We tested the HomeKit compatible Meross smart switch

We tested the Meross two-way switch, compatible with HomeKit, Alexa and Google Assistant, perfect for dogmatizing the lights in your room by changing a single switch.

Benefits of a smart switch

When you want home automation for the lighting of a room, you can resort to changing the bulbs, which can sometimes be the fastest solution, but not the cheapest nor the most practical. A smart bulb has many advantages, such as the enormous ease of installation, which even a child could do with their eyes closed, but it has one major drawback: If someone turns off the bulb on the main switch, the home automation is finished.

Changing a switch can be the perfect solution for almost any occasion: with just one accessory you control all the bulbs associated with it, which can save a lot of money, and also it doesn’t matter if you use it from your iPhone, iPad, HomePod or with your hand, your home automation will continue to function perfectly. It is therefore ideal when home automation enthusiasts and reluctant to use a cell phone or a voice to turn off a light live together at home.

Meross bidirectional switch

What is a two-way switch? This is commonly referred to as a switch, that is, when a light is controlled by two switches at the same time, as happens in most bedrooms and hallways. With this smart switch from Meross, you will only have to change one of these switches so that you can control the lighting in that room using HomeKit.

For that the main thing is that there is a neutral wire in your installation. If there isn’t one, you can always pick it up yourself from the nearest registry box, it’s something that only takes a few minutes, or let an electrician do it for you if you don’t. don’t trust your skills. Once you have the cables identified (it is important to look at how they were in the original switch and use the stickers included in the box to identify them) they are connected to the Meross switch and you can start the configuration process.

If you connected the cables correctly, the front LED will start flashing green and orange alternately, if not, check the cables because you haven’t done something right. If the flickering occurs you can now mount it on your wall and start the setup process with HomeKit. It is important that you know that even without setting it up, without internet, without WiFi, you can still use it as a conventional switch.

The Meross smart switch has 2.4GHz WiFi connectivity, so it only needs your WiFi network to reach the room with a good signal, no Bluetooth with range limitations or other protocols that require the use of bridges. By connecting it to the same WiFi network as your HomeKit Accessory Center (Apple TV or HomePod), everything will be ready to go. For connection you can use the Meross app (link), which also gives you a step by step installation guide in case you have any questions, or the Home app which is already available on iOS. It’s always best to use the manufacturer’s app in case there are any firmware updates to install.

The Meross application can be aesthetically improved. As is often the case with HomeKit manufacturer apps, you end up using Home, and You exit the manufacturer’s app only for firmware updates they launch and notify you at home but need to be installed from the device’s own app.

Before talking about HomeKit functions, it should be noted that the appearance of the switch is impeccable. It’s a tactile switch, there are no physical mechanisms, which in my opinion is comfortable and aesthetically flawless. The transparent front with the white background gives it a modern and elegant touch, and we only see the central LED which lights up when the light is off (it has a night mode to avoid it if it bothers you, which is quite complicated because it is very discreet). It fits perfectly in the box of your conventional switch and the size is the same so you won’t see any possible marks on the wall that the old one left.

HomeKit: Siri, environments and automations

It is compatible with Alexa, Google Assistant and HomeKit… but we will only talk about HomeKit in this article, because it is what I use at home. Why add a switch to Apple’s home automation platform? Because you will have voice control of any Apple device to turn the lights on and off, and why you will have access to interesting functions such as automations and environments.

Environments allow you to control groups of devices at the same time. The ‘Goodnight’ setting turns off all the lights in the house simply by saying ‘Goodnight’ to Siri, or the ‘Games’ setting turns off the overhead lights and turns the LED strips blue to create comfortable lighting for playing at night. Automatisms create rules that allow you to turn off the lights when the last person leaves the house, or turn them on automatically if the sun has gone down and the first person arrives at the house. In the video I show you some examples of the two functions. For me, it’s definitely more interesting than voice control, although that’s also an important point.

Editor’s opinion

After using HomeKit for a long time, I am convinced that to control overhead lights in a room, there is nothing better than using a home automation switch. This Meross two-way (toggle) switch is perfect for this task, it helps you change only one of the two switches in the room and has a modern and sleek design. Voice control, automations, environments … all the advantages of home automation for only $ 26.34 at Amazon (link)