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Taiwanese manufacturer King-I, are makers of thermostats and Bluetooth light switches, most of which come under the ‘Frontier’ branded range, but they’ve now begun to introduce a new line of HomeKit compatible switches within the Frontier range, dubbed the ‘Aura’. These switches are pretty unique in one way, which is that whilst they don’t require a neutral wire, they also get their power source from batteries placed inside the body of the switch itself. This means that these switches can even act as non-wired switches for other smart lights or other devices if you so wish. If you want to use them as regular light switches of course, which they’re intended for, setting them up is quite simple with only the two wires required from the wall recess (no neutral) and two AAA batteries. The switches don’t require a hub, as they use Bluetooth 4.2 LE for communication.

King-I already has the North American style switches ready but have also been busy preparing a single and 2-gang version suitable for the UK/EU/China. We’ve been told that the company is working on distribution for UK/Europe and North America/Canada, so we’ll update you as soon as we know more.

There is a little more info on the King-I website, although they seem to be in the process of updating the information at present. If you want to make any enquiries, their contact details are readily available.

We’ll be doing a full review of the light switch, so check back soon.