Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug review: an affordable device that offers all the smarts

As smart devices take over the home, one product that’s often overlooked is the smart plug. The best smart plugs turn your non-smart devices into smart ones, so you can schedule your kettle to turn on at a certain time in the morning, and switch off vampire appliances using your phone.

One of the most affordable smart plugs on the market is the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug. I’ve been testing it for a few weeks and it might be the most affordable and convenient way to add smart tech to your home – keep reading for my honest review.

Tapo P110M Smart Plug review: price and availability

The Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug is £16.99 and available to buy at Tapo and select retailers like Amazon and Argos. It’s often discounted during sales seasons – as of writing, it’s been cut to just £10.99 at Amazon. The Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug comes in a 1-pack or 4-pack.

Tapo P110M Smart Plug review: set-up

As the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug is literally just a plug, there’s not much to unbox with it. The packaging is nice and compact, and comes with the plug and a small instructions manual, mainly because the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug is insanely easy to set up.

To set up the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug, all you have to do is plug it in and download the TP-Link Tapo app. Once the app is downloaded, you do the rest of the set-up process through there, including connecting the plug to Wi-Fi and to the app, giving it a name and location, and designing schedules and timers – it takes a few minutes at the most.

Tapo P110M Smart Plug review: design

The Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug is slightly larger than other traditional plugs, despite it being a ‘mini’ size. But it’s extremely compact and doesn’t overlap onto the wall when plugged into a wall socket – although it does overhang slightly on extension cords. It’s quite chunky so when you have something plugged into it, the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug will stand out a bit, but it doesn’t take up too much space, nor is it an eyesore.

The Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug is designed to turn non-smart devices on and off from wherever you are, using the Tapo app. If you prefer manual use, you can unplug the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug from the outlet or even just press the manual on/off button at the left side of the device, but you’re missing out if you’re not using the Tapo app – more on the app experience below.

For indoor use only, the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug has a 13A Max output. It’s also compatible with Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri voice commands. It’s also Matter certified, so you can integrate Matter-certified devices into your preferred smart home ecosystem.

Tapo P110M Smart Plug review: app

The TP-Link Tapo app is free to download on Google Play and Apple Store. It’s clear, concise and colourful, and you can install all of your TP-Link and Tapo devices on there, including smart lights, cameras and more.

The app is laid out neatly and its home screen displays all your devices in one place. The homepage is sectioned into ‘All Devices’, ‘Favourites’ and into different rooms to make management easier and more seamless. It also has plenty of icons to play with, so you can give your plug a doodle of the location itself or what it typically controls the most, for example, when I used the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug in the kitchen, I gave it a coffee machine icon.

When you click on your device, like the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug, the app allows you to customise the plug. In the app, you can automatically turn the plug off and on, and organise schedules and timers so it turns devices off after a set amount of time. It also has an away mode that turns devices on or off at different times of day to make it appear that someone is home even if they’re not.

The most helpful section in the Tapo app is its energy monitoring. It allows you to set your electricity rates to better estimate how much your energy bills will cost, and it offers personalised insights into the plug’s usage and power consumption. While this is not yet supported by Matter, this feature was incredibly useful while I was testing the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug.

The app has other smart actions and automations available so you can turn off all your Tapo devices with one tap for the ‘Leave Home’ option or turn off your lights in ‘Night Sleep’ mode which I did quite often. Using the Tapo app was my favourite part of testing the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug, as it had such a fun design and made the set-up and management processes very easy.

Tapo P110M Smart Plug review: performance

To be honest, there’s not too much to say about the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug as… it’s a plug. It performed well as a normal plug and smart plug, so it definitely met my expectations. While some people didn’t like the manual button on the side, I actually found it to be helpful. If I was in the same room as the plug, I’d simply press the button to switch it off and it made a subtle noise to tell you it was turned off – which it did when turned off in the app, too.

I tried the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug in my kitchen and bedroom. In the kitchen, I had my kettle plugged into it so it would turn on at 6:30am when my fiance would go downstairs to make a cup of tea. It’s important to note though that if you want your kettle to boil while you’re in bed or out the room, you’ll need to fill it up with water and pop the button the night before – the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug can only do so much after all!

I preferred using the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug in my bedroom with my bedroom lamp and charger. I hate charging my phone overnight as I don’t like the idea of the charger still being in use when the phone is fully charged, so I enjoyed using the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug to set a timer so it turned off after a set amount of time. The energy monitoring in the app also came in handy and it was good to look over how much energy my plugs were using in a day.

Tapo P110M Smart Plug review: verdict

If you’re looking for a smart plug that won’t break the bank, the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug is a great choice. Is it the most advanced smart plug on the market? No, but it’s certainly getting there with its Matter compatibility and voice commands.

The Tapo app that accompanies the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug is the real gem, and if you like Tapo products, this smart plug will happily fit into your smart home ecosystem. At £16.99, you can’t really go wrong with the Tapo P110M Mini Smart Wi-Fi Plug.

Tapo P110M Smart Plug review: alternatives to consider

Tapo is a sub-brand of TP-Link, and T3’s favourite smart plug is the TP-Link Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Plug Slim KP115. Its energy monitoring and compatibility features are top notch, and it doesn’t cost very much either.

Another good alternative is the Amazon Smart Plug. It’s a bit chunky and it can sometimes be hard to find online, but it’s very affordable and is a must-have if you’re an Amazon Alexa fan.