SwitchBot Hub Mini Smart Remote – IR Blaster, Link SwitchBot to Wi-Fi (Support 2.4GHz), Control TV, Air Conditioner, Compatible with Alexa, Google Home, IFTTT

Reasons I buy SwitchBot
1. Great customer and tech support: I can easily file support tickets in the SwitchBot app and always get solid responses within a reasonable time. As an early adopter of new products, I sometimes ran into issues with the firmware, and the customer support team could always relay my reports to the tech team and get back to me with fixed firmware.2. Matter support: I love Matter because Matter devices can be linked to other smart home systems in parallel (HomeKit and HomeAssistant, in my case). SwitchBot is one of the few companies (if not the only one) that followed through Matter implementation. They have withheld their promises to bring Matter support to existing devices and are adding Matter support to new devices, too.3. Innovation: SwitchBot Bot is obviously an outstanding innovation that has solved numerous pain points in people’s lives. SwitchBot continues to innovate by not only keeping a tunnel vision on traditional smart home devices. I especially love the universal remote because it provides the most accessible physical access I need to access my smart home with maximum flexibility.4. Solid build quality and affordability: Switch-bot products have build quality and durability. They are reasonably priced, in my opinion, especially when compared to other products that support Matter or HomeKit.

Needs Work
First the good bits. This device is well made, (not necessarily, well designed – get to that shortly), easy to set up and integrates with other Switchbot products easily.However when used as a IR Blaster, it leaves a lot to be desired. I have a dumb Sony TV. Seeing I had a Switchbot Temperature Meter in the same room though I would use the Mini Hub with Alexa to control my TV. This is where things got sad.The Switchbot App allows you to set up a remote for the Mini Hub. Proceeded to do exactly that. After set up, it would not perform all the functions as it should. For instance, one remote setting would not allow volume change another might not allow channel selection. Decided to do the TV remote learning choice. Did this, it appears to work but it can select no channel higher than nine. Say you want Channel 12, you can not say to Alexa select Channel 12, the Mini Hub will go two channel 2. Only way to make it work properly is to select Channel 9 then go up one at a time. The actual TV Remote has no problems which means the Switchbot Mini Hub is not copying the ir signal correctly.In my view, Switchbot should be on to this and fix it. Selecting the right Remote Layout gets even worse. Volume increase/decrease is painfully slow. If you asking for a volume increase to say, 15, it does it but it is incredibly painful to watch.Would I recommend this to someone else. Yes, with the provision, you stick to Switchbot products or are happy with a lame duck TV remote system.

WAS good. Now garbage.
05/19/2023: 1 starI haven’t needed to make any mods for a long while, so have had no reason to go into the app. Now I got a new fan I wan to add, and I find that there’s a new version of the app installed which is apparently VERY broken, and will not allow me to access any of the devices I’ve already got set up. Period. It keeps claiming a network error, but when I try to run existing routines, they work fine. So it’s the app. No question. At least the device still works, so it’s not completely useless. But it does mean I’ll have to research, find, and purchase replacement devices of some type. I’m sure these guys aren’t the only option – not if this is how they treat their customers! I’ll try to remember to come back and tell you what I went with, when I make that transition. It may be a while though.SEVERELY crippled – Dropping from 4 stars to 1—01/18/2021: 4 starsThe second Hub Mini is now working fine, after I changed to a different power supply. Support was slow to respond, figured it out on my own. Since that’s not mentioned in the troubleshooting instructions and Support was so slow to respond, I’m keeping it at 4 stars.—01/10/2021: 3 starsBought a second one of these to control devices in another room. The first one works great, but the second has been nothing but trouble. Have contacted support (today) using app feedback option. Will be returning, may or may not replace.—01/02/2021: 5 starsMake a few “scenes”, which are basically programs where you tell it to do something and it carries out a series of actions. These can be activated manually, by timer, or by Alexa. These scenes work well, but a great improvement would be to be able to set the time between commands. It’s about two seconds, so if I want to say, turn up the volume 5 clicks, it hits volume up, waits 2 sec, hits it again, waits again, etc. If they could make it a user-adjustable delay that would be awesome.The other thing about the scenes are that you get to name them, but they are activated in Alexa with “Turn On”. So if your scene is to do something else, like, for example, turn off the fan, you’d have to say “Alexa, Turn On Turn Off the Fan”. I’d rather the activation phrase be something like “Play Scene” or “Do Routine” or something generic like that.In the initial review, I mentioned that I added some additional buttons, but they didn’t take, and I couldn’t figure out how to go back to that screen and try again. I figured it out. And you CAN re-name your devices. However, when you make Scenes, they do not automatically rename, so get your names right before you make scenes.One nice perk. Working with another home automation thing, I accidentally deleted this app. I thought I’d have to re-do everything, but when I re-installed and logged back into my account, all my commands were right there once again. Whew!Raising from 4 to 5 stars.=====12/30/2020Wifi setup was about usual for IOT devices. Create an account, connect to your router, etc.Device setup was unclear. You have to manually choose the device type (TV, etc.) then the manufacturer (Sony, etc.) before you get to the “Learn” button. From there, you tap the learn button, then a button on your remote, and it guesses what it is. Then it will walk you through several screens, where you try the buttons to find out what version works with your device. Not onerous, but the instructions are unclear that you have to manually choose type and manufacturer first.Allows creating custom buttons, but I haven’t got those custom buttons to work with Alexa yet. It would help a lot if you could re-name them, but you cannot. You have to delete and re-add to change their name.Most of the buttons on my TV remote are not available. At one point, I did end up in a screen that had my TV remote and an ADD button, where I added a few missing ones, like Back, Input, and QMenu. But then when I went back in, those mods were gone, and I’ve been unable to find a way back into that edit mode to try again. That would be REALLY helpful if I could add those three buttons!The main screen buttons (choosing your device) seems a bit non-responsive, requiring me to press several times before it takes. Fortunately, after setup I shouldn’t have to use the phone app much.Alexa can now turn on/off/up/down both my TV and sound bar, and so on, so I’m mostly happy with it.Have not tried with Google yet, but expect similar results.With the aforementioned editing & button-adding capabilities, this would be a five-star device. Hopefully the app will be updated to include them later.

Most of this review is the same as when I review the hub2 by showing how to add the universal remote to the hub2, suitably amended for the universal remote control. I have been waiting literally 10 years since the Harmony universal remote for an upgrade product, smarter and more versatile. Enter the Switchbot hub2 and universal remote. I have their other products, as well the hub2, and so it is an easy adaptation. For people new to them, the cost can add up. Just to be clear, the universal remote can be used on its own, but the functions are very limited. The hub2 is a very versatile product and if you consider their other lines of products later, it is worth investing in it in my opinion. The setup is very simple just following their on screen step by step instructions. You have 3 ways to add remote control functions – smart matching, add manually or use learn buttons. It is the third way that interests me most. I have a lot of odd devices, like karaoke, sound processor. So this means of learning is perfect for me. I attach a video to show how to learn a remote function to the hub2, and you can simply transfer all remote control functions from the hub2 to the universal remote later by synchronizing them, a very simple process. As for appearance, it is very appealing to me, white and bright, different from 99% of remotes out there. I don’t like skimpy remote and the size is perfect. Recommended.

I think it’s perfect..i got this mainly to control my AC on the go..Suppose im outside..nd i want my room to be cooler before i reached my room..so i could control my ac from anywhere ..this product exactly did the same thing..i even tried it from outside of my home..nd it worked perfectly as expected..so i can say it works for me🤙

Funciona excelente te con Alexa controlando el York, aún en los ajustes secundarios.