Switchmate hands-on: Smarter switches, no electrician needed

The smart home might be intended to make our lives easier, but actually upgrading with home automation kit is more like a headache. Ripping out legacy switches and replacing them with their smart brethren isn’t only a headache, it’s out of the question for many who rent rather than own where they live. Startup Switchmate plans to change that, opening up automation with ridiculously simple and non-destructive gadgets that install in seconds. I caught up with the company to find out how a Bluetooth switch could pave the way to making the smart home mass-market.

Switchmate is the first of the company’s products with that “extremely simple home automation” ethos. Intended to take a regular light switch and – with nothing more complicated than magnets for installation – give it a wireless upgrade, it’s a Bluetooth LE-enabled block that fits over the traditional control and allows you to toggle it either in person or remotely.

Rather than replacing the switch assembly itself, as with Belkin’s WeMo Switch, Switchmate’s takes a less intrusive approach. Magnets in the back hold it in place on top of the manual switch, clinging to the screws. Inside, there’s the Bluetooth radio, a pair of AA batteries, and a motorized “flicker” to flip the lights on and off.

In fact, there’ll be two versions. One will handle short, stubby switches, while the other will control the larger, plate-style versions. Together, Switchmate believes, the two designs will work with the vast majority of existing light switches already on walls. Based on typical use, the batteries should be good for a year, I’m told.

That probably all sounds appealing if, like me, you’re a renter and can’t really start unscrewing the electrical infrastructure in your apartment. It’s cheaper than replacing individual bulbs with their smart equivalent, too; similarly, it’s far too easy to accidentally make the smart home dumb, when someone switches off your connected lights at the wall, rather than with the app.

Switchmate gets around that by including a control on the front of the box itself, along with the app for iPhone and Android. Right now the latter is still rather rudimentary, particularly in its design, but the core functionality is there: on/off control from afar, scheduling, and geofencing, so that the lights are triggered when you get within a certain distance.

It’s simple, but it works well, and the Switchmate team has left room for improvements. The core device itself is narrow enough that several could be fitted, side-by-side, across a multi-gang switch; alternatively, there’s a decorative shell that can be clipped on top, and which then covers the whole fascia of the switch underneath. Switchmate will offer those in white, gold, and silver finishes, but there’s potential for custom finishes and graphics that buyers could pick, Moto Maker style, when they buy.

There’s also plenty of room inside those bezels for extra sensors, allowing the switches to respond to what’s going on around them. Movement, perhaps, triggering the lights automatically, or an ambient light sensor that kicks in when it’s actually getting dark, rather than just when the schedule says so.

Meanwhile, the team is in talks with a variety of hub companies – SmartThings and Wink, for instance, with Apple apparently also approached – about building Switchmate support into their platforms.

As someone with a fair number of hue bulbs installed, I know there are certainly times when it’d be more convenient to simply reach for the existing light switch on the wall than pick up my phone and load the Philips app. The hue tap switch certainly helps, but at $60 it’s hardly cheap.

In contrast, Switchmate expects early-bird backers of its Indiegogo campaign to get a single unit for $39, or three for $99. Still not inexpensive, but cheaper than Belkin’s WeMo Switch (which you can find for around $44) not to mention easier to install.

If all goes to plan, the startup has bigger ambitions under the simple automation umbrella. A WiFi to Bluetooth bridge is on the roadmap, which would open the door to controlling Switchmate outside of Bluetooth LE range, and there are plans for things like garage door openers, circuit breakers, and smart vents which could all be non-permanently installed.

The Switchmate Indiegogo campaign kicks off today, aiming for $50k. If all goes to plan, the first devices should start shipping in Q4 2015.

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