Kasa Smart Plug With Matter Now Available
Back in the middle of March, we reported on the existence of a new Matter-enabled version of Kasa’s popular WiFi smart plug. This has since been released in the US via Amazon.com amongst other places. The Kasa Smart Plug Mini with Matter certification or the KP125M is almost exactly the same as the standard model, with the model number KP125, but of course with Matter compatibility.
With Matter, you can now add this plug to Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings, and although you might be saying to yourself, “Well this was already possible before”, the difference here, at least concerning the platforms except for HomeKit, there’s no longer a need to bind a Kasa account to these platforms in order to use it, and as there’s no need for this cloud-based connectivity, it means control is entirely local, which is a central feature of Matter.
Of course, this has pretty much always been the case with HomeKit, but if you live in a mixed ecosystem smart home, with HomePods, Google Nest displays, or Alexa speakers, this should improve the overall performance of this and other Matter-enabled devices.
The KP125M uses standard 2.4GHz WiFi, which for me is its only downside now that Thread is more readily available in smart plugs from Eve and Wemo*, along with forthcoming plugs from Onvis for the EU, UK, and US, but it’s worth bearing in mind that at the time of writing this article, Matter over Thread devices currently only work with HomeKit, Google, and possibly SmartThings, so if you’re an Alexa user, WiFi is a better option for now.
The KP125M offers 15A/1800W, offers power monitoring via the Kasa app, and is available as a 2-pack, for US$39.99, or a 4-pack for US$69.99, giving you a saving of roughly US$2.50 per smart plug.
