Ikea's Trådfri Smart Plugs Can Be Purchased in the US and UK, But HomeKit Compatibility Isn't Available Yet

[MacRumors]

Ikea's much-anticipated Trådfri smart outlets are now available for purchase in both the UK and the United States, providing a super affordable soon-to-be HomeKit-compatible smart plug solution for those who want to take advantage of HomeKit without spending a lot of money.

The Trådfri smart plug can be purchased for just $9.99 (or GBP9.99 in the UK), which is much cheaper than other HomeKit-enabled smart plug options on the market.

Unfortunately, while HomeKit support is in the works for the Trådfri smart plug, it isn't available just yet. An Ikea employee on the Trådfri team said yesterday on Reddit that HomeKit integration wasn't able to be implemented ahead of when the smart plug was released.

HomeKit support is in the works, however, and in the meantime, the smart plug can be controlled via the Trådfri app.

Using the Trådfri smart plug requires the $30 Trådfri Gateway. The Gateway is needed for all of Ikea's affordable smart home solutions, including light bulbs, dimmers, motion sensors, and more.

There's no word on when HomeKit support will be available for the Trådfri smart plug, but HomeKit was added for Trådfri smart lights connected to the gateway late last year. When HomeKit is available for the smart plug, the Trådfri system will be one of the cheapest ways to get a complete set of HomeKit products even with the expense and inconvenience of a hub.

The Trådfri smart plug was spotted on the Ikea website back in early October, but as Pocket-lint points out, it did not become available for purchase until recently.

Article Link: Ikea's Trådfri Smart Plugs Can Be Purchased in the US and UK, But HomeKit Compatibility Isn't Available Yet

 

[consumerDan]

I just bought a gateway and two plugs so I guess they will sit on the shelf until HomeKit is implemented...

 

[symphony]

I’ll wait till HomeKit is available. I’ve seen way too many broken promises from home accessory makers that intended to add HomeKit but didn’t.

 

[markfc]

Worth a trip to ikea for some meatballs...will pick up a set of plugs too.

 

[mariusignorello]

I may have an unpopular opinion here, but these companies need to keep quiet about HomeKit support until it’s ready for production release. Promising and then acting like it was never a thing (Ring) isn’t cool. I would love HomeKit support in every device and I KNOW it’s tough to implement but don’t get people’s hopes up (and take their money).

 

[cocky jeremy]

Worth a trip to ikea for some meatballs...will pick up a set of plugs too.

Don't forget...

 

[consumerDan]

On the plus side, if you keep your receipt, you have 365 days to return. Hoping it doesn’t take that long to implement

 

[jkaa]

Does anyone know if these are homebridge compatible?

 

[Paultmaine]

I’ve got 3 plugs already and a hub / bridge, hopefully I won’t have to wait to long for support
[doublepost=1543521798][/doublepost]

I just bought a gateway and two plugs so I guess they will sit on the shelf until HomeKit is implemented...

Same

 

[twistedpixel8]

I may have an unpopular opinion here, but these companies need to keep quiet about HomeKit support until it’s ready for production release. Promising and then acting like it was never a thing (Ring) isn’t cool. I would love HomeKit support in every device and I KNOW it’s tough to implement but don’t get people’s hopes up (and take their money).

While that’s true of many companies, I think IKEA’s been very good. I mean, for the price, they have fired ahead with more support than many competitors. Also HomeKit is already available for their lights so I doubt it will be long before it’s available for the plugs. I imagine by early January.

 

[brian3uk]

Why does homekit seem to be so hard to implement? There are a million smart plugs on the market and like 2 are compatible. Perhaps Apple should reduce barriers to compatibility?

 

[twistedpixel8]

Why does homekit seem to be so hard to implement? There are a million smart plugs on the market and like 2 are compatible. Perhaps Apple should reduce barriers to compatibility?

They probably don’t feel HomeKit will be that big. And it’s Apple’s fault for initially requiring HomeKit chips. I think a lot of companies were probably like “well f you then Apple.”

 

[Rychiar]

who wants a gateway? the beauty of HomeKit to me is not needing gateway. almost everything in my home is smart HomeKit compatible now and not a single gateway

 

[Paultmaine]

who wants a gateway? the beauty of HomeKit to me is not needing gateway. almost everything in my home is smart HomeKit compatible now and not a single gateway

At a cost I’m guessing ?

 

[AronDraws]

I use the Tradfri lightbulbs and a Wemo plug with Alexa, so this is fine with me. I've wanted to get a few basic plugs to put around the house so I can have lights on when I come in the door, but the bulbs were still a little pricy for something that I just needed to be on/off instead of varying color/brightness. I'll be making a trip to Ikea soon!

 

[gwhizkids]

They probably don’t feel HomeKit will be that big. And it’s Apple’s fault for initially requiring HomeKit chips. I think a lot of companies were probably like “well f you then Apple.”

You don't need a chip any longer. Software enabled. WeMo updated its SmartPlug firmware to add HomeKit. But I think they were the first and last to do this so far.

 

[deeddawg]

No HomeKit, no sale.

I *never* buy based on future projected capabilities. If a feature is important to me, I will wait until it's in the field and shown to be working well.

 

[HansHeino]

Working great here with HomeKit, for many weeks already.
I use them with the IKEA-Tradfri-Plugin for Domoticz and then I use Homebridge connected to Domoticz (via MQTT).
No straight out of the box solution of course, but for me it works.

 

[itsmilo]

No loss for me. I am too dumb to understand the Home app anyway

 

[twistedpixel8]

who wants a gateway? the beauty of HomeKit to me is not needing gateway. almost everything in my home is smart HomeKit compatible now and not a single gateway

Gateways generally offer the benefit of lower cost per device. They don’t have to put Wi-Fi radios in every bulb, plug, etc., and can use lower cost and lower energy radios in the units. Bluetooth, zigbee and so on. Also means they can make stuff smaller. Seen the size of LIFX bulbs? Pros and cons to both.
[doublepost=1543534183][/doublepost]

No loss for me. I am too dumb to understand the Home app anyway

No you’re not, it’s very confusing. Google recently pushed out an update to the Google Home app and it’s bloody brilliant. That’s how Apple’s Home app should have been, not the weird mess it is right now.

 

[rworne]

I may have an unpopular opinion here, but these companies need to keep quiet about HomeKit support until it’s ready for production release. Promising and then acting like it was never a thing (Ring) isn’t cool. I would love HomeKit support in every device and I KNOW it’s tough to implement but don’t get people’s hopes up (and take their money).

Actually, regarding Ring - one of their ex-employees popped on Reddit and did an AMA and gave the most reasonable explanation as to why it wasn't released: it's broken, and they still (recently) cannot get it to work well enough between their hardware and Apple's HomeKit. The specific problem wasn't mentioned, other than it's buggy and not ready.

Now that Amazon is the parent company or Ring, it puts further development even more in doubt. The thawing of Amazon/Apple relations in regards to sales on Amazon.com makes things even more cloudy.

 

[AmericanSisu]

This article is missing that in order to use these outlets you also need a wireless switch ($10) to pair with the gateway. I bought 4 outlets before I figured this out. So a simple setup is a total of $50 ($30 gateway, $10 outlet, $10 switch). While I hope for HomeKit support, tapping another app isn’t that bad. #21stCenturyProblems

 

[Lill-Q]

Gateways generally offer the benefit of lower cost per device. They don’t have to put Wi-Fi radios in every bulb, plug, etc., and can use lower cost and lower energy radios in the units. Bluetooth, zigbee and so on. Also means they can make stuff smaller. Seen the size of LIFX bulbs? Pros and cons to both.
[doublepost=1543534183][/doublepost]

No you’re not, it’s very confusing. Google recently pushed out an update to the Google Home app and it’s bloody brilliant. That’s how Apple’s Home app should have been, not the weird mess it is right now.

Having a hub also means you are easing the restraint the smart home products otherwise put on your WiFi.

 

[symphony]

This product is available in Canada too, saw it in store. Or is this a different model?

 

[Pupi]

Ah yes, USA and UK, the only 2 ****ing countries in the world. Sure, Ikea is a global company from Sweden and these devices also exist in a ******** more of countries, but who cares about those, right?