Leviton's second-generation Decora Dimmer review: Wi-Fi connected HomeKit switches

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Any smart home can benefit from great physical controls. The second-generation Leviton devices are just that, with reliable Wi-Fi connectivity, easy setup, and native support for Apple HomeKit.

Leviton's 2nd-gen Wi-Fi dimmer
Leviton's second-gen Wi-Fi dimmer


Leviton's new line of HomeKit-compatible devices was launched in March and included several different devices. There are in-wall switches, in-wall dimmers, smart plugs, smart plug dimmers, and the unique Anywhere Switch or Dimmer Companion.

In our home, we've been testing the in-wall dimmer switch and the Anywhere Dimmer Companion. All of these devices support IFTTT, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant -- but we stuck exclusively with testing HomeKit.

Leviton in-wall dimmer switch

In-wall smart plugs are a staple of any smart home. They can sometimes be a little intimidating because they do require a bit of wiring, but it takes a physical control already in your home and adds smart home control.

They're one of our most highly recommended upgrades for your home for this reason.

For the average person, they don't look that different than any other wall switch, but they can be scheduled, tied to motion, automated as you come and go, controlled via Siri, and more.

Painless installation

Once we killed the power to our room at the breaker, we removed our existing wall switch. Installation of the Leviton smart switch didn't differ at all from a standard light switch, as you connect the matching wire with the requisite wire nuts that are included in the box.

We do want to note that this does require a neutral wire. Older homes may not have this wire, so if you are unsure, check your existing switches before ordering.

Leviton's smart dimmer
Leviton's smart dimmer


With all the wires connected, we screwed the plate into the receptacle box and snapped on the included Decora wall plate. As these are standard Decora plates, you can pick and choose any other color or design from your local hardware store to match the rest in your home.

You aren't stuck with what's in the box, but the simple white option will be most common.

Design and appearance

The dimmer switch itself is a simple paddle-style switch where you can press at the top or bottom to turn the lights on or off. As this is a dimmer switch, there is a secondary smaller rocker sitting along the right edge, to incrementally adjust the brightness up or down in the room.

Leviton Dimmer
Leviton's new smart dimmer


Corresponding green LEDs stack up along the left side, representing how bright or dark the setting is.

A great little touch is that when you're turning the lights on or off, the lights don't harshly switch from on or off quickly. Instead, they take merely a second or so to brighten to 100 percent, or dim to off smoothly.

It is smooth and feels like a polished, more premium lighting experience.

The Anywhere Dimmer Companion

The hands-down best feature of the second-generation Wi-Fi Leviton Decora is the Anywhere Dimmer Companion. This is a second device that can be mounted in a secondary location to provide multiple control points in a room.

Perhaps a large living room with multiple entry or exit points, an open-concept kitchen, or maybe a long hallway could all benefit from at least two wall switches.

The Anywhere Dimmer Companion can be paired with the Decora Smart Wi-Fi second-gen primary dimmer, switch, mini plug-in dimmer, or mini plug-in outlet.

Leviton Anywhere Companion dimmer runs on batteries
Leviton Anywhere Companion dimmer runs on batteries


It runs off a pair of cell batteries that are accessed by pivoting out the face of the device. They have plastic covers to prevent them from discharging before use, with a quick pull enabling you to get started setting it up.

Leviton Anywhere Companion
Leviton Anywhere Companion


We mounted ours on a secondary location in the room that consisted of a solid brick wall, one where no switch previously existed. You can screw the plate right into the wall or cap off an unused switch, and even snap on a Decora plate.

Leviton Anywhere Companion
Leviton Companion mounted on a blank wall


You'd never know it was a fake switch. It looks just like the standard dimmer switch and is just as fast and responsive as the real deal. You can turn the lights on and off as well as dim them, just without all the wiring for a secondary switch.

The alternative here would be using a HomeKit button that would control the lights in the room when pressed. This is a terrible compromise, however, and not close to a passable option.

HomeKit buttons can control any other switches or devices, but they are slower, less reliable, and don't look like a traditional in-wall switch, as the Leviton does.

App and HomeKit control

Setting the products up with the app was easy. Once the switch had power and was blinking, we scanned the HomeKit pairing code printed on the product and walked through the standardized onboarding process, including connecting it to our home Wi-Fi.

Leviton dimmer in the Home app
Leviton dimmer in the Home app


Once the product appeared in the Home app, it also showed in the Leviton app. Third-party apps aren't essential for HomeKit, but in our case, we still downloaded it, though there's no need if you're sticking to the basic functionality HomeKit provides.

In the Leviton app, you can perform the occasional firmware update. We had at least one update in our time with the device, and it is annoying you need to go through the Leviton app, but this is something Apple only recently changed.

In the future, Leviton could perform updates through the Home app, but there are no promises here.

Other options in the Leviton app include toggling the auto-shutoff feature, where you can specify any from five minutes to 12 hours. You can also change the LED behavior, how long the LEDs stay on, how long the fade off/on rates are, and more.

In our case, we needed the Leviton app to set up our Dimmer Companion, since this isn't a specific HomeKit product but rather a secondary control for your primary control. We assigned our Dimmer Companion to our dimmer switch, though it could control a smart plug, too, if you have one of those.

The smart plug is a direct way to control a lamp or other appliance that doesn't currently have a switch.

Settings in the Home app
Settings in the Home app


As far as HomeKit, switches are simple devices that can be turned on, off, or dimmed anywhere between the two states. You can even use Siri to set how bright the lights are. "Siri set the living room lights to 50 percent" is a very common request in our home.

Since this is HomeKit, it can intermix with any other HomeKit gear you may have. It would be futile to create an exhaustive list of what the possibilities are, but we can give a few starting points.

If you have other lights in the room, such as Hue bulbs or light strips, you can have them set to toggle on or off whenever the Leviton light comes on or off. That way, the room as a whole can be controlled at once.

Motion sensors can also be used, so when you enter the room at night, your kitchen lights illuminate at 20 percent, but at 100 percent during the day. Lights can be controlled based on your location, so the porch lights turn on as you arrive, but turn off as you leave.

Our favorite and most commonly used automation is our goodnight scene. We tell Siri goodnight, and all of our lights turn off, our window shades close, our front door locks, our garage closes, and we get a summary notification letting us know if we left any windows open before we turn in for the night.

Should you buy Leviton's new second-gen Wi-Fi switches or plugs?

We can't overstate enough how important physical controls are for a smart home. Guests, older family members, and kids all don't play well if the sole way to control your home is via voice or other tech-based means.

By integrating the smart home technology into your existing wall switches, you open so many possibilities while still retaining a physical way to control your home.

Leviton's 2nd-gen Wi-Fi dimmer
Leviton's 2nd-gen Wi-Fi dimmer


Leviton's new Wi-Fi connected devices have been fully responsive, are easy to set up, and offer flawless control via Apple's HomeKit. We also love the secondary Anywhere Companion switches to control almost any other Leviton device. It's a benefit on top of HomeKit control.

Compared to other HomeKit switches, Leviton offers more flexibility and more features than almost anyone else. All at a reasonable price. No matter how far along your smart home is, Leviton can make it better.

Pros
  • Easy to install
  • Innocuous look
  • Simple controls
  • Dimmer has a nice fade on/off effect
  • Affordable
  • Wi-Fi connectivity and HomeKit support
  • Anywhere Companion is an amazing add-on
  • Rare HomeKit dimmer smart plug available
  • Various settings in the Leviton app
  • In-wall switches are a great way to update your home
  • Uses standard Decora plates
Cons
  • Neutral wire required for in-wall switches
  • Updates forced to run in Leviton app

Rating: 5 out of 5

Where to buy

You can view all of Leviton's HomeKit-capable second-generation Wi-Fi switches, plugs, and dimmer on Amazon where the standard smart plug starts at $24.99, the smart plug dimmer runs $29.99, the switch is $39.99, the dimmer switch hits at $47.99, and the Anywhere Companion starts at $18.50.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 35
    22july201322july2013 Posts: 3,564member
    No Thread? Doesn't Matter.
    netroxevolut
  • Reply 2 of 35
    netroxnetrox Posts: 1,416member
    I am tired of Homekit being unreliable with "no response" that happen too often - I am waiting for Thread enabled products which in theory should solve that issue since they "self heal" the network. 
  • Reply 3 of 35
    Andrew_OSUAndrew_OSU Posts: 573member, editor
    No Thread? Doesn't Matter.
    In this case, you don’t need thread. Thread is best for low power, Bluetooth connected devices. Or Zigbee/z-wave. Wi-Fi is even better because it connects directly to your network. No need for a border router or relying on other Thread devices. Some Wi-Fi devices though offer the ability to act as border routers themselves. Like Nanoleaf. The lights themselves talk over Wi-Fi but can bridge Thread devices to the network if you don’t have any other one nearby. 
    StrangeDaysroundaboutnow
  • Reply 4 of 35
    Andrew_OSUAndrew_OSU Posts: 573member, editor
    netrox said:
    I am tired of Homekit being unreliable with "no response" that happen too often - I am waiting for Thread enabled products which in theory should solve that issue since they "self heal" the network. 
    Not quite how that will work. In theory, Wi-Fi is still more reliable than Thrwad. Doesn’t require a border router or reliance on any other device. 
  • Reply 5 of 35
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,192member
    "In-wall smart plugs are a staple of any smart home."
    Not if your house is older and lacks the extra wire. In that case, smart bulbs are a staple of your smart home.
  • Reply 6 of 35
    Why does the switch need lights to tell you how bright the lights controlled by the switch are? My hue switches don’t have a light, but luckily I can tell by the light how bright the light is. 

    I wish they would stop putting lights on every damn thing. 
  • Reply 7 of 35
    j2fusionj2fusion Posts: 153member
    Why does the switch need lights to tell you how bright the lights controlled by the switch are? My hue switches don’t have a light, but luckily I can tell by the light how bright the light is. 

    I wish they would stop putting lights on every damn thing. 

    You can decide how long they stay on  from 1 to 25 seconds or have them on permanently or off permanently. Personally I like to have the reference of how bright the setting is. 
    kurai_kagejony0
  • Reply 8 of 35
    22july201322july2013 Posts: 3,564member
    No Thread? Doesn't Matter.
    In this case, you don’t need thread. Thread is best for low power, Bluetooth connected devices. Or Zigbee/z-wave. Wi-Fi is even better because it connects directly to your network. No need for a border router or relying on other Thread devices. Some Wi-Fi devices though offer the ability to act as border routers themselves. Like Nanoleaf. The lights themselves talk over Wi-Fi but can bridge Thread devices to the network if you don’t have any other one nearby. 
    That's helpful. P.S. My comment was also intended to be a pun.
  • Reply 9 of 35
    22july201322july2013 Posts: 3,564member
    netrox said:
    I am tired of Homekit being unreliable with "no response" that happen too often - I am waiting for Thread enabled products which in theory should solve that issue since they "self heal" the network. 
    I also get Homekit "No Response" all the time, randomly for each device. Right now two of my 8 lighting groups show "No Response". Last night it was 5 out of 8. The one thing I managed to do to improve the situation is change the Zigbee channel on my devices' hub. That improved my device responses from 50% available to 75% available. You may want to try that. However I've completely given up on anything that's Zigbee. This problem is well known, but there is no solution. And it seems to be that Apple considers it to be a bulb problem but the bulb manufacturers want Apple to fix it with Homekit. I don't know who to believe.

    Smart bulbs are supposed to be convenient and save time, but for me they are very inconvenient and I spend lots of time trying to fix them. I advise my friends not to invest in smart home tech until this is fixed.
    edited August 2021
  • Reply 10 of 35
    can more than one Anywhere Dimmer Companion be paired with the Decora Dimmer?
  • Reply 11 of 35
    cpsro said:
    "In-wall smart plugs are a staple of any smart home."
    Not if your house is older and lacks the extra wire. In that case, smart bulbs are a staple of your smart home.
    Not necessarily. The standard Lutron Caséta smart switches don’t require a neutral wire and are also great switches. I installed 20 Lutron switches last year and I absolutely love them. However, I got the much more expensive version that actually does require a neutral wire. The reason I went that route is because when I installed the standard switch I noticed a buzzing sound and when I tried the more expensive one, the buzzing pretty much went away. Also, the more expensive ones have a favorites button in the middle of the switch. I set all of the presets to 50% which is very useful for when I don’t want to be blinded in the morning. Some of the 20 switches I have are actually remotes. If you have 3-way switches, then you install the remote in the secondary location instead of a second switch. I think you technically can install 2 actual switches but it’s a more complicated setup and the remote is drastically cheaper. Plus the remote looks and acts exactly like the expensive switch. Unfortunately the standard switch doesn’t have the favorites button. One of the reasons why I went with the expensive switches is because I wanted all of the remotes and switches to look identical to one another.
    StrangeDays
  • Reply 12 of 35
    cpsro said:
    "In-wall smart plugs are a staple of any smart home."
    Not if your house is older and lacks the extra wire. In that case, smart bulbs are a staple of your smart home.
    Smart PLUGS are fine, you need neutral to make an outlet work.  Smart SWITCHES are the ones that can be a problem, as older wiring puts the neutral IN THE LIGHT FIXTURE and only runs the hot and load to the switch.
    pscooter63jony0
  • Reply 13 of 35
    JapheyJaphey Posts: 1,767member
    cpsro said:
    "In-wall smart plugs are a staple of any smart home."
    Not if your house is older and lacks the extra wire. In that case, smart bulbs are a staple of your smart home.
    Not necessarily. The standard Lutron Caséta smart switches don’t require a neutral wire and are also great switches. I installed 20 Lutron switches last year and I absolutely love them. However, I got the much more expensive version that actually does require a neutral wire. The reason I went that route is because when I installed the standard switch I noticed a buzzing sound and when I tried the more expensive one, the buzzing pretty much went away. Also, the more expensive ones have a favorites button in the middle of the switch. I set all of the presets to 50% which is very useful for when I don’t want to be blinded in the morning. Some of the 20 switches I have are actually remotes. If you have 3-way switches, then you install the remote in the secondary location instead of a second switch. I think you technically can install 2 actual switches but it’s a more complicated setup and the remote is drastically cheaper. Plus the remote looks and acts exactly like the expensive switch. Unfortunately the standard switch doesn’t have the favorites button. One of the reasons why I went with the expensive switches is because I wanted all of the remotes and switches to look identical to one another.
    Good info here, thanks. Do you ever have the “No Response” issues with Lutron that 22july2013 mentioned earlier? 
  • Reply 14 of 35
    Good info here, thanks. Do you ever have the “No Response” issues with Lutron that 22july2013 mentioned earlier?

    No, I’ve never had that issue. Once in a while the light will blink off and then blink back on a moment later. I have no idea why. Also with my Logitech Doorbell Camera I get “Logitech Doorbell is offline” “Logitech Doorbell is online” many times per day which is a little annoying. I believe it’s because the camera gets too hot. But why didn’t they design a camera that can withstand direct sunshine if it’s an outdoor camera? But other than that it’s a great doorbell camera and only costs $3 per month with HomeKit Secure Video. 
  • Reply 15 of 35
    Had one of these, the model just on/off and not a dimmer, and it lost connection once a week.  Had to hard reset and re-add it in the app and Homekit.  Ended up returning it.

    The router base is 8-10 feet away with no walls or obstructions. It was not a WIFI issue.

    If you google the issue Leviton wifi switches are notorious for disconnecting issues over the years. Not "no response" but disappears from the app totally cannot connect no matter what you do.

    I have only heard good things about Lutron Caseta; and they aren't THAT much more expensive per switch than Leviton really; $10ish more per switch (once you have the hub).  I will likely be going that route here.
    edited August 2021
  • Reply 16 of 35
    The roll out of HomeKit and supporting devices is a joke.
  • Reply 17 of 35
    KBuffett said:
    The roll out of HomeKit and supporting devices is a joke.
    Agree.  Compared to Alexa or Google the choices in devices are disappointing and more expensive overall (because Apple wats its cut surely). 

    Homekit has been a bit of a flop overall IMO after all of these years. 

    SUPPOSEDLY Matter is to fix this but that won't be for another year or more still. 
    edited August 2021
  • Reply 18 of 35
    stulaw01 said:
    Had one of these, the model just on/off and not a dimmer, and it lost connection once a week.  Had to hard reset and re-add it in the app and Homekit.  Ended up returning it.

    The router base is 8-10 feet away with no walls or obstructions. It was not a WIFI issue.

    If you google the issue Leviton wifi switches are notorious for disconnecting issues over the years. Not "no response" but disappears from the app totally cannot connect no matter what you do.

    I have only heard good things about Lutron Caseta; and they aren't THAT much more expensive per switch than Leviton really; $10ish more per switch (once you have the hub).  I will likely be going that route here.
    I just now checked Amazon. I saw the “Standard” Lutron Caséta dimmer switch and a remote bundle for $64.95. The “Expensive” version is listed as $115.95. When I bought my switches last year the “Expensive” version was $109.95.

    The “Standard” version does NOT require a neutral wire but also does NOT have a “favorite” button which is very useful to have.
    The “Expensive” version DOES require a neutral wire but also DOES have a “favorite” button which I wouldn’t want to be without.
    kurai_kage
  • Reply 19 of 35
    I forgot to add that Amazon offers a Lutron Caséta kit which contains 1 “Standard” dimmer switch, 1 remote, and the hub for $99.99.
  • Reply 20 of 35
    AppleZuluAppleZulu Posts: 1,990member
    The challenge with smart home tech is that it becomes difficult to isolate and resolve problems, as the sheer number of devices inherently add multiple layers of variables to the system. 

    Don’t rule out your WiFi routers themselves as a source of “no response” errors. I tried hanging on to AirPort routers, but they’re old enough I don’t think they were able to handle the number of connected devices. Layer into that the flakiness of the WeMo bridge, and I had regular, cascading failures of HomeKit connections. Upgrading to mesh WiFi routers  stabilized things significantly. 

    The Wemo bridge still occasionally flakes out and has to be restarted to bring Wemo devices back up in HomeKit. Since the Wemo bridge doesn’t have a way to do that without physically disconnecting and reconnecting power, it’s plugged into a non-Wemo HomeKit plug so that the necessary reboot can be accomplished remotely. 

    All this is to say that Leviton having a 2nd generation of hub-less HomeKit switches is an inviting prospect. 
    pscooter63
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