Give Your Home an IQ Boost With the Best Smart Wall Outlets

Alex Baum July 7, 2022

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Finding Your Next Smart Wall Outlet: A Buyer’s Guide

The days of only finding smart capabilities in mobile phones, tablets, and watches are long gone. Today, the intelligence levels of your home’s accessories and appliances can give the human brain a run for its money. To reach this level of intelligence though, your home requires a smart wall outlet. These devices are fixed onto your wall and serve as power outlets. By intelligently and autonomously interacting with their connected plugs, smart wall outlets provide users with a lot of conveniences, flexibility, and power efficiency. While this sounds fun, buying a new smart outlet isn’t exactly easy. Anyone in the market for these devices can get overwhelmed with the almost unbelievable number of options and models available. So, to help you navigate this crowded market, we’ll take you through the leading smart wall outlets for 2023. We’ll also supplement these reviews with a comprehensive guide for buying these handy devices.

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Most homeowners swear by smart wall outlets, especially considering the convenience and power efficiency they bring to the table. We wish the same number of homeowners knew how to buy these products though. There’s a whole bunch of models to choose from, and not all of them provide a great user experience. With that said, this buyer’s guide will give you some insight about smart wall outlets and teach you almost everything you should know about them.

Different Types of Smart Wall Outlets

Smart wall Wi-Fi outlets

As the name suggests, this type of power outlet can connect to your home’s Wi-Fi network. You can also control them remotely using a companion app on your phone. These apps also let you set timers and schedules for your connected devices.

Smart wall USB outlets

On the other side of the spectrum are smart wall USB outlets. These versions boast receptacles and USB ports on their faceplates, and they can be used to directly charge your devices without an adapter. The charging speeds offered by these products are optimized according to the battery status of your device, thanks to the smart chips built into these outlets. These chips also protect your devices from getting overcharged or the current from surging — which is pretty neat, if you ask us.

Things to Consider When Buying Smart Wall Outlets

Installation

First thing first, you should think about the installation process. Wall mounting is a pretty technical procedure. So, make sure the instruction manual provided is detailed and helpful. You can get a good idea of this by checking out some customer reviews. In case the installation is tricky though, consider calling a professional to help you safely install your outlet.

Connectivity

The type of connectivity your smart outlet offers can range from receptacles to USB ports. So, before deciding on the type of ports or the shape of the receptacles, consider the type of devices you’re planning on hooking up.

How Much Do Smart Wall Outlets Normally Cost?

As far as pricing goes, a new smart wall outlet can cost you anywhere between $20 and $40. Generally speaking, a Wi-Fi outlet will cost more than a standard USB version. And, you can also expect a premium price tag for models with high-end brand names, superior build qualities, and more connectivity options. So, is this price tag justified? Well, it sure is! A smart wall outlet can help with reducing the power bills at your place, thanks to scheduled operations and optimized current flow. The convenience these products bring to the table is almost priceless!

Additional Buying Tips

Safety

In terms of safety, we recommend going for power outlets with fireproof cases and some sort of built-in surge protection. You should also look for models with tamper-proof designs, especially if you’ve got curious kids at home who like poking around stuff.

App and user-friendliness

If you’re considering a smart wall outlet for your home, make sure its companion app is easy to navigate and use. You can get a good idea of how user-friendly an app is by going through some customer testimonials.

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This option from Kasa Smart has a premium plastic body that screws straight into a wall, and the mounting process is pretty straightforward. The brand also claims the setup won’t take more than 15 minutes. There’s also an instructional video on the app, too. Customers love how intuitive and easy the app is to use, and it allows users to control and set timers for connected devices from almost anywhere using a 2.4GHz WiFi connection. There’s also a handy “away mode” for periodically turning on the lights when you’re away, helping deter intruders. You can also use this option with Alexa or Google Home and control your connected devices using voice commands. This amazing app has earned this product the best overall spot on this list.

Pros

Easy-to-use companion app
Tamper proof and certified by ETL for safety
Easy installation

Cons

Only one color option

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The Lumary Smart Wall Outlet has an elegant white shell that is resistant to circuit surges and fires. This shell is also resistant to tampering, which is great news if you have a curious kid at home. This option doesn’t take a lot of time to install either. The installation process is a little tricky, though, since you’ll be mounting it straight onto your wall. The brand does provide a link to a tutorial video that can help streamline the process. Once installed, you’ll need to download the app to control the devices plugged into this product. The app can also connect to Alexa and Google Home via your home’s Wi-Fi, and it also lets you name each outlet and control them individually or together.

Pros

High-quality, tamper-resistant construction
Phenomenal price point
Compatible with both Alexa and Google Home

Cons

Setup can be tricky

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Elegrp does things a bit differently with this smart USB wall charger. Unlike our first two options, this product doesn’t have smart-assistant integration available. The “smart” feature of this power outlet is optimizing the charging of the devices plugged into it, so devices with low batteries are charged quicker. This power outlet also helps ensure that the flow of current is seamless, quiet, and safe. It has two 20A receptacles and two USB Type-A ports for faster charging. Customers particularly love how this option comes in four different colors that suit most interiors.

Pros

Available in four different colors
Tamper-proof, 5VA flame-resistant design
Optimizes device charging for energy efficiency

Cons

Harder to access when the USB port is full

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Similar to our previous option, this outlet from Lvetek also serves as a smart USB wall charger. There are five receptacles included, three USB A ports and one USB C port. The first thing that comes to mind when talking about outlets is surges. This ETL-certified in-wall smart outlet takes care of this issue amazingly with its 1680-joule surge protector that comes built in. There’s also a fire-resistant casing housing the surge protection circuits, too.

Pros

Extremely easy to install
Comes with a wide variety of ports for versatility
Protects your devices from electrical surges and fires
Smartly tailors charging speeds to your devices

Cons

The center screw is useless for square wall sockets

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If you’re a little strapped for cash and are looking for some smart outlet solutions on a budget, consider the Geeni Wi-Fi Smart Wall Outlet. It is available in both receptacle and USB outlet formats. Mounting this bad boy up to your wall is also super simple. You’ll need to calibrate the app once this outlet is installed though. And the app lets you name both outlets and also gives you individual control over them. You can share the app’s access with your neighbors and loved ones too, which is pretty convenient.