Is Your Amazon Smart Plug Compatible with Homekit?

The Internet of Things (or IoT) is steadily growing, with more and more devices in your house becoming integrated into the smart home set-up. Like any growing tech market, all the major players are represented, with smart home ecosystems from Apple, Amazon, Google, and more. All of whom are trying to persuade you to use their own smart home hub to control your IoT.

One of the more interesting and cheaper ways of expanding your personal IoT is using smart plugs, to control devices that otherwise wouldn’t have any integration into the smart system.

Does the Amazon Smart Plug Work with Apple’s Homekit?

While there are many companies that release products compatible with some or all of the different IoT ecosystems out there, it should come as no surprise that the kit made by the companies with their own smart hubs are rarely able to work with systems made by their competitors.

Unfortunately, this includes the Smart Plugs released by Amazon, which only work with their own Alexa smart assistant, and not Apple’s Homekit (powered by Siri), or the Google Home range (powered by Google Assistant). If you want a smart plug that has more broad compatibility, you’ll have to look at one made by a company that doesn’t have their own brand of smart hub.

Luckily for you, we’ve put together a few recommendations for smart plugs of similar price to the Amazon Smart Plug, so you can keep on building up your smart home without compromising on quality or function.

Best Smart Plugs that Work with the Apple Homekit

WeMo Mini Smart Plug

Designed with a well considered compact size and shape, the WeMo Mini is the top selling plug on Amazon for a reason. It combines versatility with affordability, and works with Apple’s Homekit, as well as being compatible with Alexa and Google Home. It’s available in US, UK, and EU plug formats.

It also has more features than Amazon’s own smart plug, such as an Away mode that randomizes the times the plug provides power. This is a great way to improve your home security, as it makes it look like your home is still in use when there’s no-one there, without you having to set up a complex schedule.

Ikea TRÅDFRI Wireless Control Outlet

At half the price of most other smart plugs, and with a simple and sleek design, Ikea’s smart plug is a good choice if you’ve got a lot of devices to attach to your network. It doesn’t have some of the extra bells and whistles, like an Away mode or any sort of power usage tracking that more expensive models have, but then neither does Amazon’s plug, despite costing more than double the price.

It works with Apple, Amazon, and Google, as well as Ikea’s own Ikea Home smart system. You’ll need one of their Gateway devices to connect it to your IoT, and get better value with this system if you buy in bulk. Available in US, UK, and EU flavors.

Eve Energy Smart Plug

Slightly pricier than the other entries on our list, the Eve Energy smart plug has one important feature that can save you (and even help save the planet) in the long run. It supports power consumption tracking, meaning you can have more insight in to the power draw of each of your connected devices, to help you track what the biggest consumers are in your home. It can even give you a projected cost for the device, if you use it as you have been.

It’s only able to connect with Apple’s Homekit. Therefore, it’s not ideal if you decide to switch over to Amazon’s or Google’s systems. Another downside is that the design isn’t as compact as others. But given that it could save you money over time, this is a solid contender as long as you’ve committed to Apple’s Homekit for the foreseeable future. Available for US, UK, and EU outlets.

iHome ISP6X Smart Plug

Another solid contender, the iHome Smart Plug mightn’t be the cheapest on our list or have the most features, but it does provide one of the widest compatibilities of any of the smart plugs out there. It works with Google, Amazon, and Apple, as well as online scheduling services like IFTTT, Nest, SmartThings, and more.

It doesn’t require a hub, so each plug will work straight away with your smart system of choice. The design is also compact enough to be able to stack them one above the other in the same wall outlet. Available for US and UK outlets.

Plugging a Gap in Your Smart Home

While it’s a shame that Amazon’s Smart Plug doesn’t work with other IoT networks like Apple’s Homekit, it’s hardly a surprise considering they’re part of competing ecosystems. Fortunately, there are plenty of other more affordable and feature-rich options, so you should still be able to find the ideal smart plug for your home set-up. If you’ve got a favorite smart plug that we’ve missed on our list, why not extoll its virtues in the comments section below?