Smart sockets for lamps you already love

Keep the lamp. Upgrade the socket.

wick replaces the old turn-knob socket inside your favorite lamp. The knob still twists. Now the lamp also answers to Apple Home, Google Home and Alexa, keeps a soft glow through a power cut, and can notice when you walk in.

Reserve from the first batch How a retrofit works
E26 bulbs1/8 IPS lamp pipe120 V · US & CanadaSmart Home over Wi‑Fi or Thread
The wick socket in Tuxedo, white top and black base, holding a glowing bulb
Made for lamps with stories

The brass lamp from your grandmother's piano. The thrift-store find with the perfect pleated shade. The ceramic lamp you carried through four apartments. Lamps outlive us. Their sockets don't have to fall behind.

Smart bulbs make you give up the bulb you like and the knob you reach for. wick keeps both. It lives where the old socket was, under the shade, and the lamp looks exactly as it always has.

Five finishes

Hidden under a shade, or proudly on show

Most sockets live out of sight. Some don't: the bare-bulb lamp on the bookshelf, the brass stem with a vintage globe. Pick the finish that suits the lamp.

wick in Tuxedo: white top, black base, white wordmark
TuxedoWhite top, black base. Our favorite.
wick in White with a dark wordmark and brass knob
WhiteDisappears under a shade; brass knob.
wick in matte Black with a white wordmark
BlackFor lamps where the socket shows.
wick in Brass
BrassSits with brass stems and harps.
wick in Dark bronze with a gold wordmark
BronzeDark bronze, gold wordmark.
A teal ceramic table lamp with a lit linen shade and a white wick socket beneath it
Under a shadeWhite or Tuxedo blends in where the harp meets the socket.
A walnut and brass table lamp with a bare amber globe on a black wick socket
On showBlack, Brass or Bronze for bare bulbs, globe lamps and open sconces.
The retrofit

About fifteen minutes and one screwdriver

wick threads onto the same lamp pipe your old socket used. If you've ever changed a lamp socket, you've done this before. If you haven't, the guide in the box walks you through it.

  1. Unplug, unscrew the old socket

    Pop the brass shell off its cap and loosen the two wire screws. Keep the harp and shade.

  2. Connect two wires

    The lamp cord's two wires go into wick's terminal block, the ridged one to the neutral side. The cord grip clamps the cord so nothing pulls on the joints.

  3. Screw it on, add a bulb

    wick screws onto the 1/8 IPS pipe. Put the shade back, plug in, and add it to your home app with the code on the box.

Underside of the wick socket showing the threaded lamp-pipe bush and the cord grip
Lamp pipe
Standard 1/8 IPS thread, found in nearly every North American table and floor lamp. Versions for other mounts are on the way
Bulbs
E26, the regular screw-in base (what's that?). Dimmer models need dimmable bulbs; 3‑Way models take a 3‑way bulb
Size
45 mm wide, 72 mm tall (1.8 × 2.8 in). Most harps leave room; measure if your shade sits tight
Power
120 V AC, 60 Hz, through your lamp's own cord and plug
A regular E26 bulb base, 26 mm across, beside a smaller E12 candelabra base, 12 mm across E26 · 26 mmregular: this one E12 · 12 mmcandelabra: not this

What's an E26 bulb?

It's the regular screw-in base on almost every household bulb in the US and Canada: E for Edison, 26 for its 26 mm thread. The socket is the threaded cup that bulb screws into, and that's the part wick replaces.

Not E26: the slim candelabra base (E12) on chandelier and night-light bulbs, and the big mogul base (E39) on some older floor lamps.

Retro outside, clever inside

The lamp behaves the way it always did. It just knows more.

What stays familiar

The twist of the knobOn/Off and 3‑Way click four times a turn, like the sockets they replace. Dimmer clicks off, turns smoothly and stops at full. No phone required.
Your bulb, your lightAny E26 bulb you like: warm filament LEDs, vintage globes, a 3‑way reading bulb.
The look of the lampwick sits under the shade where the old socket was. The wordmark is inlaid flush, never stuck on.
Side view of wick in Bronze with its twist knob

What's new

Talks to your homeSmart Home over Wi‑Fi or Thread: it pairs with Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa and SmartThings. On Thread, every wick also strengthens your smart-home mesh. Control stays on your own network.
Ember: a night light that keeps watchTwo small upward LEDs glow softly through the shade. With the lamp off, they are a night light you dim from your home app. When the power drops, they light the room for about fifteen minutes, enough to find the door or the flashlight.
Sense: notices you're thereA 24 GHz presence sensor sees people even when they sit still, so the reading lamp stays on while you read. No camera, no microphone.
Gets better over timeNew features arrive as over‑the‑air updates. Reach models add a USB‑C port for setup and tinkering.
Why not a smart bulb?

Smart bulbs put the brains in the part you throw away.

A smart bulb is a little computer you screw in and eventually bin, and it drops off your home app the moment someone turns the lamp off at its knob. wick moves the smarts into the socket, so the knob, the bulb you love and the app all agree.

FeaturewickSmart bulb
Use any bulb: filament, vintage globe, 3‑way, high‑CRI●A few shapes
The lamp's own knob is the smart switch●Turning it off takes the bulb offline
Your home app can always reach the lamp●Not once the knob is off
The smarts outlive the bulb●Binned with the bulb
Glows through a power cut, and doubles as a night lightEmber–
Notices when you walk insenseRarely
The line

Pick your wick

Every wick comes as On/Off, Dimmer or 3‑Way. Reserve now with no payment; we confirm price and ship date before anything is charged.

Side by side

Featurewickwick emberwick reachwick reach emberwick sense
Twist knob that clicks like a classic socket●●●●●
Smart Home over Wi‑Fi or Thread●●●●●
On/Off, Dimmer or 3‑Way●●●●●
Ember night light–●–●●
Ember outage glow (about 15 min)–●–●●
Long-range Wi‑Fi antenna––●●●
USB‑C port––●●●
Presence sensing––––●
Questions

Before you reserve

Where wick is todayPrototypes are in assembly now. Before the first batch ships, wick still has to earn its electrical safety listing and its smart-home certification. We will tell you when each is done.
Will it fit my lamp?

If your lamp takes a standard E26 bulb and the socket screws onto a threaded tube, almost certainly. That tube is 1/8 IPS pipe, the North American standard. wick is 45 mm wide and 72 mm tall, a little wider than a classic brass socket, so check that your harp clears it. Like any good socket, the threaded shell sits down inside the housing, out of reach of fingers while you change a bulb.

My fixture isn't a table lamp. Will wick fit?

The first wick threads onto 1/8 IPS lamp pipe. Versions for other mounting patterns are coming, along with shade-holder versions, including one that holds a glass shade with a neck of about 2 inches. Reserve the one you want and tell us about your fixture in the note.

Do I need an app?

No. The knob works on its own, exactly like the socket it replaces. Add wick to Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa or SmartThings when you want schedules, voice or scenes.

Which bulbs work?

Any E26 LED or incandescent bulb: the regular screw-in kind (picture above). Dimmer models need bulbs marked dimmable. 3‑Way models step a 3‑way bulb through low, medium and high.

What does Thread add?

If your home has a Thread hub (many recent Apple, Google and Amazon speakers and streaming boxes are one), wick can join over Thread instead of Wi‑Fi. Every wick then relays for your other Thread gadgets, so a sensor or lock at the far end of the house stays connected. It strengthens your smart-home mesh; it is not a Wi‑Fi extender for phones and laptops.

What happens in a power cut?

Ember models carry a small rechargeable cell. When mains power drops, two upward LEDs light the room softly for about fifteen minutes, then switch off to save the cell. The cell recharges on its own once power returns.

Can Ember be a night light?

Yes. While the lamp is off, the two upward LEDs can glow as a soft night light, at whatever level you set in your home app: all night, on a schedule, or on wick sense, only while someone is up and about. The night light runs on wall power, never the cell, so the outage glow is always there when you need it.

Is presence sensing private?

wick sense uses a 24 GHz radar that measures movement and stillness. It has no camera and no microphone, and it doesn't record or send images or sound.

Is it safe to put in my lamp?

wick is built like a power product: mains parts sit 5.5 mm from low-voltage parts on every layer of the circuit board, the mains section is potted, and the closure screws are non-conductive PEEK. It ships only after its electrical safety listing is complete.

Where do you ship?

The United States and Canada, where lamps run on 120 V and E26 bulbs.

What's Thread?

Thread is the low-power mesh network that newer smart-home gadgets use. Sensors, locks, blinds and plugs pass messages to each other instead of all calling one Wi‑Fi router, so every always-powered device makes the network stronger.

To use it you need a Thread hub, sometimes called a border router. Many recent Apple TV and HomePod, Google Nest and Amazon Echo devices already are one.

wick works over Wi‑Fi or Thread. On Thread, every wick is a relay that stays on even when its lamp is off, so the sensor at the far end of the house stays connected. It isn't a Wi‑Fi extender: phones and laptops still use your router.