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The Mui Board: Where Wood Meets Smart Home Technology
There's something deeply refreshing about a tech product that deliberately refuses to scream for your attention. The Mui Board isn't trying to be the loudest voice in your living room. It's not competing with voice assistants or flashy touchscreens. Instead, it sits on your wall as a beautiful piece of natural wood, waiting quietly until you need it.
When you touch it, something remarkable happens. Soft, glowing dot-matrix icons appear against the wood grain, responding instantly to your fingertips. Then they fade away just as quickly, leaving behind nothing but calm. No notifications. No ads. No artificially generated urgency. Just a simple interface designed around the idea that your smart home should enhance your life without dominating it.
The Mui Board represents something increasingly rare in consumer technology: a product with a clear philosophy about how we should interact with our homes. It's not a smart display pretending to be minimal. It's not a voice-first device with a physical backup. It's something entirely different—a rethinking of what a smart home controller should actually be.
After testing the second-generation Mui Board in a real home environment, surrounded by actual smart lights, speakers, and connected devices, I've developed a genuine appreciation for what Mui Labs has accomplished. But I've also seen firsthand why this beautiful, thoughtful device remains niche. At
What Exactly Is the Mui Board?
The Mui Board is fundamentally a smart home controller built into a physical board of wood. That sounds like a gimmick until you actually use it. Then you realize the wood isn't decoration—it's the entire point.
Think of it as the antithesis of every smart display that's ever grabbed your attention with a bright screen notification. Where an Echo Show or Google Home Hub demands visual engagement, the Mui Board demands nothing. It's passive, calm, and intentional. The company even earned certification from the Calm Tech Institute, which probably tells you everything you need to know about their design philosophy.
The hardware specs are straightforward. You're getting a piece of sustainably sourced wood—available in natural maple or dark cherry—mounted to your wall. Inside that wood are capacitive sensors that detect your touch across the entire surface. When you tap the board, a microcontroller processes your input and triggers a pattern of LED lights embedded just beneath the wood surface. These lights create glowing icons that appear and fade smoothly, giving you visual feedback without the harsh brightness of a traditional screen.
It's running on a Raspberry Pi-based architecture internally, connected via Wi Fi 2.4GHz and Bluetooth Low Energy for device pairing. The board includes a speaker and microphone, though these are purposefully secondary to the touch interface. It supports Matter protocol, meaning it works with an expanding ecosystem of smart home devices. It also integrates with Sonos speakers, Philips Hue lights, and works through standard Web APIs for countless other devices.
Dimensions are 23 inches wide, 3 inches tall, and 1 inch deep. That's roughly the size of a large iPad lying flat on your wall. Installation is straightforward—mount it using standard wall brackets, connect to Wi Fi during setup, and you're done. The device ships with a power cable that you'll route behind the wall, keeping everything clean and minimal.
The Mui Board balances affordability, ease of use, and aesthetic appeal, standing out in the smart home controller market. Estimated data based on common features.
A Fresh Approach to Smart Home Interaction
Here's what actually impressed me most about using the Mui Board: how it made me question every other smart home interface I've ever used. After weeks of interacting with the device, returning to voice commands felt intrusive. Pulling out my phone to adjust the lights felt unnecessary. Even looking at a full smart display felt like overkill.
The interface operates through a card-based system. Your home screen shows you the information you might need at a glance—current weather, time, and quick-access controls for your most-used devices. Tap specific areas of the board and you navigate deeper into controls for specific devices or systems. It's intuitive in a way that suggests careful refinement over years of iteration.
The dot-matrix aesthetic isn't just nostalgia. It's functional. These aren't high-resolution displays trying to look fancy. They're simple, legible icons that communicate their meaning instantly. A speaker icon means Sonos control. A lightbulb means Hue lights. A thermometer means climate control. There's no question about what you're controlling because the visual language is that clear.
One genuinely clever feature is the RSS feed integration. You can feed headlines from websites directly into the Mui Board's display rotation. Mine shows recent articles from major tech publications, so I can literally glance at it and see what's new in tech news. It's the kind of feature that shouldn't exist on a smart home controller, but somehow makes perfect sense here.
The responsiveness is exceptional. There's zero lag between your tap and the icon appearing. This matters more than you'd think. On slower smart home interfaces, that slight delay creates friction—you tap, wait, see the response. On Mui, it's instantaneous, creating a satisfying tactile feedback loop.
What's absent is almost as important as what's present. No voice assistant is constantly listening, waiting for wake words. No screen is refreshing with new notifications every few seconds. No algorithm is deciding what you should see. It's refreshingly dumb in the best possible way—the device does exactly what you tell it to do, nothing more.
The Mui Board prioritizes design simplicity over functionality, scoring higher in simplicity but lower in functionality across key features. Estimated data.
Device Control: What Actually Works
The real test of any smart home controller is whether it reduces friction or creates it. Does using the device feel better than alternatives? Or does it feel like an interesting experiment that doesn't quite replace what you already have?
With the Mui Board, the answer is nuanced. For certain use cases, it genuinely excels. For others, it comes with real limitations.
Lighting control is perhaps the strongest use case. You can turn lights on and off, dim them across a range, and organize them into rooms or zones. If you're using Hue-compatible lights, this works flawlessly. The dimming interface is particularly nice—you tap and hold, and the brightness adjusts smoothly based on how far up or down you move your finger. It feels almost analog in the best way.
Sonos speaker control works equally well. You get volume control, play/pause functionality, and the ability to switch between different audio sources. If you've got multiple Sonos zones in your home, you can quickly tap between them and control each independently. The interface never confused me about which zone I was controlling, which is more than I can say for some speaker apps.
Thermostat control is functional but limited compared to dedicated thermostats. You can adjust temperature, switch between modes (heat, cool, auto), and control fan speed. But you can't create schedules or access complex automation directly from the board. For basic "change the temperature" tasks, it's great. For anything more sophisticated, you'll need to use the app.
Curtain and lock control works through standard smart home protocols. I didn't have these devices to test, but the interface looks straightforward—simple open/close and lock/unlock controls. Nothing fancy, which is probably appropriate for security devices anyway.
The timer and alarm functionality is genuinely useful. You set timers and alarms directly on the board, and they persist even if you're not looking at it. The speaker will emit a clear tone when time's up. It's basic functionality, but implemented well.
Messaging between Mui boards or the Mui app is clever. If you have multiple boards installed in different rooms, you can send messages between them. It's not transformative, but it's a nice feature for multi-person households where quick communication might be useful.
The $999 Question: Is It Worth the Price?
Let's address the elephant in the room immediately. The Mui Board costs
For mass-market appeal, that price is genuinely prohibitive. I can't imagine most households spending a thousand dollars on a smart home controller, no matter how elegant the design. At that price, you're not competing with other consumer electronics. You're competing with entire categories of home improvement—new lighting fixtures, upgraded speakers, or professional installation of a comprehensive smart home system.
Yet here's what I also noticed: the people who want this product want it specifically because of the philosophy behind it. They're not comparing it to a $200 smart display and asking if it's five times better. They're people who've looked at their homes full of screens and smart devices and felt something was missing. They're looking for tech that respects their attention. They're willing to pay premium prices for products designed with intention rather than extracted from an ad-supported platform.
Mui Labs has clearly spent years on product development and design refinement. The second-generation board represents iterations based on feedback from early adopters and industry partners. This is not cheap to do. The wood sourcing is sustainable. The manufacturing is quality. The software is clean and well-designed. None of that is inexpensive.
So the real question isn't whether the price is objectively justified—that's determined by individual values and budget. The question is whether you're in the target market. Are you willing to spend premium prices for design-forward products? Do you actively dislike smart displays and voice assistants? Are you interested in reducing distractions in your home? Do you value minimalist aesthetics? If you answered yes to most of these, the Mui Board might actually offer better value than cheaper alternatives that don't align with your actual priorities.
That said, the price definitely keeps this product niche. Even for its target audience, it's a significant investment that requires genuine conviction about the product's value.
The Mui Board emphasizes sustainability and unobtrusive design, while smart displays offer more visibility and built-in features. Estimated data.
Comparing to Other Smart Home Controllers
The smart home controller market is fragmented, with different products emphasizing different approaches. To really understand where the Mui Board fits, it helps to see the landscape.
Smart Displays (Echo Show, Google Home Hub, iPad as Home Hub): These are the most common smart home controllers in most homes. They offer voice control, visual feedback, and integration with extensive ecosystems. However, they're screen-based, attention-grabbing, and often ad-supported or data-collection-focused. They're cheaper (typically $100-400) but compromise on the philosophy that attracted Mui users.
Voice-First Assistants (Echo Dot, Google Home Mini): Primarily focused on voice interaction with minimal visual feedback. Good for hands-free control and accessibility, but depend entirely on voice recognition accuracy and require audible feedback. The constant-listening aspect creates privacy concerns for some users.
Control 4 or Crestron Systems: These are professional-grade automation platforms that offer comprehensive control but require professional installation, cost thousands of dollars, and involve ongoing maintenance relationships. They're far more powerful than Mui but also far more complex.
Smartphone Apps: The most flexible option, but requires pulling out your phone, unlocking it, navigating to the correct app, and issuing commands. This creates friction, especially for quick adjustments or multiple commands in sequence.
Wall-Mounted Touchscreens (custom hardware): Some people install dedicated Android-based screens or custom touchscreen solutions. These offer flexibility but are often ugly, power-hungry, and require technical knowledge to set up properly.
The Mui Board occupies a unique position. It's more capable than basic smart speakers, more intentional than voice assistants, more affordable than professional automation systems, more aesthetically pleasant than smartphone apps, and more accessible than custom wall-mounted solutions. For people optimizing for design, simplicity, and intentionality rather than maximum feature set or lowest cost, the comparison matrix looks very different.
The Matter Protocol and Future-Proofing
One genuinely important aspect of the Mui Board is its Matter support. For those unfamiliar, Matter is an open-source smart home connectivity standard developed by a consortium including Amazon, Apple, Google, and Samsung, among many others.
Matter's significance is that it moves away from proprietary ecosystems. Instead of buying lights that only work with Hue, and a thermostat that only works with one brand, and speakers that only work with another ecosystem, Matter-enabled devices can theoretically communicate across platforms. Your Hue lights work equally well with Apple Home, Google Home, or Amazon Alexa—or in this case, the Mui Board.
This is actually profound for the longevity of a $999 device. Five years from now, when smart home technology has evolved further, the Mui Board should still function with new devices because it's built on an open standard rather than a proprietary one. That's a level of future-proofing that justifies some of the premium pricing.
Mui Labs has clearly bet on Matter being the future of smart homes, and that bet looks increasingly solid. Most major manufacturers are adopting Matter support. Most new smart home devices released in 2025 and beyond are Matter-compatible. By building the Mui Board on this standard from the beginning, they've made a choice that should pay dividends as the smart home ecosystem evolves.
This is contrasted with older smart home controllers tied to specific ecosystems. If you're locked into Amazon's ecosystem, you'll always be dependent on Amazon's continued support and direction. With Matter, you have more independence and flexibility.
The Mui Board is priced at $999, which is significantly higher than premium smart displays and high-end smart speakers, but slightly less than comprehensive home automation systems. Estimated data.
Installation and Setup: Simpler Than Expected
One concern with a $999 device is whether installation will be complicated, requiring professional help or extensive troubleshooting. I was pleasantly surprised that setup was genuinely straightforward.
The physical installation is basic wall mounting. If you're comfortable hanging a picture frame, you can install the Mui Board. It comes with mounting hardware and clear instructions. The power cable needs to run behind the wall or along a baseboard, but there's nothing exotic about it. Most people won't need to hire an electrician or smart home installer.
Software setup is even simpler. You connect to Wi Fi during initial setup, create or log into a Mui account, and start pairing devices. The app walks you through pairing Hue lights, Sonos speakers, and other Matter-compatible devices. For most smart home devices, this involves opening the device's app, scanning a Matter code, and confirming the connection. It's the standard process everyone's getting familiar with.
The board then automatically discovers compatible devices on your network. You organize them into rooms, give them friendly names, and arrange them on your home screen. The entire process takes maybe 15-20 minutes for a basic setup with several devices.
One thing that impressed me was how gracefully the board handles failed connections or missing devices. If a light you've configured becomes unreachable, the icon simply doesn't display an error message. It just doesn't respond to taps. This is smart UX design—fail silently rather than creating visual clutter with error states.
The one area where setup gets more complex is if you're trying to integrate older, non-Matter devices. Some workarounds are possible through Web API integrations or using a separate hub as a bridge, but that's getting into technical territory that most users won't navigate.
Real-World Usage Patterns: What Actually Gets Used
After living with the Mui Board for several weeks, clear usage patterns emerged about what actually works well in daily life.
Lighting control is genuinely the most-used function. Every morning and evening, I'd tap the board to adjust lights. This is frictionless interaction—it's right there on the wall, always accessible, always ready. No app to load, no voice command to speak. Just a tap.
Sonos control is second place. Quick adjustments to volume or switching between audio sources. Playing and pausing music. This works so well because audio playback is such a frequent activity. The board becomes your actual stereo remote rather than something you have to pull your phone out for.
Weather checking is surprisingly frequent. The board displays current temperature and conditions, updating in real-time. For getting a quick weather check before heading outside, it's genuinely convenient.
Timers and alarms got regular use, especially kitchen timers while cooking. The ability to just tap and set a 10-minute timer beats asking a voice assistant, especially when your hands are dirty or occupied.
The features that got minimal use: thermostat adjustments, RSS feeds, device messaging. Not because they don't work, but because they don't solve a frequent pain point in my daily routine. That's actually useful data—it suggests that for different households with different priorities, different features will shine.
One unexpected benefit was the aesthetic integration. After the first week, I stopped thinking of the board as a tech gadget and started thinking of it as a design element. It just looked right on the wall, like expensive, modern home decor. This matters more than it sounds. Technology that disappears into your environment rather than demanding attention actually changes how you feel about your home.
The calm tech market is projected to grow steadily, reaching an estimated $4.2 billion by 2027. Estimated data based on industry trends.
The Calm Tech Philosophy: More Than Marketing
Mui Labs talks a lot about "calm technology," and they didn't invent the term. Calm tech is an actual philosophy developed by researchers Mark Weiser and John Seely Brown at Xerox PARC in the 1990s. The basic idea is that the best technology is technology that works in the background without demanding your attention.
Most smart home products are the opposite. They ping you with notifications. They light up with new information. They interrupt your focus to ask if you meant something. They try to predict your needs. They optimize for engagement rather than for reducing your cognitive load.
The Mui Board is built explicitly against this grain. It doesn't send notifications. It doesn't have a display that's constantly updating. It doesn't try to predict what you need. It sits quietly until you explicitly interact with it, then provides exactly what you asked for, nothing more.
This isn't just marketing language. The actual design choices reflect this philosophy. The icons are simple and minimal, not trying to convey tons of information. The interface uses passive lighting that doesn't draw attention from across the room. The lack of a speaker constantly playing notifications or voice feedback means the device doesn't interrupt your environment.
For some people, this philosophical alignment is what justifies the price premium. They're not just buying a smart home controller. They're buying a device that respects their attention and their home environment. That's a premium that makes sense if you value those things.
Battery-Free Operation and Always-Ready Interface
One detail that initially seems minor but becomes significant with daily use: the Mui Board doesn't have a battery and doesn't need one. It's always powered, always ready, always responsive.
This is contrasted with approaches that use wireless buttons or tablets as smart home controllers. Those devices need charging, go into sleep mode, or become unresponsive when batteries die. With the Mui Board, there's literally never a moment where you tap it and it doesn't respond immediately. This consistency creates a level of trust that's hard to quantify but genuinely impacts usability.
The device does have a subtle power indicator, but it's minimal and doesn't contribute to visual clutter. The wood still just looks like wood, with no visible technology when not actively in use.
Power consumption is relatively modest for a device that's always on. The LED indicators only light up when you touch the board, so it's not like having a constantly glowing smart display running all day. Most of the power consumption comes from the Wi Fi radio and the processor maintaining connection to your smart home ecosystem.
For wall-mounted installation, power consumption isn't really a concern. You're running a cable anyway, so you're not limited by battery life. But the design philosophy of always-ready, always-responsive feels right for a device that's meant to fade into your environment.
Design-conscious consumers and affluent households make up the largest segments of potential buyers for the Mui Board. Estimated data based on typical characteristics.
Customization and Flexibility Limitations
One area where the Mui Board is less flexible than some competitors is customization. You can't completely redesign your interface or add custom controls for niche devices. You're constrained to the device's built-in capabilities and whatever devices are officially supported or accessible through standard protocols.
For some users, this is actually a strength. The forced simplicity prevents configuration paralysis. You can't spend two hours customizing the perfect interface because there's limited customization available. You get a good default setup and you use it.
But for power users or people with specific, unusual smart home setups, this limitation is real. If you've got old-school X10 devices, or proprietary systems from custom integrators, or experimental hardware, the Mui Board might not be flexible enough to integrate everything.
The Web API access helps—advanced users can build custom integrations or workarounds. But that's moving beyond what a typical user would be comfortable doing.
Mui Labs is clearly making a conscious choice to prioritize simplicity and calm tech principles over maximum flexibility. That's a design decision, not a technical limitation. And for the people this product is designed for, it's probably the right call.
Comparing Design to Functionality Trade-Offs
The Mui Board makes deliberate design choices that constrain functionality in specific ways. Understanding these trade-offs is crucial for evaluating whether it's right for you.
No Color Control for Lights: The board can turn lights on/off and adjust brightness, but can't change colors on RGB bulbs. This is a meaningful limitation if color-changing lights are a regular part of your home automation. The reason is clear—color selection on a small, simple interface is awkward. You could do it, but it would complicate the design and create friction for a feature most people don't use regularly.
Limited Text Displays: Because the interface uses dot-matrix icons rather than full text, you can't see detailed information like song titles, specific weather conditions, or message content. You see a weather icon, not "overcast, 67 degrees, 40% humidity." This simplification is intentional. The board prioritizes quick glanceability over comprehensive information.
No Camera or Video: Some smart home controllers include cameras or can display video feeds. The Mui Board deliberately doesn't. This is a privacy and philosophy choice—they don't want people staring at live video feeds on their wall.
Limited Automation and Scheduling: You can't create complex automation rules directly on the board. You can't set schedules for devices to automatically adjust at certain times. This is functionality you'd normally find on comprehensive smart home systems. The Mui Board is meant for direct control, not set-it-and-forget-it automation.
These aren't oversights. They're deliberate design choices reflecting the philosophy that the device should be simple, approachable, and focused on direct human control rather than attempting to be a comprehensive home automation system.
For users evaluating the Mui Board, these trade-offs should inform the decision. If you need comprehensive automation, detailed information displays, or control over color-changing lights, this might not be your device. If you prioritize simplicity and directness, these constraints might actually be features rather than limitations.
The Broader Context: Minimalism in Tech
The Mui Board exists within a larger cultural movement toward minimalism in technology. There's a growing recognition that more features don't equal better products. That constant connectivity and notifications are creating anxiety rather than solving problems. That thoughtfully designed simplicity can be more valuable than maximum functionality.
This movement is visible across consumer tech. The rise of e-reader devices like the Kindle emphasizing focus over color. The popularity of dumb phones and distraction-free devices. The growing market for headphones that prioritize sound quality over integration with every ecosystem. Mechanical keyboards that reject the latest wireless technology in favor of pure functionality.
Within this context, the Mui Board makes sense as a premium product. It's not trying to do everything. It's trying to do one thing extremely well: provide a simple, beautiful, intentional interface for smart home control that respects your attention and your living space.
For a certain type of person—someone who cares about design, values attention, and has the budget for premium products—this is compelling. For the mass market optimizing for lowest cost and maximum features, it's not the right choice. Both evaluations are correct. The Mui Board just isn't designed for mass-market appeal.
Future Development and the Evolution of Calm Tech
Mui Labs hasn't been shy about discussing their long-term vision. The Mui Board is positioned as the first in a potential ecosystem of calm tech devices. The company has discussed potential future products that apply similar philosophies to other aspects of home living.
The challenge will be maintaining the philosophy as the company grows and faces pressure to add features, reduce costs, or compete with better-funded competitors. History shows that many design-forward companies eventually compromise their principles to achieve scale.
That said, Mui Labs seems genuinely committed to the calm tech philosophy. The founder has explicitly stated that they're not trying to build the biggest or cheapest smart home company. They're trying to prove that there's a market for thoughtfully designed products that prioritize human well-being over engagement metrics.
Future updates to the Mui Board will likely focus on expanding device compatibility (especially as Matter adoption grows), potentially adding new types of information displays, and refining the user interface based on real-world usage data. What I doubt will happen is the addition of features that contradict the core philosophy—like ads, notifications, or constant visual stimulus.
The real question is whether calm tech companies can sustain themselves as profitable businesses. The venture capital model traditionally favors explosive growth and maximum reach. Companies built on the principle of "less is more" and "respect user attention" might struggle to achieve the growth metrics that investors expect.
Who Should Actually Buy This?
Let's be honest about the likely buyer profile. The Mui Board isn't for everyone, and trying to market it as such would be a mistake.
The Right Fit:
- People who actively dislike smart displays and voice assistants
- Design-conscious consumers who view tech as part of home aesthetics
- Privacy-focused individuals uncomfortable with data collection
- People overwhelmed by too many notifications and attention demands
- Minimalist or Scandinavian design enthusiasts
- Affluent households (999 is an acceptable luxury spend
- Smart home early adopters who've already invested in Matter-compatible devices
The Wrong Fit:
- Budget-conscious consumers optimizing for value
- People who want comprehensive automation and complex scheduling
- Voice-first households that rarely use manual interfaces
- Renters or people who move frequently (wall-mounted installation is permanent)
- People with non-standard smart home setups or older proprietary devices
- Families looking for a way to let kids control smart home devices (no child lock features visible)
If you're in the first category, the Mui Board might represent genuinely good value despite the high price. If you're in the second category, there are much better options available at lower price points.
The Verdict: A Thoughtful Alternative Worth Considering
The Mui Board succeeds at what it sets out to do. It's a beautiful, responsive, thoughtfully designed smart home controller that operates on the principle that technology should enhance your home without demanding your attention.
It's not the most feature-rich controller. It's not the cheapest. It doesn't integrate with every conceivable device. But for people who've looked at their homes full of screens and notifications and thought "this isn't what I want," the Mui Board offers something genuinely different.
The responsiveness is exceptional. The design is beautiful. The philosophy is genuine. The implementation is clean. These aren't small things. They matter significantly for a product that will sit on your wall and be part of your daily life.
The price is objectively high. But price is only one dimension of value. For the right person—someone who cares about design, values simplicity, and can afford the premium—the Mui Board might actually be the smartest smart home purchase they could make.
The real question isn't whether the Mui Board is good. It is. The question is whether you're the person who values what it's offering enough to justify the investment. If you are, it's hard to imagine a better smart home controller on the market.
FAQ
What is the Mui Board and how does it differ from a smart display?
The Mui Board is a wall-mounted wooden smart home controller that uses touch-sensitive capacitive sensors and dot-matrix LED indicators instead of a traditional screen. Unlike smart displays that constantly show information and notifications, the Mui Board remains dark and unobtrusive until you physically touch it, at which point glowing icons appear briefly. This design philosophy emphasizes calm technology—technology that supports your life without demanding attention. It has no built-in voice assistant, no ads, and no notification system.
How does the touch interface work on a wooden surface?
The board uses capacitive touch sensing technology embedded beneath the wood surface. When you tap or touch any part of the board, these sensors detect the disruption in the electrical field caused by your finger. The microcontroller then interprets the location and timing of your touch, lights up the appropriate LED icons, and executes the corresponding command. The technology is similar to how modern touchscreen phones work, except the output is through simple dot-matrix LED icons rather than a pixel-based display.
What smart home devices does the Mui Board actually control?
The Mui Board works with any Matter-compatible smart home device, including Philips Hue lights, Nanoleaf panels, and hundreds of other Matter-enabled products. It also has native integration with Sonos speakers and Echonet Lite devices. For older or proprietary devices, you can sometimes create Web API integrations. However, it doesn't support very old X10 systems, custom proprietary protocols, or devices that require cloud-specific ecosystems without Matter bridges available.
Is the $999 price really justified compared to a basic smart display?
The price reflects several factors: years of product development and iteration, sustainable wood sourcing, quality manufacturing, a Raspberry Pi-based architecture, custom embedded LED systems, and most importantly, the philosophy and design approach behind the product. While you could buy a smart display for $200, you'd be getting a fundamentally different product with different values. The Mui Board's price is justified if you prioritize thoughtful design, reduced notifications, and a device that respects your attention. If you're primarily optimizing for lowest cost and maximum features, cheaper alternatives will serve you better.
How is the Mui Board powered and does it use a lot of electricity?
The Mui Board is wall-powered via a standard power cable that runs behind your wall or along a baseboard. It doesn't have a battery and doesn't need one since it's permanently installed. Power consumption is relatively modest—the LEDs and processor only draw significant power when you're actively using the device, and Wi Fi connectivity maintains minimal power draw during standby. As a device that's always on, it uses more power than a battery-powered button but significantly less than a constantly-illuminated smart display.
Can you customize the interface or add features you want to control?
Customization is limited by design. You can organize your devices into rooms, name them, and arrange them on your home screen, but you can't completely redesign the interface or add custom controls for unusual devices. This intentional limitation is part of the calm tech philosophy—constrained options prevent configuration paralysis and keep the interface simple. Advanced users can create Web API integrations for specific use cases, but this requires technical knowledge beyond what a typical user would handle.
What happens if a smart home device you've configured becomes unavailable?
If a light, speaker, or other controlled device becomes unreachable (due to power loss, network issues, or being unpaired), the Mui Board handles it gracefully. The icon simply won't respond to taps without displaying an error message or visual glitch. This is intentional design—fail silently rather than cluttering the interface with error states. If you want to troubleshoot the connection, you'd go to the Mui app on your phone, which provides more detailed diagnostic information.
Does the Mui Board work with Apple Home, Google Home, or Alexa ecosystems?
The Mui Board is ecosystem-agnostic through Matter support, meaning it works independently of Apple Home, Google Home, or Alexa. It connects directly to your smart home devices via Matter protocol and Wi Fi rather than funneling everything through Amazon, Google, or Apple's servers. This means you're not locked into any specific ecosystem, and you maintain more privacy and independence than you would with a device tied to one of those platforms.
How does the Mui Board compare to hiring a professional smart home installer?
Professional smart home installers work with systems like Control 4 or Crestron that offer much more comprehensive automation and can integrate more device types. Those systems cost thousands of dollars and require professional installation and ongoing relationships with integrators. The Mui Board is a simpler, less expensive alternative that prioritizes direct control over comprehensive automation. If you want simple smart home control and nice design, Mui fits. If you want complex automation, professional systems are more appropriate.
What is Matter and why does it matter that the Mui Board uses it?
Matter is an open-source smart home connectivity standard developed collaboratively by Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung, and many other manufacturers. Instead of using proprietary ecosystems where devices only work with specific brands, Matter-compatible devices can communicate across platforms. This means the Mui Board should remain compatible with new smart home devices for years to come, even as the ecosystem evolves. It's essentially future-proofing—you're not locked into a proprietary system that could become obsolete.
Key Takeaways
- The Mui Board is a wall-mounted wooden smart home controller that uses touch-sensitive LED indicators instead of screens, reflecting a 'calm technology' philosophy that prioritizes attention respect
- At 799 on sale), the device targets design-conscious users willing to pay premium prices for minimalist aesthetics and intentional technology—not mass-market consumers optimizing for value
- Built on Matter protocol support, the Mui Board offers genuine future-proofing as the open smart home standard gains adoption across manufacturers and device categories
- Real-world usage reveals strongest value in frequent tasks like lighting control and Sonos speaker adjustment, with less-used features like thermostat scheduling adding limited daily value
- The conscious design choices that limit flexibility—no color control for RGB lights, no complex automation, no notification system—are intentional features reflecting calm tech principles, not oversights
