HomeKit Weekly: SwitchBot’s K11+ Pro packs strong suction and Apple Home support into a tiny robo vacuum

The robot vacuums designed for large open floor plans often have big batteries but take up a ton of space. The SwitchBot K11+ Pro goes the other direction: a tiny vacuum, a small dock, and Matter support so it works with Apple Home. HomeKit Weekly is a series focused on smart home accessories, automation tips and tricks, and everything to do with Apple’s smart home framework. The SwitchBot K11+ Pro is 9.76 inches across and 3.62 inches tall, and weighs about 5 pounds. That size is the whole point. It can work its way between chair legs, get closer to corners and walls, and slide under beds, couches, and cabinets that larger robots bump into and give up on. If you have a couch that sits lower to the ground, you know what this means Navigation for the SwitchBot K11+ Pro is done by LiDAR for mapping and route planning, plus a close-range sensor for spotting furniture legs and following wall edges. It stores up to five maps, so you can carry it upstairs and it’ll know where it is, too. Inside the SwitchBot app, you get room and zone cleaning, schedules, no-go zones, and virtual walls. I use the SwitchBot app almost daily and really like it a lot. It’s super easy to use and navigate. A dock that isn’t as big as a trash can To me, the small dock is more critical than a small vacuum. Self-emptying docks are great until you realize most of them are the size of a small trash can. The Switch K11+ Pro’s station is around 9.4 by 7.1 inches. It also has a wood-patterned lid, so it looks less like an appliance sitting in your living room or laundry room. Inside the dock is a disposable dust bag that should last up to 3 months, depending on usage. SwitchBot rates the K11+ Pro at up to 12,000Pa of suction, which is double the original K11+. I’ve got the original K11+, and while it’s great, it’s better suited to a bedroom than to a main living area. One thing to keep in mind: that’s a peak number from Max mode. Day-to-day, the Quiet, Standard, and Strong modes run much lower, and the robot automatically bumps up to Max when it hits carpet. On the other end of the power spectrum, Quiet Mode runs at about 45dB, which makes it a lot more realistic to run while you’re working from home or after the kids are in bed. My wife prefers quiet mode at all times, where I want more power at all times. With my other SwitchBot vacuums, the difference between Max and Quiet mode is that the latter can run while watching TV, whereas the former cannot. For pet owners, it uses an all-rubber main brush and a two-arm side brush, both designed to keep hair from wrapping around them. If you’ve ever had to sit on the floor with scissors cutting dog or cat hair out of a roller, you’ll appreciate this feature. How it works with Apple Home The K11+ Pro supports Matter over Wi-Fi, so it pairs directly with Apple Home, and you can start a cleaning with Siri. SwitchBot lists Apple Home support for section cleaning, so you’re not stuck with an all-or-nothing on/off switch. Once it’s in Apple Home, it’s also available to your automations. Start cleaning when everyone leaves the house, and finish it before anyone gets back, etc. One thing to keep in mind is that the mapping and advanced functionality are managed in the SwitchBot app. So you’ll need to do a lot of your initial setup in it, but then you can rely on Apple Home day-to-day. Wrap up Big robots are built for big houses, but smaller homes will fit perfectly with it. The K11+ Pro is small enough to reach under the furniture, the dock is small enough to hide, and Matter means it works well with Apple Home. We have a larger unit in the main part of my house, but I am considering swapping to this one simply for its smaller footprint and manageable power. If you vacuum while no one is at home, you won’t mind that it has to recharge and empty itself a few times. The SwitchBot K11+ Pro is available now in Black and White on Amazon and SwitchBot’s website. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.