Wemo shows off HomeKit-enabled Stage smart lighting remote at CES

The wireless, wall-mountable Stage lets you change smart lighting and device scenes at the touch of a button

Life

Wemo Stage Credit: Belkin License: Supplied Art

7 January 2020

Belkin-owned Wemo already makes some of our favourite smart switches (we were quite impressed with Wemo’s recent three-way smart switch), and now the budget-minded smart-home manufacturer is unveiling a new, wall-mountable remote that lets you change lighting scenes in a flash.

Debuting this week at CES, the magnetic Wemo Stage is a three-button device that is designed to fit Wemo and Decora faceplates, or you can simply use it as a handheld remote.

The three buttons on the Stage are marked with dots (one on the first, two on the second, and three on the third), and by single- or long-pressing a button, you can activate up to six scenes—for example, a night mode, a TV-watching scene, or a morning scene.

The Wi-Fi-enabled Stage features native HomeKit support and it works without a hub, but a Wemo rep said that an Apple “home hub,” such as an Apple TV, a HomePod, or an iPad, is required for using the Stage with HomeKit.

Set to go on sale this summer for $50, the Wemo Stage should last for about two years on a single coin cell battery, Wemo said.

Besides the Wemo Stage, Wemo has a new smart plug at CES. The new WiFi Smart Plug is a much smaller version of Wemo’s existing Mini Smart Plug—indeed, at just 2.1 inches wide, the WiFi Smart Plug is much narrower than the 3.8-inch wide Mini Smart Plug.