Logitech's HomeKit-Compatible POP Smart Button Now Available in Apple Stores

[MacRumors]

Starting today, Logitech's HomeKit-compatible programmable POP Smart Button can be purchased exclusively from Apple retail locations in the United States.

The Logitech POP Smart Button is designed to allow any smart device in the home to be controlled through the push of a button, allowing things like lights to be activated without the need for a smartphone.

Connected to a user's HomeKit setup via a bridge, the POP Smart Button supports three customizable gestures, with each bridge able to support multiple buttons. Buttons can be used to activate full HomeKit scenes or simply turn a smart accessory on and off. Each button supports three preset commands, activated with a press, a double press, or a press and hold gesture.

While the POP Smart Button works with HomeKit, it can also be used with other non-HomeKit devices like Sonos wireless speakers or Logitech Harmony hub-based remote controls.

The Logitech POP Smart Button Kit, which includes one bridge and one pre-paired smart button in White or Alloy, is priced at $59.95 and will be available from Apple.com and Apple retail stores today. Additional Add-on Smart Buttons can be purchased for $39.95.

Article Link: Logitech's HomeKit-Compatible POP Smart Button Now Available in Apple Stores

 

[macduke]

I want one of these on my nightstand just to turn my ceiling fan on and off during the night, lol.

 

[RosOne]

Hmm, a button for $40... hmmm

 

[ayale99]

You lost me at "bridge." No more bridges!

 

[- rob -]

I have a nanoleaf hub. Is the bridge necessary to add to the mix? Can I just buy a couple of buttons?

Have been waiting for this to come out. The previous MR announcement was a wee bit early.

HomeKit is great but products supporting it are terribly expensive, sort of unreliable and extremely confusing and fiddly to set up.

 

[robbysibrahim]

You lost me at "bridge." No more bridges!

Word for word what I was about to post.

 

[Glassed Silver]

Get an Amazon Dash button and there you go, saved you 35 bucks and a silly bridge provided you're willing to hook up a much more versatile Raspberry Pi. (don't worry, you can pretty much just get the cheapest one)

Every additional button is 5 instead of 40 bucks. Lol holy ****... Talk about first adopters' price gauging.

Glassed Silver:ios

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

I have a nanoleaf hub. Is the bridge necessary to add to the mix? Can I just buy a couple of buttons?

Have been waiting for this to come out. The previous MR announcement was a wee bit early.

HomeKit is great but products supporting it are terribly expensive, sort of unreliable and extremely confusing and fiddly to set up.

Sadly you probably do for initial pairing. I know I did when I got my first Hue bulb and couldn't get the Nanoleaf hub to see it. After I got a proper Hue starter kit, the Hue bulbs showed up in the Nanoleaf app as well.

I wouldn't say any of my two Homekit devices are unreliable (Hue+6 bulbs+lightstrip and a smartplug).

 

[knemonic]

I had these a year ago and after a few weeks, the buttons became completely unresponsive, after resetting the hub to factory settings, removing each switch from the account, re-adding, just flat out stopped working. I had read at the time others had the same issues and returned them. Not sure if these are different than the original non-HomeKit models though.

 

[thogin]

I can already turn my lights on and off with a switch. The switch was $3 at Home Depot. Doesn't need a hub, either.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

I can already turn my lights on and off with a switch. The switch was $3 at Home Depot. Doesn't need a hub, either.

I feel the same way about these people with their new-fangled "horseless carriages." I can already get around on my feet. Shoes can be as cheap as $30 at Walmart. Doesn't need a key, either.

 

[KisonBY]

Get an Amazon Dash button and there you go, saved you 35 bucks and a silly bridge provided you're willing to hook up a much more versatile Raspberry Pi. (don't worry, you can pretty much just get the cheapest one)

Every additional button is 5 instead of 40 bucks. Lol holy ****... Talk about first adopters' price gauging.

Glassed Silver:ios

Interesting, it's something I've been working on lately - having Dash buttons control my Hue lights. Just a fun side project to play with Node.js and stuff. Did not get to Raspberry Pi part yet, just have it running on my wife's Macbook Pro (Node.js component for Dash doesn't really work on Windows).

The issue is, I have several Koogeek Smart Plugs and I don't believe there is API to control them.

Would appreciate if you share some thoughts on how you're doing this (unless your post was just "theoretic").

P.S. Also, got 3 Dash buttons for 99c each, Amazon runs promos sometimes. Heard they have limited resource, like 1000 clicks and then battery dies.

 

[Glassed Silver]

Interesting, it's something I've been working on lately - having Dash buttons control my Hue lights. Just a fun side project to play with Node.js and stuff. Did not get to Raspberry Pi part yet, just have it running on my wife's Macbook Pro (Node.js component for Dash doesn't really work on Windows).

The issue is, I have several Koogeek Smart Plugs and I don't believe there is API to control them.

Would appreciate if you share some thoughts on how you're doing this (unless your post was just "theoretic").

P.S. Also, got 3 Dash buttons for 99c each, Amazon runs promos sometimes. Heard they have limited resource, like 1000 clicks and then battery dies.

The battery should be replaceable, supported or not.

I don't have these buttons myself yet, but I've read enough to know that it is supposed to work just fine.

Obviously the hardware is built to be rather reliable since Amazon would very much like you to use them to buy from them.

As for the Smart Plugs, I don't even have those, when I get to that project it'll be a Hue controller as well though.

If the plugs connect to IFTTT or Apple HomeKit there should be a way though. Or are they legit first party app-only?
I'd always advise against buying that. At least Hue has always used ZigBee as open standard you know, even though Apple HomeKit came so late.

As for promos, I don't think they run that in Germany, but maybe I just missed it.

Glassed Silver:win

 

[Aston441]

They are one of the most evil companies on earth, ripping off customers for decades. You won't find any details on their official forums because they delete threads that point out how they don't support their products after sale, won't honor warranties, and have an army of shills combing through all non-Logitech forums, including this one, doing damage control and posting fake reviews, paying popular websites to post fake reviews, etc. Heck even posting here is likely to get their lawyers after me with a cease and desist.
[doublepost=1495065250][/doublepost]

I had these a year ago and after a few weeks, the buttons became completely unresponsive, after resetting the hub to factory settings, removing each switch from the account, re-adding, just flat out stopped working. I had read at the time others had the same issues and returned them. Not sure if these are different than the original non-HomeKit models though.

Like all their garbage. See my post above.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

You lost me at "bridge." No more bridges!

HomeKit was originally designed to NOT allow bridges. The entire point was to not need all this additional hardware to control everything from one place.

Now it seems everything needs a bridge which not only costs more but adds one more thing you need to power. One more thing you need connect to your wireless network. One more thing you have to have clutter up your house.

I wish companies would just make IoT devices that can connect directly to a wifi network and be done with it.

 

[KisonBY]

The battery should be replaceable, supported or not.

I don't have these buttons myself yet, but I've read enough to know that it is supposed to work just fine.

Obviously the hardware is built to be rather reliable since Amazon would very much like you to use them to buy from them.

As for the Smart Plugs, I don't even have those, when I get to that project it'll be a Hue controller as well though.

If the plugs connect to IFTTT or Apple HomeKit there should be a way though. Or are they legit first party app-only?
I'd always advise against buying that. At least Hue has always used ZigBee as open standard you know, even though Apple HomeKit came so late.

As for promos, I don't think they run that in Germany, but maybe I just missed it.

Glassed Silver:win

Hehe, big difference between high level understanding and actually implementing it.

As for "reliable" - it is. As for number of clicks, the intended purpose for Dash button is to order stuff like once a month. I don't think I need 1000+ orders of toilet paper you know.
Replacing battery is no fun, case is sealed using ultrasonic welding. Cool read here: https://mpetroff.net/2016/07/new-amazon-dash-button-teardown-jk29lp/ Basically they say battery is good for ~500 clicks.

As for Koogeek, they are HomeKit. Need more research into controlling them through HomeKit or IFTTT.

Anyway, it's a fun side project.

If needed a solution that just works, it makes sense to buy something like this Logitech thingie (save for reports above that suggest it's crap). But cost is still way too high... $40 for a button (not to mention need for bridge :S).

 

[btrach144]

Meh, my Hue tap works fine

 

[- rob -]

Get an Amazon Dash button and there you go, saved you 35 bucks and a silly bridge provided you're willing to hook up a much more versatile Raspberry Pi. (don't worry, you can pretty much just get the cheapest one)

Can you point me at a DIY overview or suggested resource for doing this? From what I can tell the solutions are cheaper but have quite-a-bit of setup involved. I found this product, Flic, which is cheaper, 4 for $100 but even that appears to require a custom iOS app to be developed to bridge into controlling scenes with Homekit.

From what I can tell, what you spend on these switches you avoid in doing configuration and maintaining the config.

Sadly you probably do for initial pairing. I know I did when I got my first Hue bulb and couldn't get the Nanoleaf hub to see it. After I got a proper Hue starter kit, the Hue bulbs showed up in the Nanoleaf app as well.

I am just confused as to why all of these devices have different bridges. It makes a lot of sense that everything is ungodly expensive, it does not make sense that there are multiple non-apple bridges required to control stuff using Siri.

It feels like Apple is sort dipping its toe into Homekit, and unusually offering a rather incomplete integrated product solution.

I wouldn't say any of my two Homekit devices are unreliable (Hue+6 bulbs+lightstrip and a smartplug).

I am not sure why, but we've had some issues with the Nanoleaf bulbs, where siri tries to control them but can't communicate. I'll go and manually turn them off and on, and I've reset the hub once. But this stuff really needs to work very reliably, or @thogin's point is very strong. It is especially difficult to justify the price of Homekit-compatible lighting and products to someone who doesn't get the whole vision up front.

They are one of the most evil companies on earth, ripping off customers for decades.

Fwiw, I've had a great experience with Logitech's UE boom products, although I've never had to interact with the company. Maybe that's why.

 

[341328]

You lost me at "bridge." No more bridges!

While I kindof agree.... the bridge has been the best part of the Hue system. When technology changes I can just replace one device. Lifx STILL haven't made or allowed older globes to be upgradable to Homekit. For older globes I'd guess they are stuck because not technically possible because of no bridge (and I'm not going to update 20 globes!!)

 

[mrblack927]

Has anyone been able to find this on Apple's online store? It's sold out on logitech.com and I can't find it at all on apple.com.

 

[KisonBY]

Can you point me at a DIY overview or suggested resource for doing this? From what I can tell the solutions are cheaper but have quite-a-bit of setup involved. I found this product, Flic, which is cheaper, 4 for $100 but even that appears to require a custom iOS app to be developed to bridge into controlling scenes with Homekit.

I don't think it's "setup", more of "code". Best guide I found is this: http://www.danielgallo.co.uk/post/hack-an-amazon-dash-button-to-control-philips-hue-lights/

Now, if you look at it from "saving money" perspective, then forget about it. You will spend a lot of time setting it all up, especially if you're not too intimate with Node.js or programming in general.

 

[- rob -]

I don't think it's "setup", more of "code". Best guide I found is this: http://www.danielgallo.co.uk/post/hack-an-amazon-dash-button-to-control-philips-hue-lights/

Now, if you look at it from "saving money" perspective, then forget about it. You will spend a lot of time setting it all up, especially if you're not too intimate with Node.js or programming in general.

I am a programmer but I don't really want to deal with code for something like this.

When the system breaks for one reason or another, I'd much prefer to point the finger at the manufacturers then wonder, "did I do this?"

Maybe that's why these products are so expensive. This problem is still hairy and tough to reduce to a simple ux.