Can you control a Smart Plug without Internet? It turns out the answer is a big Yes, and I found out entirely by accident. Of course, it might also depend on the type of plug and how it is designed. .
I have a SmartLife smart plug that uses a WiFi connection to control home appliances. I have an app installed on my smartphone and from there I have set up schedules and also have manual control of the smart plug.
Recently, our home fibre-based Internet connection went AWOL due to a disruption along our axis. Yet, I am still able to control the smart plug from my phone. How is this possible when the Internet isn’t working?
I suspected that the smart plug might have a Bluetooth fallback link for this to be possible. So, I went digging around to se if I was right.
You Can Use A Wireless LAN To Control A Smart Plug Without Internet
The smart plug required a WiFi connection, not necessarily an Internet connection. As such, while the home Internet link is down, as long as the router is on, the WiFi is still broadcasting a local signal (LAN) which keeps the connection between my phone and the smart plug alive.
Basic Smart Plug Schedules Do Not Need Internet
The next surprise was finding out that if you set basic timers or schedules for your smart plug, like I did for mine, the plug stores these internally and runs them even when offline. No Internet required. Surprise! A pleasant surprise. These things are smarter than I thought.
Note that some advanced automation may require a cloud or Internet connection; these will not work if your Internet connection is down. But basic timers and schedules are stored internally by modern smart plugs and so do not need an Internet connection to continue to kick in.
You Can Use A Bluetooth Failover To Control A Smart Plug Without Internet
It turned out I was tight about this. A number of newer models have a Bluetooth fallback or failover built into them. As such, while they primarily use WiFi for long-distance control (like when you are away from home), they have a Bluetooth chip for initial setup.
When the app detects that the WiFi connection is gone, it often silently switches to a Bluetooth Mesh or direct Bluetooth connection. If you are standing within 30–50 feet of the plug with your phone’s Bluetooth turned on, the app is likely sending the “On/Off” signal directly to the plug through the air, bypassing your router WiFi entirely.
How to tell if the smart plug is relying on Bluetooth fallback? If you can still control a smart plug without Internet only when you’re close to it, it is likely Bluetooth at work.
Final Thoughts
But the key takeaway for me in this episode is that even when your WiFi Internet is off, the router still broadcasts Wi-Fi and the smart plug and phone continue to communicate over this connection.
While you won’t lose basic functionality when your WiFi router’s Internet is off or not working, you might find that you are unable to manually control the smart plug remotely (when you are away from home).
So, yes; you can control a Smart Plug without Internet. And you now have an idea of how it works.
Don’t forget that you can add your smart plug to your Google Home setup on your phone. I have a video demonstrating how to go about it.
