TP-Link Tapo Smart Plug with Matter: Simple and mostly smart

After updating an older smart plug to support Matter in November, I tested my first Matter-certified outlet. The $19.99 TP-Link Tapo P125M supports Matter right out of the box. As a result, the setup process was essentially… boring.

That’s actually a good thing, and it bodes well for other Matter-certified devices in the coming months. I was able to set up the Tapo P125M in under a minute, testing the process using Apple HomeKit, Google Home and the TP-Link Tapo mobile app. It just worked. Every. Single Time.

I did get a warning from HomeKit that this is a non-certified device. That makes sense because the P125M isn’t HomeKit certified. Thanks to Matter that doesn’t… well, you know. Matter.

The setup process is also standard for most Matter devices. You just scan the unique Matter QR code with whatever smart home ecosystem software you use. For the Tapo P125M, that also includes Amazon Alexa and Samsung SmartThings, although I didn’t test those.

There is one small exception for a consistent setup process: The Tapo mobile app discovers devices on your network, so you don’t yet scan a QR code when adding devices. I expect that will change in a future software update.

The P125M uses 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi to communicate with other devices. So there’s no Thread radio here; it’s a Matter-over-Wi-Fi solution. Even without a 5 GHz radio, my Eero 6 Pro routers quickly got the smart outlet on to my network. Your experience may vary based on your home networking gear.

After on-boarding the Tapo P125M, and selecting a room in my smart home dashboard for it, I was able to control it through my main smart home apps. One tap in HomeKit, Google Home, Eve, and Tapo turned the outlet on or off. Voice control across platforms worked too, which is one of the key benefits of the Matter standard.

Using my Google Assistant or Siri through my iOS devices and Apple Watch, I could flip the switch on the outlet with a spoken command. There’s also a manual power button on the outlet, which is handy too.

Speaking of handy, Tapo’s smart outlet isn’t large. That’s great because some smart outlets are too big to allow for two of them to be plugged into a single outlet. It’s no problem for Tapo P125M. Also useful is how the smart plug supports automations either as a trigger device or as an outlet you want powered on / off based on some other device.

I created a test automation in HomeKit, for example, that switches the Tapo smart plug on when an Eve Motion Sensor detects movement. I limited the times for that automation to run only between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. The idea is that when the Eve sensor sees the first person come downstairs, the Tapo plug can turn on some device in our kitchen. I tested the automation, as did my wife since she’s a morning person, and it worked without fail.

Clearly the Tapo P125M is a smart plug. It could be smarter though.

While it supports remote control, schedules, away mode and automations, it doesn’t provide any energy monitoring data. So if that’s what you’re after in a smart plug, this Tapo model isn’t for you. Then again, for a penny under $20, this is still a good value. Just know that you won’t have access to energy usage data from this plug.

Aside from not having that feature, the Matter-certified Tapo P125M is a great little smart plug for not much money. If my wife wanted a smart outlet, I’d wholeheartedly recommend she buy this. She doesn’t care about energy monitoring data. She would want something that’s easy to set up, works with her devices and digital assistant, and won’t break the bank. That’s exactly what TP-Link delivers in the P125M.