 1
Apple Airport Express 2
Hue Bridge/hub
Smart Things Hub
Raspberry Pi (next purchase)

Seriously? Hub required? I'll stick with iHome switches, they don't require a hub and are compatible with multiple platforms. I can usually get them for ~$15 on eBay (sometimes new, sometimes pre-owned, don't care).

 

[hellosil]

So are you required to have the gateway to have one of these outlets? If so, kind of brings up the price of entry up above the competitors.

You can use an IKEA remote to control it, in that scenario no gateway is required.

Currently the Tradfri Smart Plug does not have the ability to control it with Siri / HomeKit, in contrast to the IKEA smart bulbs.

HomeKit compatibility for the Smart Plug will hopefully come with a software update.

If you want to connect Tradfri accesories to the IKEA app and/ or HomeKit / Siri, then yes, the hub is required.

Currently if you want to automate for example your Christmas lights, it is possible: within the IKEA app you can set certain (limited) automations based on switching on / off at certain times or week days. (hub required for this too)

 

[vhw]

I’ve been using the Trådfri smart-plug for a while now and it is not yet HomeKit compatible. The only Trådfri accessories visible in the Home app are the lightbulbs.

 

[Keane16]

So are you required to have the gateway to have one of these outlets? If so, kind of brings up the price of entry up above the competitors.

"It should of course be noted, that whilst these prices are indeed very low, they will only work with your HomeKit or Hue systems with the Trådfri Gateway, which is an extra US$29.99."

https://homekitnews.com/2018/10/02/ikea-smart-plugs-now-listed-on-us-site/

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Hey Siri. Turn on the meatball machine!

------

Great stuff Ikea!

You can already get the WoMo HomeKit-compatible wifi crockpot.

 

[mcdj]

Folks it’s only $9.99 for a reason.

“Does not include assembly kit”

Kvölt Smart Plug Assembly Kit for Trådfri

$19.99

 

[LarryNyquil]

The price of a single smart plug at Ikea is far lower than the cost of rival HomeKit smart plugs, like Eve Energy ($49.21 on Amazon), Wemo Mini Smart Plug ($29.95), iDevices Switch ($28.40), and the iHome Wi-Fi Smart Plug ($22.86). The Trådfri Wireless Control Outlet was also spotted on the UK Ikea website for £9.00.

No it's not. You need the $30 gateway + the $10 plug (or $15 plug + button) which brings it above the iDevices Switch, Wemo Mini Smart Plug, and iHome Wi-Fi Smart Plug, all of which do NOT require a dedicated gateway.

Come on guys.

 

[GSPice]

How many spokes hubs are we expected to have in a household? I’m done with manufacturers bringing new products without direct HomeKit integration.

 

[MrJeffreyGee]

Since most competitors are around $30 for 1 outlet... Even though you have to get the hub. It becomes cheaper once you get 2 outlets or more. I think it's great that IKEA is doing this and hopefully it'll bring prices down with other brands.

Sonoff seems to be the cheapest so far at $6, but that requires a little diy. No hub required.

 

[Mike Oxard]

Think I'll avoid these, my Ikea Tradfri bulbs have been flaky at best. I tried them with the Ikea hub and couldn't connect to the bulbs in the furthest room. Switched them over to the Hue hub and they work but aren't reliable. Fortunately they are all GU10's in rooms with multiple bulbs so we're never left in the dark. On top of that the Tradfri app is absolutely appalling.

 

[rictus007]

Do I need to assemble the whole thing?

 

[imola.zhp]

"It should of course be noted, that whilst these prices are indeed very low, they will only work with your HomeKit or Hue systems with the Trådfri Gateway, which is an extra US$29.99."

https://homekitnews.com/2018/10/02/ikea-smart-plugs-now-listed-on-us-site/

Works with Hue hub? Sweet, might consider them then...

 

[csurfr]

All I want to know is what I need to buy to get Siri to automatically turn on lights when I walk in the door. Whether it’s 9.99 or 49.99, I can’t seem to find a way to get Siri to do something on its own, without my input.

 

[sabontrager]

Looking in the ikea app, looks like they won’t be stocked until October 24th (at least at the Portland IKEA.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

All I want to know is what I need to buy to get Siri to automatically turn on lights when I walk in the door. Whether it’s 9.99 or 49.99, I can’t seem to find a way to get Siri to do something on its own, without my input.

With the new Shortcuts app in iOS 12, you can set automation like that. Such as when you leave the house, do the following workflow. When I set my alarm system, it then turns off the lights, adjusts the thermostat, etc.

 

[bennibeef]

All I want to know is what I need to buy to get Siri to automatically turn on lights when I walk in the door. Whether it’s 9.99 or 49.99, I can’t seem to find a way to get Siri to do something on its own, without my input.

With the new Shortcuts app in iOS 12, you can set automation like that. Such as when you leave the house, do the following workflow. When I set my alarm system, it then turns off the lights, adjusts the thermostat, etc.

No you just need a bulb (and hub) with Homekit support. For Ikea tradfri you need a bulb and the gateway, add it to the Home app and set up an automation in Home App to turn the lights on when "A person is home" (you)

 

[nutmac]

Motorola Cable Modem
Apple Timecapsule
Apple Airport Express 1
Apple Airport Express 2
Hue Bridge/hub
Smart Things Hub
Raspberry Pi (next purchase)

Seriously? Hub required? I'll stick with iHome switches, they don't require a hub and are compatible with multiple platforms. I can usually get them for ~$15 on eBay (sometimes new, sometimes pre-owned, don't care).

IKEA's TRÅDFRI line of products use Zigbee, which means you can use Philips Hue Bridge instead.

Also, hub is not always a bad thing as it significantly reduces the load on your Wi-Fi router. Once you exceed 20 or so connected devices, many Wi-Fi routers start to perform poorly.

 

[anson42]

All I want to know is what I need to buy to get Siri to automatically turn on lights when I walk in the door. Whether it’s 9.99 or 49.99, I can’t seem to find a way to get Siri to do something on its own, without my input.

That's old school. Get a light switch with a motion sensor on it

 

[csurfr]

No you just need a bulb (and hub) with Homekit support. For Ikea tradfri you need a bulb and the gateway, add it to the Home app and set up an automation in Home App to turn the lights on when "A person is home" (you)

I can use my AppleTV as the "hub" if I pick up a couple of smart bulbs, yeah?

 

[mdwsta4]

Are they only Homekit compatible or do they also work with Alexa?

 

[anson42]

I can use my AppleTV as the "hub" if I pick up a couple of smart bulbs, yeah?

Yes. Apple TV acts as the hub for remote access. You don't need an Apple TV if all you want to do is control HomeKit devices when at home. When I first purchased HomeKit devices I had only older Apple TVs that could not be updated to become a remote HomeKit hub, but after I upgraded to the latest model with latest tvOS I was able to make use of the hub capability.