Image: Michael Brown/Foundry
TP-Link’s Tapo smart home ecosystem gained a host of new products at CES 2025, including new home security cameras, smart lighting products—including a bona fide NVR system.
But if the recent stories about security flaws in TP-Link routers gives you pause, TP-Link assures us that there’s no longer any connection between it—TP-Link Systems—and China’s TP-Link Technologies. A TP-Link Systems spokesperson told us the company manufactures its products in Brazil and Vietnam, not China, and that it “owns its own factories, designs and manufactures its products, and controls its full supply chain.”
With that out of the way, let’s talk about the new Tapo products, starting with home security.
Tapo PalmKey Smart Door Lock
TP-Link
The Tapo PalmKey Smart Door Lock features palm-vein recognition technology that scans the intricate, unique patterns of veins in your hand. The company said this delivers unparalleled accuracy and security, surpassing traditional fingerprint or facial-recognition systems. Its scanner is designed to work flawlessly even with wet, dirty, or dry hands, ensuring reliable access for all family members, regardless of age or physical condition.
The lock includes seven other lock/unlock methods as well: Fingerprint, PIN codes, Wi-Fi remote control, a physical key, and third-party integration. It employs multi-layer encryption to safeguard user data and features a 10,000 mAh rechargeable battery with USB Type-C port for charging. Designed to withstand extreme conditions, the lock is IP65 weatherproof.
New Tapo security cameras
TP-Link promises compact Tapo C675D Kit, 4K dual-lens security camera can eliminate blind spots thanks to a wide-angle camera that sits on top of an independently controlled pan/tilt camera. Both cameras boast 4K resolution, and they both connect to an included solar panel to keep their batteries topped off. Unless other dual-lens cameras we’ve seen, the Tapo C675D is remarkably compact and non-industrial looking.
Tapo’s NVR (network video recorder) supports both Wi-Fi and PoE security cameras and can record 24/7, not just when triggered by motion or something else.
Michael Brown/Foundry
If you have a large property and need to deploy a camera at the perimeter, far from your Wi-Fi rounter, a 4G camera was your best solution. But that entails adding a monthly fee for the service. Today’s Wi-Fi HaLow now offers a subscription-free alternative, and you can get it with TP-Link’s Tapo C6165D security camera, which also comes with a solar panel to keep its battery topped off.
The Tapo C6165D can also be paired with TP-Link’s all-new Tapo NVR Security Camera System, which is capable of capturing video 24/7, instead of only in response to motion or some other trigger. It’s an 8-channel NVR (network video recorder) that can accommodate up to a 20TB hard drive for recording from 8 cameras simultaneously. You can either buy it with a hard drive preinstalled or provide your own.
The NVR system can accommodate wireless cameras that support the ONVIF video format, or you can connect PoE (Power over Ethernet) cameras if you don’t want to worry about recharging batteries. AI processing performed locally—not in the cloud—can describe what the cameras have recorded, making it much easier to find the footage you’re looking for.
Tapo Atom Link smart lighting
TP-Link’s Atom Link lighting system communicates over both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth mesh.
Michael Brown/Foundry
Few things are more annoying than having your smart lighting fail because your internet connection is down. The Tapo Atom Link lighting system promises to make that problem a thing of the past by connecting to both your Wi-Fi network and Bluetooth mesh. Should your broadband connection or router fail, or if one of the lights has a weak Wi-Fi signal, they can automatically switch over to Bluetooth mesh to retain control.
The Atom Link product family includes smart bulbs, smart downlights, and smart switches to cover all the bases. The Tapo app, meanwhile, lets you create dynamic lighting environments, set schedules, and adjust brightness and color temperature. Alexa and Google Home are also supported for voice commands, and TP-Link’s AI can even create lighting scenes based on the Tapo products you have in your home.
TP-Link Tapo expects to ship each of these product by Spring 2025, with pricing to be announced closer to launch.
