** Kasa Smart is currently only compatible with TP-LINK Smart Plug HS100/110/107 KP200/400/EP10, Smart Plug Mini HS103/105 KP105, Smart Switch HS200/210/220, Smart Power Strip HS300/303, Smart Bulb LB100/110/120/130/200/230, KL50/60/110/120/130, IP Camera KC100/105/110/115/120/200/300/310/400/410S/420WS, Smart Router SR20, and Range Extender RE270/370/350K **
Kasa Smart lets you add, configure, monitor, and control your connected TP-LINK Smart Home devices from anywhere in the world. You can schedule your appliances to turn on or off according to your schedule, or set them to Away Mode to deter would-be burglars. And that’s just the beginning. Purchase a TP-LINK Smart Home device and download the app to get started today.
I’m going to keep this brief. The interface is simple and easy to follow. I have no input on the 24/7 recording feature since I don’t use it. But being able to access the camera from my phone is fast and shows to have great picture quality for what I need. I don’t need my camera to be movie capable just to serve as a nanny cam for the most part. Try it first before listing to all these people’s horror stories and “horrible” experiences.
EDIT: The only way I can get my cameras to record anything is with 24/7 recording. When motion occurs I do not get notifications. The only way to discover any activity is to go through the 24/7 recordings and find manually. Most recent December update broke many features. I cannot get a notification about activity on my cameras pushed to my phone. There is also a whole host of other UI issues. Very slow and buggy. Camera is great, picture looks good, but the app has much room for improvement.
I am a middle-aged female and have installed 12 outlets, 10 switches, and a couple of dimmer switches. The installation is straightforward as long as there is a hot, neutral, and ground wire. I love the ability to schedule lights on and off time as well as turn everything off at the end of the day with a single app command. I have been using the Kasa app for about 3 months and have not had any issues with using the app. I absolutely love the Kasa app and highly recommend it.
Surprisingly basic app is pretty useless. There have been several times where I have needed to just edit a plug, for example to re-enter the Wi-Fi password, and my only option is really to delete the plug and start over. If you’re familiar at all with setting up a smart home that’s a pretty big defeat for such a minute thing. My wife bought some Amazon basic plugs because they happened to be on sale and the Alexa app immediately recognized the password had changed, and prompted me to fix it.
Update: in response you your request for info. I already did contact you and you didn’t help me. Also, there is no error to send. It’s just that the devices come and go offline for no reason… And nothing has changed with my wifi. Same wifi that worked great before you changed to 3.x.x. “This app keeps getting worse! So slow to update when you open the app. Take several seconds for some devices. And it’s not always the same device that is slow to update it’s status. It’s awful!”
Still the same problem. Widgets randomly stop working and you have only a subtle “x” appear that is extremely easy to miss. Each update gets worse! The developer comment below is false. You have to open the app, wait for the new loading circles to stop spinning on all your devices, and then click on them once, defeating the purpose of a widget! “Local only” mode randomly forced on several switches, no way to make them remote-capable. Widgets can’t control “local only” devices
So I definitely had some initial issues with setting up the camera. Notifications wouldn’t work and the camera wouldn’t record due to a bad SD card, TWO bad SD cards, in fact. Hmmm. A little suspicious, right? Well it turned out that I really did have two bad SD cards because once I purchased a new one the recording started to work fine. Also technical support was very helpful in fixing the notification issue I had. So all in all it’s a great product
Pretty solid app with a decent UI for controlling all your Kasa smart plugs and bulbs. Fairly easy to add new devices and add things like default (for bulbs) and schedules. Has nice features like groups which allow you to control, well, groups of devices. It is a little too easy to get lost in the app while trying to figure out how to do tasks beyond turn things on and off, but over-all, a solid app.
Update: 1/1/23 This update is the worst! Cameras always show offline until u refresh. Clicking on activity button you also have to refresh multiple times to get to the clip you are searching for. It also reverts to an old date instead of showing you the most current. You guys messed up something good. I hate using this system now. Decent, easy to use app. Easy to set up.
Beware, tplink does not seem to be careful when releasing updates. After the last major update, none of my switches respond as they should. Super long delay when switching on/off – up to 15 seconds (which is ridiculous if you’re controlling a light in a room). Broke most of my smart actions, none of which I’ve been able to get working again even after creating new ones. I’m not sure what they did or why, but now I’ve got 7 hardwired “smart” switches with absolutely no smart capabilities.
Bad user interface. It is impossible to change the name of a device, you are forced to delete it and re-add it. Light grey text & icons on a white background is an incredibly poor design choice. Others have complained about scenes and devices not working but other than a bit of a learning curve each time I open it to enable or add a scene, I have not had issues with controlling my smart plugs, but I also don’t have the camera or any other types of devices.
The latest design update looks great, but performs very poorly. I often have to wait 30 seconds or more just for it to give me an accurate status of my tp-link devices. Often just opening the app will cause my devices to start disconnecting from my network. Controlling them through Alexa seems to be the most reliable method at the moment, which was never the case before.
This app used to work bug free for years until the most recent update. It resulted in me buying more products, but now I have buyers remorse after the app update. Connectivity is poor and sometimes switching does not work. I need to refresh the screen and even then the correct status of the switches is wrong or the app won’t turn the switch on or off. Scenes don’t work reliably either and error out, or execute, but doesn’t change the switch state. The app used to work. Not so much now.
Edit Nov 2022: No longer buffers each time I open it. Fingers crossed it stays this way! When this app is functional, it’s fantastic, especially for someone like me with limited mobility. Previous review: As many others have noted, the newest update has broken the app. Where the power buttons should be are now spinning refresh icons. I’m unable to turn devices on or off while it’s doing this. It’s been weeks since this update and it still hasn’t been fixed.
We had to set up a new wireless network which required I set up every device again instead of just registering a new internet. The app updated apparently and now it lags a lot. Takes a while to load then takes a while to let me scroll through devices. Once I do that it takes a while to turn on and off things. Groups aren’t really working. If I hit on for a group sometimes it doesn’t work at all but if I turn each item on individually it works.
Kasa smart plug is the best smart plug system I’ve ever used. I’ve used others, but the functionality of the app and the reliability of the plugs is unmatched. The ability to set customized images for each device and to connect to devices while I’m not home is perfect. There is not a single thing in this app that disappoints me. Since I started I doubled down and ordered more plugs including outlets, power strips, and I plan to grab more. Five star experience. And best of all– no ads.
The outlets (we have both indoor and outdoor outlets) took too long to setup (knocked a star off for it) but eventually they connected and now it’s working wonderfully. The RGB light strip is perfect, has all the settings I want and is responsive. The lightbulbs are not good – you can’t animate them like the LED lights can. The bulbs should have color shifting over time as an option but it’s either a solid color or nothing.
I should’ve left a review before they revamped the UI, it was perfect. This new one however sucks. First off I’m constantly reminded to turn 2 factor on. It takes a while to load up my list when before it was pretty instant. The power buttons have been made smaller, I have fat fingers and now sometimes instead of turning the switch on or off I go into it where it makes it bigger. Also it always shows my devices opposite so I have to press the power button twice.
Everything was fine. I’ve been using it for 4 years without any major issue. Until the update when they changed the UI as others have mentioned. We have now constant problems, lights go offline and we can’t control them. Camera and doobell go on and off–line. Not sure what they did, but i am sure it is not good.
I have 6 HS103 plugs and currently they can only be controlled when my phone is connected to the same wifi network. If I’m away from the house, either on cell network or other wifi, I have NO control over my devices. There is NO setting that I can change to fix this, and I have searched through all the online help and no solution is offered. App and all firmware is up to date.
Same issues most other cheap “smart” light bulb apps have. The initial setup and connection runs smoothly; then, one day, the app and bulb decide they no longer want to connect and work with each other. No matter how much you reset, reinstall, both the app/bulb and your internet, and even if you get it to connect, the frustrating results of having it eventually disconnect again make the process not worth it.
Latest update has caused my devices to have a mind of their own. I had schedules for my smart plugs for Halloween so devices would turn on/off at particular times. Went to use the plugs for Christmas lights, no schedule set and now they turn on and off when they feel like it. Reset device made sure no schedule was set, still same problem. Made new schedule and outcome was the same they still did what they wanted. Interface is stark and poorly finished no separation between multiple plugdevices.
App has gone downhill lately. I can barely use it because it either shows my smart plugs as offline even when they aren’t, the home page shows that I have no devices added to my account when I do, or schedules randomly disappear and I have to restart the app multiple times for them to show up. Such a shame, as the plugs work great and the app used to work flawlessly. About to just replace Kasa with something that actually works. Get your stuff together and fix this app, Kasa!
I occasionally have the picture freeze when trying to review footage my cameras have recorded. The ticker below the video will keep counting and the sound will keep going but the image will freeze. This is probably more my internet’s fault than the app but I wish the app had a refresh button right on the video so that I wouldn’t have to close out and reopen and try to find my spot in the video again. Gets tedious.
Beta 3.1.3 update fixes nothing. Still shows only partial devices and status and then looses the connection and shows nothing. All devices are set to remote. I can remotely check my router and it shows all devices connected. This is intermittent, devices continue to work as programmed, but not sure if I can modify programs, or just turn on/off devices. Can’t do any resets be as I am 1000s of miles away. Devices are all on 2.4g network with mega byte speed internet. HELP
Tried to set up my account with email and password but when attempting to log in I’m told that one or the other is incorrect. Tried another email and password with same result. Even tried resetting password with same result. I know that both were entered correctly. This was certainly a terrible way to start out with a new device. It’s going back to Amazon.
Setting a time trigger is way harder than it needs to be and doesn’t work after going through the steps. Edit: I’ve made the app 3 stars instead of 1 because the Kasa support team has been fantastic. The issue isn’t resolved yet but they have kept me updated throughout their process which is a breath of fresh air. Will update to 5 stars once this is fixed
I have 2 plugs that both worked fine. Lost wi-fi one day than the one plug would not reconnect. Yesterday lost wifi again, and now the othe plug is also offline. I removed the devices from the app, but cant get them reconnected. Says they are off or out of wifi range. The are both plugged in and within range. Other manufacturers devices are working fine. I removed and reinstalled the app, still the same. Going back to my old manual timer switches I guess!
Soft reset, hard reset, restarting my phone, removing item from the list, making sure vpn is off, etc are doing nothing to get my plugs reconnected, not to mention turning on remote access. They’ve been buggy since I’ve gotten them except for a few recent weeks. I thought the bugs were finally fixed until today 1/7/23 they all came back. So many hoops to jump through just to try setting these things up, and they randomly disconnect anyway!
This new app for my Smart House plug controk started out pretty frustrating! I couldnt even get a keyboard to stay long enough to create a darn account in the app. But after thinking about the situation, I tried creating my account from my browser at the tplink site. Bingo, that worked. I was able to log into the app and I have 3 of 8 plugs configured with firmware updates. Glad I don’t have to send these back! In fact I’m going to order more since now that these are working, I think of other…
It’s a shame what’s happened to this app – used to be reliable, but now half the Kasa products show as disconnected/offline each time it’s opened even though they’re on the network with an IP. And you’ve got a problem with the app and your power strips, specifically, because I have 4 of those on four different networks in 4 different geographic locations and they’re all offline right now (and all assigned IPs).
Simple and smart user interface. So easy to schedule on and off times for a smart plug, or you can just the plug on and off too. You may find it hard to believe but app designers can really mess this up. Good news. The Kasa engineers are as smart as a smart plug. Great app. Buy more of these smart plugs because the first was so easy to use.
As suggested, details and screen shots have been shared with Tech Support and response has been helpful. Some issues have been addressed and I suspect updates will be available shortly to address and resolve the issues related to Camera management over WiFi. Management of CAMERAs is improved over WiFi and is functioning well over cellular. Found tech support to be very responsive in response to my reports of functionality issues. Other functions are working as expected and reliably.
I have been trying connect to the app for my smart bulbs and I still couldn’t connect. I tried changing bulbs, phones and lamps. Nothing worked. I tried reaching out to the customer support both online and on the phone and both couldn’t solve my problems. I have paired a lot of smart devices before so I’m pretty capable of following instructions. This app just doesn’t connect and it’s super frustrating, I really hope this could be fixed because I don’t want to return my bulbs I want it to work.
Kasa has been the best remote cam app i’ve encountered as of yet. You don’t need a light socket to plug in the ten foot length cord, which makes it even more versatile for placement, not to mention quick replacement for outwitting the creeping tweakers. And with the app you can access your feed, record clips, and edit if you wish from a remote location, enjoy!
Used older version of the app and was happy with it. The old version allowed me to set up schedules without having to log in to an account. This is VERY important to me. I have purchased 10 of the HS105 and HS103 devices and now they are useless to me. PLEASE restore the ability to set schedules without logging in and I will be happy to change the rating.
Since the Update the app is a mess. I have 6 cameras and whenever I open the app they are labeled incorrectly and I have to guess which oamera it will be. I click 5 Times on a camera and it still shows another cameras view before finally realizing and showing it. You CANNOT change the router without manually resetting and reinstalling them. Got a new router from the cable company and it’s an absolute nightmare. They are mounted as security cameras. I need a ladder to change settings!
I have multiple devices successfully connected to my home network…and NONE of them are Kasa products. Tried the smart plugs multiple times and they are garbage. Won’t connect to my network, 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz; no luck after factory resetting plugs either. Tried all of the troubleshooting suggestions on support website. This app sucks at providing accurate connection status info. Forget troubleshooting. The only thing that actually works is the physical on/off switch on the plugs.
The last update totally messed up my lighting. This app worked great the last couple years and now I can’t set a schedule to have my lights automatically come on and turn off. Keeps telling me the bulb is not connected, or in range or its unstable. Noting has changed, lamp is in same location its always been it, the router is in the same location its always been in which is about 12 inches from the lamp. Im very upset that something that worked so great now doesn’t hardly work at all.
I had no problem setting up the app with my outside smart plug, and I have had no problem controlling the plug with the app. I’m using this for outside Christmas lights, and I have them scheduled to come on at sundown and turn off at sunrise. I also have it connected with Alexa. Everything is working great with just one outdoor socket. I just bought some indoor sockets, an indoor camera and some smart color smart lightbulbs to add to this system, so we’ll see how that goes.
It does everything I can think to ask it to do. It took a minute to learn my way around the menus in the app, but this flat thing works, providing you’re willing to take the usual security risks that come with home automation. It’s worth noting that each outlet has its own physical switch. This is a feature you want, but in manipulating cables and plugs, you’ll find yourself accidentally tripping them. When you’re done messing with them, ALWAYS recheck the status of your physical switche LEDs.
Although this new version has useful features (smart actions/toggle), scene creation and editing has become a nightmare. I have roughly 40 Kasa devices. Creating or editing a scene involving more than a few of those now takes five times longer than the previous version. Instead of being able to do everything on one screen, I have the bounce back and forth between three, and try to remember what I already did because there is no indication which devices I’ve already included or changed.
Smart lights/switches work well enough most of the time. Not 100% reliable, but fine for what it is. The cameras on the other hand are infuriating. When motion activated, will only record 15-20 seconds, even when motion is still going on. But then if a strong breeze moves a tree in the distance, it’ll register movement. The sensitivity settings in the app are meaningless. The cameras are also always showing that theyre offline. Refresh the screen 6 times and they usually appear.
New UI absolutely ruined scene creation, which was bad enough before this. Instead of being able to set up your lights and physically see them in the room, then saving them all in this configuration in one setting, you now have to manually configure each and every individual light by setting that light, saving it as one of four of your “Preset Lights”, then save it to your scene… Again, individually. If you’re looking for smart lighting, steer far away from this. Use Philips Hue instead.
Setup forces you to choose different options. For example, while setting up plugs, after you’ve activated a plug it tells you there is a firmware update and gives you one option:. “Update now” . You can’t do ANYTHING but update. You can’t wait until later after you’ve activated them all. Once you reach this point you can’t even leave the app but it gives you a button to “update now”. It did that with the network part of setup as well. Although they seem to work well I don’t like that.
Every time I try to turn notifications on for my camera it says “operations failed. Please try again later.” It has said that every single time I try to turn them on. Otherwise, the resolution is good, the night vision is great – I use the camera to watch my dogs while I’m away. It’s very convenient and gives me piece of mind. I just wish the notifications would let me turn them on.
Kasa devices and the services that power them are just unreliable. They are the perfect example of why IOT devices that use a app and a server to operate are a bad idea. Everytime I want to turn the light on or off or change the color, it’s this constant game of do something in the app and the lamp does nothing or takes a while to change and if I don’t wait long enough it’ll remember all the things I tried changing and the lamp will just freakout. If you can return your kasa devices then I would
Very easy set up and simple scheduling and timer set up. Interfaces easily with Alexa and Google home, yes we have had both now. The plug bricks keep their identification even after most of the year in storage, which is super nice. I use two to run the Christmas lights and they get put away when the lights come down and start right up when the lights go back. I now have 9 of these Kasa plugs and couldn’t be happier with the ease.
Kasa smart plugs are the only product of the line I’ve used, but I am pleased with my exposure thus far. My nerves are calmed when I don’t need to physically see the room to ensure everything is off. I can just open the app and observe the status of the smart plug. That saves a lot of running when time is short.