This smart-home control button might look like a simple wall switch, but it’s way more than that

Flic’s latest smart home button adds support for gesture controls.
You’ll be able to gesticulate, push a button, or do both on the Flic Duo to trigger an action.
The button can be wall-mounted or used on the move.

It’s easy to gloss over the more simple launches at CES 2025, but as I was browsing the rows at a preview event on the eve of the official show floor opening, a smart home button caught my attention.

Flic is not an entirely new brand; it already has a few products, including buttons that you can use to control just about anything. At CES, though, it’s unveiling the Flic Duo, which, as the name suggests, offers two buttons that can be programmed to perform what feels like an endless list of possibilities.

It boasts a few firsts, and the Flic Duo feels like real competition for and a smart upgrade over classic switches. It comes with a wall mount, but even when it’s on the wall you can easily pull it off to carry it around, or perform a gesture to trigger another task. This makes it something akin to a magic wand, and in a demo I saw someone adjust the brightness of a trio of lights by simply holding a button in and swiping to the left or right.

Well over 30 commands are available between button presses and gesture controls. For instance, you could set it to control a pair of smart blinds, and raise or lower them by mimicking that movement with the Flic Duo in hand. The options here are nearly endless, as the Flic Duo supports the Matter smart home standard out of the box and Apple Home or Amazon Alexa, so you can easily connect it and then begin to integrate it with automation and routines.

You can even have it change roles based on where it is – so when it’s wall mounted, the Flic Duo can act as a standard light switch, but when you’re moving around it can do any number of things. Maybe you’ll have it control a smart speaker, turn on the TV, or even start up a robot vacuum. The Flic Duo comes in either black or white and is only 8mm thick, meaning it won’t stick out much from the wall and is easy to carry. Plus, like an Apple AirTag, it runs on a standard, user-replaceable CR2032 battery.

CES 2025 square badge — (Image credit: Future)

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What I think takes the Flic Duo to the next level is that beyond just letting you press a button or two to control something, you can really get the most out of it and be pretty descriptive with what you want to do to create an outcome.

Thanks to the sensors and accelerometer on board, you could create some fun custom gestures. For instance, Disney Channel fans might be able to make the mouse ears gesture to have the Flic Duo start their favorite playlist on a connected speaker or even fire up a classic film – High School Musical, anyone? You’ll also be able to control the experience within the Flic app (for Android or iOS), and if the Flic Duo goes missing, you can ping it to have it emit a sound.

Flic will open preorders on January 28, with shipping set to begin some time in the second quarter of this year. The Flic Duo is priced at $69.99 in the US, but early bird pricing will be as low as $49.99; availability and pricing for other regions is TBC.