Switches

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Three quite different products are filed here, and the wiring in your wall decides which of them you can actually have.

• A smart wall switch replaces the switch on the wall entirely.
• A relay module hides in the back box or the ceiling rose behind the switch you already have, and makes the existing circuit smart without changing anything you can see.
• A battery scene controller is not wired to anything. It sticks to a wall and sends commands to Apple Home.

Read this before you buy a wall switch in the UK

Most of the switches in this directory are American or continental European, and there are two reasons a British reader should be careful.

The neutral wire. A smart switch needs continuous power to keep its radio alive, which means it needs a neutral at the switch. American lighting circuits usually have one. A great many British homes — especially anything wired before the 2000s — run only live and switched-live to the ceiling, with the neutral staying up at the rose. No neutral, no smart switch of this kind. Take the faceplate off and look before you buy anything, because this is the point at which most of this category becomes unavailable to you.

Back box depth. A UK plaster-depth back box is often 25 mm. Smart switches want 35 mm or more, and the electronics have to go somewhere. A switch that is electrically fine can still be a switch that will not close against the wall.

And the plate size. US switches are a different shape and size from a UK single-gang faceplate. They are not going to look right even where they fit.

If either of the first two rules you out — and for a lot of British houses they do — the relay module below is the answer, and it is usually the better answer anyway.

Relay modules: the British answer

Freedompro Switch Module

The Freedompro Switch Module 4C 5 A goes behind the switch you already own, in the back box or the ceiling rose. The existing switch keeps working exactly as it does now, and the circuit also becomes an Apple Home accessory. Nothing changes visually, the plate you chose stays on the wall, and the depth problem largely goes away.

Freedompro also makes a shutter version of the same module for blinds and curtains, which is the other place these are useful.

This is an electrician’s job rather than a screwdriver-and-YouTube job, and the module still needs a neutral in the box. But it removes the aesthetic and the sizing problems in one go, and it is why relay modules have become the default recommendation in Britain.

Wall switches

The one that is more than a switch: Aqara Panel Hub S1 Plus

The Aqara MagicPad S1 Plus — now sold as the Panel Hub S1 Plus — is three products in one plate: a light switch, a 6.9-inch touchscreen that shows and controls your accessories at the wall including third-party Apple Home ones, and a Zigbee hub. It fits a standard 86 mm back box, which is the common European and Chinese size and is the same footprint as a UK single-gang plate.

It needs a neutral, and it needs the depth. Where those exist, it replaces a switch, a tablet on the wall and a bridge with one thing.

Check price on Amazon UK

Belkin Wemo Smart Light Switch with Thread

The Belkin Wemo Smart Light Switch with Thread is a solid Thread switch with no bridge and no account required. Be aware that the Amazon UK listing is the American three-way model — the right product, in a US faceplate format. Buy it knowing that.

Check price on Amazon UK

Legrand Céliane with Netatmo

Legrand Céliane with Netatmo is the French option and the most attractive plate in this directory, from a range that is properly designed rather than assembled. It is a continental format, so it fits a European back box and pattern rather than a British one.

Check price on Amazon UK

Eve Light Switch

The Eve Light Switch is the Thread switch Eve owners want, with the same no-bridge, no-account behaviour as the rest of the Eve range. It is a continental format and we have no verified Amazon UK listing for it, so check the region before ordering from anywhere.

Battery scene controllers

Onvis Switch HS2

The Onvis Switch HS2 is a five-key battery-powered switch that controls Apple Home rather than a circuit. No mains wiring at all — it sticks or screws to any surface.

That solves a specific and very common problem. Smart bulbs stop working when somebody flips the wall switch off. A battery controller lets you screw the original switch permanently on, or put a control where there has never been a switch — beside a bed, at the top of the stairs — without an electrician.

If you have smart bulbs and a household that keeps switching them off at the wall, this is the fix, and it is cheaper than rewiring anything.

What to check before you buy

The neutral, first. Everything else is secondary. Faceplate off, look, then shop.

Two-way switching. A hall light switched from both ends is two switches on one circuit, and a smart switch has to be told how to handle that. Some models need a matching companion switch at the other end; some cannot do it at all. This is the second most common reason a switch goes back.

What the switch does when the bulb is smart. Putting a smart switch in front of a smart bulb means either can cut the other off, and the result is confusing. Pick one: smart bulb with a dumb switch left permanently on plus a battery controller, or a dumb bulb with a smart switch. Not both on the same light.

Dimming, and what it will dim. Trailing-edge dimmers suit modern LEDs; leading-edge ones flicker and buzz with them. A dimmer that is not specified for the LEDs you own is a dimmer that hums.

Whether it needs a bridge. Thread and Wi-Fi switches join Apple Home directly. Zigbee ones need the manufacturer’s hub, which is fine if you already have it and an extra box if you do not.

An electrician. Anything mains-wired in a wall is notifiable work in parts of the UK and a genuine hazard everywhere. Battery controllers and smart bulbs are the routes that need nobody.

The full list of HomeKit-compatible switches, dimmers, relay modules and scene controllers in the directory is below.