Teckin Smart Plug Review (2021) – Great Product or Waste of Time?

Smart home technology has drastically changed the way we lead our lives. It has become easier than ever to control all the devices you could imagine around your smart home with your phone or voice controls like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and a WiFi-enabled plug. One of the best ways to utilize smart home and automated types of technology is through the Teckin Smart Plug.

This little smart plug has the utility of allowing you to turn on single devices, or groups of devices, from anywhere in the house or the world. In addition, you can use voice commands through Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant and even group bunches of devices into categories.

Read on to explore our review of the Teckin Smart Plug and find out if this is the right accessory for your smart home situation.

 

What is the Teckin Smart Plug?

The Teckin smart plug is a substitute socket you plug into any wall outlet and then insert your device into the smart plug. This allows you to control a lamp, dehumidifier, fan, or any other kind of wired electrical device through your smartphone, Amazon Alexa, or Google Assistant. They are available as a single Teckin plug or in packs of two to four Teckin plugs. We encourage you to pick up a two-pack of plugs to start. 

The Teckin smart plugs work by connecting to your WiFi network and then communicating with whatever assistance or phone you choose. For example, imagine being able to walk into your smart home and direct your Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to make the room warmer by having your heater turn on across the house through a Teckin plug.

The Teckin smart plug devices are designed in either a round plug or square plug shape. The plugs can be purchased for use on the standard electrical systems found in the United States or England. The main version we reviewed was the standard American-designed Teckin Smart Plug connected with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

 

Home Items You Can Control with the Teckin Smart Plug

The significant benefit to the Teckin Smart Plug over other smart plug competitors is its small form factor. The compact design of the Teckin plug allows you to take advantage of outlets that you usually would not use because of their relative location in your smart home. In addition, the plug responds well to voice controls through Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

You also do not need a “hub” to operate the tremendous Teckin smart plug. The Teckin plug is WiFi-enabled to directly communicate with your Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

The broad compatibility of the Teckin Smart Plug means you can plug practically anything into it as long as it can handle the amp rating. In addition, the plug comes complete with a timer and schedule setting so you can have your toaster start working at 6:15 for 3 minutes while you’re finishing your shower. Then you’ll be able to enjoy a quick breakfast in your smart home before heading out to work while saving time. Imagine being able to say something like “Set up my breakfast” to your Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant before even getting out of bed!

This little smart Teckin plug device is perfect for the holidays and setting up lights around a tree or lining your smart home entryway for Halloween visitors. In addition, you can plug in a group of lights in your office and tell your Teckin smart plugs via your Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to “turn on your home office” as you’re coming back to your smart home after a long trip.

You can set up your smart home with a space heater during a cold spell or control your fans for increased airflow at night, all from the Teckin plug. Pretty much any item or device that you can plug into a wall socket can be utilized through the power of the Teckin Smart Plug and your Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. 

This is the beautiful technology of a smart home device. The Teckin Smart Plug allows you to control various devices remotely through your voice or a compatible app.  

The Teckin Smart Plug also has an energy usage monitor, so you can view the statistics of using any of your plugged-in devices inside your smart home. This also works as a safety feature. You no longer have to stress all the way on your commute that you left the coffee maker turned on after leaving. Now you can easily check your phone to make sure the Teckin plug is turned off using the app and a smart plug.

 

Setting up your Teckin Smart Plug

The Teckin Smart Plug is incredibly easy to set up and start using. All you have to do is download the smartphone application from Google or Apple. The company does provide a QR to scan that will take you directly to the app they want you to use. The most common app you will see is the Smartlife application.

Make sure you have plugged in your Teckin smart plug into one of the electrical sockets in your smart home, office, or other workspaces. We suggest starting with a simple lamp to insert into the Teckin smart plug before going for anything more significant, just until you get comfortable with the different settings available.

Once you’re in the app, all you do is ‘Add Device’ and select the setting for a smart plug. You should see an option for the “Socket (WiFi)” available to click. Next, the app will make the indicator light blink on the side of your Teckin smart plug. If it doesn’t start blinking, hold down the on/off button for around 5 seconds, and it should begin to flash. If it still isn’t flashing, try pulling out and plugging in your Teckin Smart Plug again to the wall outlet in your smart home. 

After it begins to flash, follow the rest of the app’s instructions. You’ll be asked to log in to your preferred WiFi. Once that is done, you’ll be able to control the device with a large button on your phone from anywhere in or out of your smart home. You will even get the option of changing the name of that specific Teckin plug for your convenience.

Below is an easy to follow video on how to set up your Teckin Smart Plug Device

 

Controlling Teckin with Amazon Alexa?

If you wanted to set up your Amazon Alexa to work with your Teckin Smart Plug, you open your Alexa app and go to the top left corner to tap on the three lines. Be sure to select skills and games from the menu options and then move to the search bar. Type in “Smart Life” and then be sure to “Enable this Skill.”

You’ll have to enter your credentials into the Smartlife app. This will link your Teckin smart plugs and Amazon Alexa. Then you should be able to “Discover Devices” which will prompt you for the Teckin smart plugs you have already configured in your smart home.

You can test out the device by saying, “Alexa, turn on smart socket” and “Alexa, turn off smart socket.” After that, we strongly encourage you to rename the device to something more appropriate for your setting that you won’t easily forget or get confused with other devices in your smart home.

 

Controlling Teckin with Google Assistant

The process for the Google Assistant is pretty much the same. First, make sure your Teckin Smart Plug is already installed, and when you launch your Google Home app, press the plus icon. Next, search for “Smart Life,” and you should see the smart plug pop up.

You’ll have to enter your credentials into the Smartlife app settings through the Google Home app. You will also have to click on the Link and Authorize buttons to ensure it has linked correctly between your Google Assistant and your plug.

You can test out the device by saying, “Hey Google, turn on smart socket” and “Hey Google, turn off smart socket” to your Google Assistant. After you’ve completed this process, you’ll be able to control your new Teckin Smart Plug from anywhere around your smart home using your mobile device or Google Assistant.

We definitely suggest naming your Teckin smart plug something unique. The more of these great little devices you install, the more confusing it can get. We set up our office and had to separate them into groups near certain people to make sense of the settings. Otherwise, we had people accidentally turning on Teckin smart plugs across the room because they still had the default name. 

 

Does Teckin work with Apple Home Products and Siri?

Currently, the Apple HomeKit does not support or is compatible with the Teckin Smart Plug accessory like it is with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. However, there is a workaround using Siri shortcuts to control your Teckin smart plugs installed in your smart home. You need to have Apple Shortcuts installed on your device.

First, you go to the bottom of a scene page and select the shortcut you created. Then, you can record a phrase like “Good Evening” that tells Siri to activate the scene inside your smart home, and that will communicate with the Teckin smart plugs.

It is fun to set up a scene that looks like a red emergency setting that switches on all the lights in your smart home using red light bulbs. Or you can set up a home bar to turn on and start blending drinks when you direct Siri to “Open the Bar.”

 

Teckin Smart Plugs Pros and Cons

 

Is the Teckin Smart Plug any good?

Alright, after all our technical experiments, we found this fantastic little Teckin smart plug to be incredibly useful around our smart home. We set up our office so that a set of lights and a fan turned on every time we told our Amazon Alexa to “start the office.” It was also fun to create an end of day and beginning of day setting. We joked around with the idea of a customer setting but thought it might be off-putting after a while. 

The compact form factor was perfect for fitting into our already overused wall outlet or hard-to-reach outlets around our smart home. You didn’t feel like you would damage it by placing it in-between a desk and the wall. We have heard of some people having communication issues with the Teckin Smart Plug, but we didn’t see any of those issues in our tests.

It did take a moment to get a handle on Amazon Alexa during the connection setup, but once we had it finalized, it was a treat to use. We defiantly suggest the Teckin smart plug to anyone looking to automate their smart home at such a low price. Many of their competitors come at a higher price with a larger device that feels bulky in your hands or didn’t work in smaller smart homes. 

 

 FAQ

Are there different sizes?

So the versions of the Teckin Smart Plug we evaluated came in round shapes. We did see they have versions that were longer rectangles and even one that is a power strip. Your need may differ from ours, but we suggest checking out their smart home site for the types they have available and then buying off of Amazon for the lowest price. Almost all their devices work with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

 

Is it easy to group items together?

Yes, the app you need may be installed using the QR code included in the packaging. This makes it very easy to control a group of lights or other devices around your smart home and to set scenes using Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. 

 

How accurate is the energy monitor?

We cannot say for sure because we’re not electricians. Still, we did find that when we plugged in our mini-fridge to the Teckin Smart Plug, we were surprised at how much energy that fridge took to operate compared to other devices in our smart home. Also, the monitor is easier to view on your phone than by using Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. 

 

Can I use this in other countries?

We found that you can easily plug it into US outlets. For the UK, you may want an extension to the outlet depending on the shape of your Teckin smart plug. As long as you check the electrical outlets in your smart home are compatible, the Teckin Smart Plug will work in Canada, Ireland, and Australia.

 

Beyond that, you just need to do a little research into your specific country to get the correct Teckin smart plug for your electrical outlet ratings in your smart home. It looks like there isn’t any difference across other countries when using your plug with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. 

 

What if I have other concerns?

Teckin offers a fantastic customer service team that is always prepared to answer any questions or concerns you may have about their products and how they blend with your smart home setup or Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

 

Can I use this outside?

Teckin makes a version of their smart plug meant for outdoor use that would be perfect with outdoor lighting situations around your smart home. We were able to control outdoor accessories with voice commands to our Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant from indoors. 

 

Does it really not work with Apple?

We have not found any news or any plans for Apple to have built-in support for the Teckin Smart Plug as of right now. Therefore, we suggest using the Siri voice assistant workaround we mentioned above for use in your smart home or sticking with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. 

 

Can you use the Teckin Smart Plug with the IFTT app? 

Yes! This was our favorite feature of the Teckin Smart Plug because it allowed us to set up different “scenes” for whatever mood the office was in when we sent a voice command to our Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. We didn’t try it, but we’re curious if you could set up your WiFi camera to motion sense movement and then change the light settings as a security measure in your smart home.

 

Wrapping it up

With such a perfect size and form factor, we absolutely suggest you pick up a set of Teckin Smart Plugs. These excellent little WiFi-enabled devices are easy to utilize all around your smart home, both indoors and out, and work well with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant commands. 

The fact that you can use the Teckin smart plugs anywhere in your smart home really makes them a great purchase. One of our testers even told their Google Assistant to turn on his sleep noise device while he was still downstairs cleaning up after dinner. As a result, he was able to set up his bedroom mood in his smart home before even going up the stairs.

We really liked the advanced features on the Teckin plugs of being able to set up timers and automation. You can easily see how these Teckin smart plugs can be used for several different holiday decorations around your smart home, all by the power of your voice commands over Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

 Our favorite part was the scene selection. Designing a lighting arrangement for your office, smart home, or bedroom sets the mood for whatever activity you have coming next. For example, we like to have a quiet hour in the afternoon and could easily control all the office lights to dim a little for an hour every single workday using a command through our Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. It was fantastic!

Amazon lists the Teckin smart plugs at such a low price that it only makes sense to pick up a set of the Teckin Smart Plugs for smart home build. 

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