Gabe Turner: Hi, folks.
This is Gabe at Security Baron and iHome wants to take your device and turn it into an intelligent
object.
Let's go ahead and check out the iHome Smart Plug.
[background music]
Gabe: In today's review of the iHome iSP6X Smart Plug, we're going to talk about its
design, its feature set, the setup process before finally diving into its mobile application
iHome control to make sure you have all the information you need to make the right decision.
If you want to see a list of our favorite smart plugs, google "Security Baron best smart
plugs."
If you have a question about today's review, leave us a comment and I'll get back to you.
Let's kickoff today's review of the iHome Smart Plug talking about its design.
It's got your nice two-tone color aesthetic with gray and white, something I personally
like.
On the top, you've got your iHome logo with a little insignia on the bottom representing
iHome.
You got your output, input that are pretty mainstream.
On the bottom, you'll see that it has a HomeKit code so this makes it easier to set it up.
You can actually use your phone, scan it, and you're ready to set up.
In terms of buttons, it has one button for setting up and resetting.
Then these two indicator lights, one is a plug, one is a WiFi, let you know when you're
getting power and when you're connecting to the WiFi.
The final thing I'll note about this which is great is it has a pretty thin design so
you can stack it in any typical wall outlet.
That's the design on the iHome Smart Plug.
Now, we've gone over the design of the iHome Smart Plug, let's talk about its feature set.
Beginning with the most important one, being able to turn it on and off remotely so you
can use the iHome control app.
Take out your phone and just turn it on and off right there.
No need to go anywhere near the actual plug.
You can do that from anywhere in the world.
If you want to set up a schedule, you can do so.
If you know you want to be in bed every night at 10 o'clock, you can have it turn off your
light every night at 10:00.
Give you a visual reminder.
If you want an even bigger degree elements to work together, you can set up a scene where
various smart plugs work in conjunction.
Maybe you want your stereo to turn on and a light to go on at the same time, you can
set that up in the iHome control application.
Now, if you don't want to do any of those things and just want to be able to control
your system with your voice, it does integrate with a host of smart platforms.
Of course, it's an iHome so it does work with Apple HomeKit.
It works with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa along with a ton of other virtual assistants
and smart platforms like Samsung SmartThings.
Overall, you got a lot of utility out of your iHome Smart Plug.
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All right, let's get back to the video.
[music]
Gabe: Let's talk about setting up your iHome Smart Plug.
First, you want to have the iHome control mobile application.
Download it and open on your mobile device.
Then you're going to take your iHome Smart Plug, plug it in, and wait for the WiFi light
-- it's green -- to start blinking.
Once it starts blinking, you're going to go into the app, hit "Add Device," and from there,
you'll either type in the code found on the plug and in your instruction booklet or you
can simply scan it right there on the plug or in your instruction booklet.
Once you scan that, it will walk you the rest of the process of setting up your home WiFi
on the smart plug, and you're ready to go.
Overall, it would take you less than five minutes.
Now that we've set up our iHome Smart Plug, let's talk about we're going to be doing a
lot of the interfacing the mobile application iHome control.
This is where you'll start beginning setting up your scenes and schedules, and just general
connectivity with the app.
It's that connectivity that seems to be the concern for a lot of people.
It only has a 2.7 out of 5 stars in the Apple App Store and a 2.3 out of 5 stars in the
Google Play Store.
People saying that they were having problems actually connecting with the device.
Personally, I didn't have any issues connecting with this iHome Smart Plug, but I've had those
concerns with other iHome Smart Plugs.
Let's go ahead and check it out on my iPhone X.
Here I am checking out the iHome Smart Plug on my iPhone X.
You'll note I've got a few different things in here.
This is a lot of the things that are built into my Apple HomeKit that directly go into
my iHome control app.
It's pretty busy.
I'll be honest, it's not my favorite look of a mobile application.
It's not the cleanest...That's my personal opinion, but it does have that primary functionality.
If you see I called this iHome Smart Plug iHome Light right underneath the blue row,
with his office.
If I wanted to turn on the light, I hit on this lamp and now, the light is on.
If I wanted to go and turn it off, I would click again, and now I've turned it off.
If you see the "I" on the right, that's for information.
I can go in, look at iHome Light.
I can look at the name, home, room, time zone, look even at the rules that I've set up, sleep
time, and soccer rule.
I can even look at my power stat history which is interesting.
This allows me to look at when it was on and off throughout the day so you'll note I've
been turning it on and off a lot today, preparation for this video.
You'll see it on and off.
If I go back out, you'll note on the bottom, you can have sensors, you can have rules.
I've already set up two rules -- my sleep time and my soccer rule.
I can add a rule, let's say, I want the music to come on.
Some music, control a plug, schedule, and I could just have this device if I decided
turn on every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, at 7:00 AM just to play a little music.
Now, I can create that rule.
It's straightforward for setting up new schedules and if I go to the right of that, you'll see
settings where you basically get your app version, nothing too in-depth here in settings.
That's how you set that up.
If I go back to the home page, you can see that there's zones where you can set up various
rules and zones, where you have these things work in conjunction with one another like
another version of scenes.
You can set up scenes for your home where you add multiple devices.
There are some built-in ones like good morning, leave home, dining, party, movie night.
I made my own which I call homebody and homebody turns on my light because it lets me know
that I'm at home.
That's our look at the iHome Smart Plug on the iHome control mobile application.
Let's talk about smart platform integrations with the iHome Smart Plug.
Right off the bat, despite what it says on the box, I actually was not able to set it
up with Google Assistant.
I kept getting different 404 pages and just couldn't get it to work.
I don't know why that is, but I was able to get it set up with Apple HomeKit and Amazon's
virtual assistant.
That process was easy.
I went to Amazon app, I searched for the skill iHome and was able to link the account easily.
Because of its facility and automatic integration with Apple HomeKit, I didn't have to do anything
for it to immediately work with the HomeKit system.
Let's go ahead and see what that looks like.
I could just say, "Alexa, turn on my iHome Light."
There we go.
It works really easily.
Now, Alexa worked great.
Let's talk about working with Siri.
"Hey, Siri, turn off my iHome Light."
Automated Voice: OK.
The iHome Light is off.
Gabe: It integrates really easily.
You don't have to do anything new if you have an iPhone in terms of setting it up with Apple
HomeKit.
[music]
Gabe: We've gone over many of the features of the iHome Smart Plug but you want to know
is it right for me.
It does have relatively broad functionality.
You can control it remotely.
You can set up scenes and schedules, even integrate it with Amazon Alexa and Apple HomeKit.
That being said, it's not particularly intuitive as an app.
Many users complain about connectivity issues.
In our case, we weren't actually even able to set it up with Google Assistant which is
a massive platform for smart assistant.
Overall, considering where it falls in terms of price on the market, you may want to check
out some of its competitors.
[background music]
Gabe: That concludes our review of the iHome Smart Plug.
If you appreciate today's video, give us a like and hit that "Subscribe" button.
As always, this is Gabe at Security Baron.
Be secure.