Sensor-driven automations that require no user actions are the best way to control a smart home. For example, to save energy, the temperature set point of a smart thermostat can automatically be set back when a smart home is unoccupied. Occupancy can be determined a variety of ways including a geo-fence, the home/away status of a smart alarm system, etc.
Another sensor-driver automation could occur late at night, when pathway lights could be dimly lit when a motion sensor detects that someone is moving from their bed to the bathroom.
Additionally, a smart smoke detector could be set to trigger a smart thermostat to turn off a forced air HVAC system. This keeps the HVAC system from spreading smoke from a house fire throughout the home.
However, there are times when homeowners need to manually turn on/off lights, adjust a thermostat, or change the volume of music. Voice commands, with the widespread adoption of inexpensive smart speakers, are a simple way to control a smart home. But voice commands are not always the most desirable solution for smart home control. For example, using a voice command while your family is streaming a newly released episode of their favorite show to the large TV in your living room, can be both disruptive and problematic. And, in spite of smart speaker manufacturers’ promise to respond to a voice command in kind when you speak to one in a whisper, this doesn’t always work. The smart speaker incorrectly response at a normal volume level can result in it, for example, disturbing people who are sleeping. Also, it is impossible for house guests to know the proper voice commands to perform very basic tasks in a smart home.
Introducing Shortcut Labs’ Flic Smart Button
Shortcut Labs is a Swedish company that was founded in 2013 as an incubator at KTH innovation (KTH is one of Europe’s leading technical and engineering universities). It was here that the original Flic smart button was developed and launched on Indiegogo in 2014. That campaign raised almost $1m with a total of more than 13,000 backers. To date, over 800,000 Flic Buttons have been delivered to customers.
Shortcut Labs now manufactures a number of smart home products.
Flic Button 2 – In 2019, Flic launched a redesigned Flic Button on Kickstarter. The Flic Button 2 retains its predecessor’s overall design as a simple button for smart home control. It supports three different actions: push, double push, and hold. It also includes a three-color LED (red, green, and yellow) to provide feedback to a user. Other features of the Flic Button 2 are:
- Reusable micro suction cups on the back of the device for securing it to surfaces
- IP 44 rating allows the Button 2 to be placed near a sink where it might be splashed with water
- Power from a replaceable CR2032 battery with an expected life of three years
- Optional accessories such as label stickers and a wearable clip
- Bluetooth connectivity to a smart phone, laptop, or Flic hub with a range of up to 164 feet (50m)
Flic Twist – In 2021, Shortcut Labs launched the Flic Twist on Kickstarter. The Flic Twist is a multi-function smart home controller that offers push and twist actions. It is basically a Flic Button surrounded by a twistable dial. It can be configured with four different actions: push, double push, twist, and push and twist. There is also a segmented ring of LEDs surrounding the central button that provides user feedback on the twist of the outer ring. Other features of the Flic Twist are:
- Three different options for mounting the Flic Twist to surfaces. First, a wall mount that is screwed onto a wall and acts as a hanger for the device. Second, a reusable double-sided sticker. Finally, a built-in magnet for attaching the Flic Twist to a metal surface.
- Powered by two AAA batteries with an expected life of two years.
- Uses Bluetooth for connectivity to a Flic Hub with a range of up to 164 feet (50m). Unlike the Flic Button 2, connection to a smart phone or laptop is not supported.
Flic Hub Mini – The Flic Hub Mini allows input from Flic Buttons and Twists to control other smart home devices and services with very low latency. The Hub Mini includes 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi for connectivity to the user’s home network. A total of up to 63 Flic devices (Buttons and Twists) can be connected to a single Flic hub.
Flic Hub LR – The Flic Hub LR includes all the features of the Flic Hub Mini plus some significant enhancements.
- Adds support for 5 GHz Wi-Fi and wired Ethernet for connecting the hub to a home network
- Includes a port for an infrared (IR) blaster so items in the same room as the hub that are controlled by an IR remote can be included in actions from Flic Buttons and Twists. The Flic Hub LR’s IR blaster can control a wide range of IR-enabled devices, such as TVs, sound systems, and other home entertainment equipment
- Compatible with Apple HomeKit
- Includes a 3.5mm audio out jack for connection of external speakers to the Hub LR. This enables the Hub to play sounds as feedback when a Flic Button is pressed, providing audible confirmation of your actions.
- Includes the ability to leverage the Flic software development kit (SDK) to expand the functionality of the Hub.
Accessories – Flic offers a number of accessories for the above products:
- Flic Button Metal Clip – Allows a Flic Button to be attached to any wearable accessory or clothes
- Flic Textile Attachment – Uses LumeoTech to attach a Flic Button to textiles
- Flic Button Wristband – A wrist strap designed to protect a Flic Button while it is being worn on your wrist
- Flic Button Sticker Sheet – A sheet of stickers for labeling the functionality of a Flic Button
- Flic Twist Sticker Sheet – A sheet of stickers for labeling the functionality of a Flic Twist
Integration
The power of Flic’s products are the built-in integrations. Coupled with the Flic Hub Mini or Hub LR, Flic supports a wide range of integrations, including Alexa, Chromecast, Homey, Harmony Hub, IFTTT, IKEA DIRIGERA, IKEA TRÅDFRI Gateway, Internet Request, LIFX Cloud, LIFX Local Network, Nanoleaf, Philips Hue, Power Automate, Slack Post, SmartThings, Sonos, Spotify Web Connect, Telldus, VLC , WeMo, Wink, and Zapier.
In addition, as of October 2024, Flic has added support for the Matter smart home standard to the Flic Hub Mini and Hub LR. Flic has implemented its own Matter Controller and Matter Fabric. So, it can function in parallel with other Matter-compatible smart home platforms and control Matter compatible lights, switches and other Matter-compatible devices.
Flic also has announced the addition of Flic Script, a JavaScript-based scripting API, to the Flic Hub LR. Using Flic Script, users can now program their Matter controllers to listen to and control any Matter device.
In addition, a Flic Button 2 can be integrated directly with a smart phone. On my iPhone the button can be configured to integrate/trigger/control: Alarm Clock, Amazon Alexa, Apple Music, Bose SoundTouch, Chromecast, Count Presses, Delay (pause before next action), Ecobee, Fart Generator, Find My Phone, Flappy Flic. forScore, Hang Up Call, Harmony Hub, Home Button Press, Home Connect Plus, Homey, iBooks, GitHub, IFTTT, IKEA TRÅDFRI Gateway, Internet Request, Keyboard Control, LIFX Cloud, Lock Screen, MIDI , Command, Music Control, Mouse Command, Nanoleaf, Native Camera, Navigate, Newzik, Open Sound Control, Phillips Hue, Play Sound, Power Automate, Random Number, Runkeeper, Send Text Message, Setlists, Share Location, Slack Post, Snooze Alarm, Sonos, Spotify Web Connect, Stopwatch, Strava, Telldus, Timely, Timer, Vibrate, VLC, Volume Control, Wink, and Zapier.
Using the ability to perform an internet request when a button is pushed, double pushed, or held, I was able to integrate the Flic Button 2 and Twist with a Crestron processor. The Crestron driver I wrote to receive button events from these Flic devices can be found on my GitHub here.
Hands On with Flic Buttons, Twist, and Hub Mini
Flic provided me with three Flic Buttons, a Flic Twist, a Flic Hub Mini, and sticker sheets to evaluate for this article. Setting up the Flic Hub Mini, Flic Button 2, and Flic Twist are very simple:
- Download the Flic app from the appropriate app store for your smart phone/tablet
- Agree to app permissions including allowing the app to access Bluetooth and for the app to send notifications
- Create an account
- Optionally add a Flic Hub Mini to your account. You just need it plugged in and the app will find it
- Add a Flic Button 2 or Twist. Simply press and hold the button on these devices for a few seconds for the app to pair it with your hub or smart phone
- Name the device you’ve added.
- Add actions for the events supported by the device. i.e. Push
I was interested in testing integration with the Matter smart home standard. I chose a Matter light from the options and, after a hub firmware update, I entered the device code from the Apple Home app for a Linkind, Matter-compatible RGBW bulb that I had already paired with Apple Home. I was also able to integrate an AiDot WELOV P200 Pro, Matter-compatible air purifier that I had paired with Apple Home.
This, and the other integrations I tried, worked perfectly. My only disappointment was that the integration with Sono’s speakers is limited in functionality. I could select a playlist, but I found I couldn’t use different button events to select different favorite stations on Sonos. This is a limitation forced upon Flic by Sonos but it still limits the usefulness of Sonos integration.
One of my favorite integrations was the ability to trigger Find My Phone through a button press. Now, if I misplace my phone, and my wife isn’t home to call it, I can trigger the phone to sound a foghorn so it can easily be located.
The integrations of the Twist are somewhat different. While the button on the Twist supports the same integrations as the Button 2, the dial is different. The dial only supports control of a bulb (brightness, color, etc.), control of the volume of an integrated device, and adjusting the level of integrated blinds. This worked very well with my Linkind bulb.
However, you can get more creative by, for example, choosing selector mode. This allows you to press and twist to choose up to 11 different functions for the Twist’s button. While selector mode makes the Twist an extremely flexible device, I found it difficult to use, and the complexity of that functionality isn’t supported by your ability to label the Flic Twist—even with the stickers they offer. The only potential solution would be for the button on the Twist to be a small LCD screen that could display icons and words to prompt the user as to the functionality. Even this isn’t a perfect solution because you would have to show the functionality of both press and double press button events for each of the possible 11 positions of the dial. It would also drive up the expense of the product.
Areas for Improvement
My first wish for Flic is that they would offer a multi-button keypad instead of having to buy multiple buttons. I think a 4-button keypad would be ideal. While you can use a Twist in selector mode for a multi-button keypad, a 4-button keypad would be much easier to use and should be a more economical solution.
Second, the Twist has a rubberized ring on the bottom of the device to keep it from moving on a tabletop during operation. I found that it was still was too easy for the Twist to spin while twisting the outer ring. More of the rubberized compound on the bottom, rather than just a very narrow ring, would hold it in place better.
Conclusions
The Flic Button 2 and Twist are easy-to-use smart home user interface devices. The integrations that Flic has built into these products is what separates them from similar devices.
The Flic Button 2 is uniquely flexible in how it can either be paired with a Flic Hub for generalized smart home control or to a user’s smart phone. When paired with a smart phone, it will only function when that user’s phone is nearby. However, it can perform unique actions to trigger functions on the phone, including triggering a loud sound to help locate the phone.
