Switchless, a new startup launching a Kickstarter campaign soon, is bringing its own take on smart switches to the market. There’s lots to unpack in the company announcement regarding the switch, but first and foremost is that they’ll offer Matter over Thread connectivity, meaning it should work with all four platforms – including Apple HomeKit – although some of the promo material strangely doesn’t show the Alexa logo, even though Amazon is mentioned elsewhere.
As you can see from the image above, the switch also includes a sort of night light containing fourteen LEDs at up to 120 lumens brightness to help you see the switch in the dark, although if you’re worried about using something like this in a bedroom, this light can be turned on or off, as well as set to one of 255 brightness levels.
Another standout feature is that this is a capacitive touch switch, so it doesn’t have rocker or toggle mechanics, instead relying solely on touch. This offers the ability to deploy a long press action to set the night light to a user-configured brightness. The company claim touch control will also work through gloves – perfect for when you return from a chilly December walk.
Perhaps the most interesting part – if Matter, Thread, a night light, and touch control weren’t enough – is that you can buy cover plates that include smart sensors, allowing you to choose from six different options;
Temperature
Humidity
Motion
Sound
CO² & VOCs
The last three are labelled as ‘coming soon’ so I suspect the first two will come together in one smart faceplate. These faceplates connect to the switch via a USB-C port. We’ve already seen a similar concept offered with smart outlets via a company called Intecular – also on Kickstarter.
Unfortunately for some, this does require a neutral wire, but the Kickstarter page does state the switch is capable of being used in a three-way configuration. Further, the same page tease a dimmer version of the switch will be ‘coming soon’, which brings us to the nature of some Kickstarter products; Some don’t make it to market, with little recourse regarding backers getting their money back. In some cases, products do get released but lack the central compatibility that is offered during the promotion phases. This was the case with one company selling a multi-sensor and an air purifier, both of which were touted as HomeKit compatible, only for all mention of this removed once the products were launched.
So with all that in mind, you can check out the Kickstarter page HERE, although we want to make it clear, that providing this link and the article do not implicitly endorse or guarantee any of the stated claims made regarding this product.
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