Tewke
An AI-powered smart light switch that turns your wall into the control hub of the home.
About
Tewke is a London climate-tech startup whose Tap device replaces an ordinary light switch with a full home-automation hub. Tap bundles lighting control, energy monitoring with real-time tariff pricing, Sonos control, thermostat control, and seven environmental sensors (temperature, humidity, VOC, CO2, air pressure, ambient light, Doppler radar motion) into a drop-in wall switch that needs no rewiring. In 2026 the flagship Tap adds TewkeAI, a voice assistant powered by Google Gemini that answers questions and handles smart-home commands on the switch's OLED display, activated by touch rather than an always-listening microphone.
Tewke was founded in 2020 by Piers Daniell, won a Red Dot design award in 2024, and joined the Google for Startups Accelerator: AI for Energy in 2025. The Gemini integration was announced alongside Google at Slush, which gives the AI story more weight than a typical startup announcement. TewkeAI was slated for the first half of 2026, so at the time of writing it is a shipped-or-imminent feature rather than a long-proven one. Tap is UK-centric in its energy integrations, so the savings pitch depends heavily on your tariff and region.
What it can do
- Tap smart light switch: drop-in replacement with OLED touchscreen, no rewiring
- TewkeAI: Google Gemini voice assistant with on-screen responses, touch-activated
- Seven environmental sensors: temperature, humidity, VOC, CO2, air pressure, ambient light, Doppler radar
- Real-time energy pricing and carbon-intensity monitoring
- Lighting scenes, automations, and motion-based control
- Sonos integration, thermostat control, and mobile app control from anywhere
Setup
- Order Tap from tewke.com; it replaces an existing light switch with no rewiring.
- Install the switch (an electrician can do it in minutes) and connect it to Wi-Fi via the Tewke app.
- Configure lighting scenes, energy monitoring, and Sonos or thermostat integrations.
- Activate TewkeAI on the display for Gemini-powered voice questions and home control.
Prerequisites
A home with standard light-switch wiring; the Tewke mobile app; a variable energy tariff unlocks the savings features.
Use cases
Works with
Trust score — 6/10
Scored 6/10 (metrics tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: Red Dot design award 2024 and Google for Startups Accelerator participation corroborated by Startups Magazine and IoT Insider; tewke.com verified live with Tap range and TewkeAI details; Slush announcement with Google. Strengths: real shipping hardware, credible design and AI partnerships. Docked for: (1) small startup with limited scale evidence; (2) TewkeAI is newly launched, so its real-world quality is unproven. License: proprietary.
How the trust score is built
Full methodology →- Adoption · stars/downloads, log-scaled vs peers
- 6.0/10
- Maintenance · recency, releases, issue load
- 8.0/10
- Openness · license + docs
- 6.0/10
- Manual review · sanity read + red-flag check
- 7.0/10
- · Red Dot design award 2024; Google for Startups Accelerator: AI for Energy participant (Sept 2025, Startups Magazine)
- · TewkeAI (Gemini-powered) announced alongside Google at Slush; IoT Insider and Automated Home corroborate H1 2026 rollout
- · tewke.com verified live with Tap range, sensor specs, and TewkeAI details
- · Small startup, UK-centric energy integrations; TewkeAI quality unproven at launch
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these sources. Where a claim comes from the provider and couldn't be independently verified, the text says so.