Wifi Smart Internet App Enabled & Voice Controlled Kettle | Silver | 1.7L

Finally got myself this kettle after weeks of dithering. Certainly glad I took the plunge and placed an order. Kettle arrived as per delivery notifications and was well packaged. Take time to read the instruction manual before plugging in the kettle and there are also videos on the appkettle website detailing how to get started/set up the different features. I had a slight problem registering the app but the guy at appkettle (it's an 0191 landline number on their website) solved it immediately for me. Once the app was registered and it paired with the kettle, a firmware update was required which didn't take long. I think this update now gives support to wifi 5.0ghz as well as 2.4ghz although I've not tried using the kettle on 5.0ghz. Connecting to Alexa was a breeze. Just enable the appkettle skill, link the account and that's it. There is limited functionality using Alexa in that you can only turn the kettle on/off and the water temperature will default to 100degs - no adjustments are possible. Hopefully, Alexa will become more flexible in the future and you will be able to tell her to make one of your favourites stored in the app. The ability to use wifi, 3G/4G is great because it gives total flexibility wherever you are. Some reviewers have commented on the kettle lid and the possibility of burning oneself although I don't see a problem as long as the lid is grasped how it should be - by the sides and lifted straight off. The only negative point is the price. It's very expensive but it is a well made, quality product and it's functionality in my opinion makes it worth it.

I've been looking for a 'connected' kettle for a while now but all the others have stupid flaws - such as the lack of any visual indication of how full the kettle is without using an app (I'm looking at you "Smarter iKettle"). This kettle is totally usable without the connectivity - you can see how much is in it, select any temperature and so on right on the kettle itself. As for the connectivity - it took about three attempts to connect to my network - it failed twice and then succeeded on the third attempt. The app works nicely and if you have an apple watch you even get a notification on that when the kettle has reached temp. You can set the default temperature (I drink coffee not tea so I want it at 90 not 100 which is the OOB default). Initially - when using Alexa - that default setting was ignored and it boiled to 100. However after contacting support and explaining the problem - a day later they updated the server and now it respects the default - great customer service ! All in all if you are looking for a connected kettle (and if you are then you've already swallowed the price tag that goes with it) - look no further ! Tip - when you download the app for the first time it starts with 'whats new' including a notification that there is an update that must be downloaded to allow connection to a 5Ghz network. That whats new is targeted at existing users - not new ones so it causes confusion when you read it. What it means is that the kettle itself has a firmware update waiting and you cannot get to that until after you've set it all up the first time - on a 2Ghz network. After you've connected - then you can download the firmware update and switch to the 5Ghz network if you want - I didn't bother and left it on the 2Ghz.

As per other recent reviews, the manufacturer has now gone out of business so the kettle is no longer supported and you can no longer download the app. This is frustrating for people like me who bought the kettle a few years ago and therefore can't return it. So what I have is a very expensive dumb kettle. Don't get me wrong, it's a really well made kettle with some cool features, but without the app you can't really use most of these. If you own the kettle and are lucky enough to already have the app installed you can continue to use it. However, from what I can tell it's no longer possible to link it with smart assistants like Alexa. As other's have said, the kettle is really picky with the types of routers it will connect to. I'm personally on Virgin and it connected fine whilst I had a Virgin Hub 3. However, I recently got a new Hub 4 after which it would no longer connect. I have managed to find a way to fix this though which might help others in the same situation - I recently got one of Virgin's 'Intelligent Wi-Fi Pods' to boost the signal and since installing this my kettle now connects to the Wi-Fi. I don't know why it worked but it might help anyone else in the same situation. This also means I can continue to use the app, even if I can't connect it to Alexa (If anyone has managed to still get this working I'd be interested in hearing from you!) Long term, I'm going to buy one of the other smart kettles on the market. However, for now I'm just going to get as much use out of this one as I can as I need to get over the fact I spent so much on this and now can't use it as it was designed. I really feel like Amazon should offer more support for customer's in this situation - If I could get my money back on this I'd happily use it to buy an alternative.