Fans are useful. In the heat we’ve had this year they’ve been essential. They are almost never interesting, though, which is why I don’t normally bother reviewing them. The SwitchBot Battery Circulator Fan 2 Pro is the exception. It runs off a battery, it speaks Matter without a hub, and it has some of the wildest oscillation I’ve seen on a fan this size.
Quick bit of housekeeping first. SwitchBot sent me this unit as a beta tester, so I haven’t paid for it. They also have no idea I’m writing this, so as with everything else on the channel, you’re getting my honest take. There are affiliate links below, which cost you nothing extra.
Price
RRP is £130. In practice it drops regularly, and I’ve seen it as low as £90. That’s not cheap for something that moves air around a room, and I won’t pretend otherwise. Once you account for the battery, the Matter support and the app control, the maths starts to look better. A dumb fan at half the price does one job. This one does several.
Design and build
The review unit I was sent is the white and brown version, and I like it a lot more than I expected to. The whole thing is mostly rounded, with an accent colour across the front, and it looks modern without shouting about it. Whichever colour you go for, it doesn’t look like a gadget.
The fan sits low on the front, with a light strip underneath it and a row of touch controls below that: light, modes, power, speed, vertical oscillation and horizontal oscillation. Round the back there’s a port that takes either a USB-C cable or the supplied mains cable. Both charge it, and you can leave it plugged in and run it off the mains permanently if you’d rather.
One detail I appreciate more than I probably should: the base has a circular section that stays put while the body rotates above it. Plug it in, set the horizontal oscillation going, and the cable doesn’t wind itself into a knot. Someone actually thought about that.
There’s a small remote in the box too, for anyone who prefers a physical click to a touch panel.
Specifications
Matter and smart home support
Wi-Fi and Matter are built in. No hub, no bridge, no extra purchase. It drops straight into Apple Home, Home Assistant and anything else that speaks Matter.
What sold me is how much it exposes. You don’t just get on and off. You get the fan, the battery level and the onboard light, all as separate controls. That’s more than a lot of Matter devices manage.
It also works with Alexa, Google Home and SmartThings. I haven’t tested those, since this channel lives in Apple Home and Home Assistant, so I can’t tell you how well they behave.
Speeds, modes and noise
There are nine preset speeds you can cycle through using the buttons on the fan itself. In the SwitchBot app, or through a third party app, you get proper granular control from 1 to 100%.
There are four modes built in:
- Normal, which is what it sounds like
- Baby, which keeps the airflow quiet and gentle
- Natural, which alternates between stronger and weaker gusts
- Sleep, which gradually eases the speed down over time
At its lowest setting it measures 24dB. That is quiet enough to sleep next to, and quiet enough that nobody on a video call has commented on it.
Oscillation
Ninety degrees horizontally and ninety degrees vertically, and you can set the range of both in the app rather than being stuck with the full sweep.
Battery
The 3600mAh battery is rated for up to 12 hours of continuous use on a full charge. SwitchBot don’t say which speed that figure assumes, which is a bit annoying, so I tested it. You’ll hit roughly that on a middling speed. You will not get anywhere near it flat out.
In practice that means charging it during the day and running it overnight on something quiet, which is exactly how I’ve been using it.
Filter
There’s a filter in the box that fits into the rear of the unit if you want it.
Setting it up
The box contains the fan, a mains cable and the filter. Setup runs like this:
- If you want the filter fitted, unscrew the back panel and slot it in. It’s fiddly for about a minute and then it’s done.
- Charge the fan up.
- Open the SwitchBot app, hit the plus button and let it find the device. The app walks you through pairing.
- To get it into Apple Home or Home Assistant, put it into Matter pairing mode by holding the power button for 15 seconds.
- Copy the Matter code out of the SwitchBot app and paste it into whichever platform you’re using.
The Matter instructions live in the device settings in the app if you get stuck. The whole process took me a few minutes and nothing went wrong, which is not something I get to say about every Matter device.
Living with it
Worth stating the obvious: this is a fan, not an air conditioner. It moves air, it doesn’t chill it. Within that limit it’s very good.
Control is easy however you want to do it, whether that’s the touch panel, the remote, the app, a third party app or a voice assistant. Being able to fine tune the speed and the oscillation range makes a real difference.
The oscillation is genuinely fun to watch, which is a strange thing to write about a fan. The full vertical sweep is too much for my room, though, so I went into the app and pulled the range in. Ten seconds of work and it was much better.
The night light has quietly become my favourite feature. It turns this into something you’d keep on a bedside table all year rather than dragging out of a cupboard every July. If you do put it in a bedroom, you can switch off the indicator lights in the app so it isn’t glowing at you.
The SwitchBot app has some useful quick actions, timers included. Beyond that you can drop it into automations, so it’ll kick in when a presence sensor spots you and the room temperature is above whatever you decide.
The reason I ended up reviewing this at all is that I’ve been quietly impressed. It’s very quiet, it takes the edge off a hot day, and it’s the only thing I’ve found that keeps me comfortable during work calls when a portable air conditioner would be far too loud. The battery life surprised me. And because it’s portable I can carry it from room to room, or wedge it in a window and run the reverse fan trick to pull cooler air in at night.
What I don’t like
Two things. The price is high next to a basic fan, though I think the smart features earn it. And the touch buttons on the front want you to hold your finger in place before they respond. It’s a small thing that I notice every time.
Verdict
It’s expensive, and I’m not going to talk you out of noticing that. What you get for the money is a good looking fan with proper Matter support, a sensible set of modes, adjustable oscillation and a battery that makes it genuinely portable.
I like it, and it’s still on my desk in September, which tells you most of what you need to know. If you want a smart fan that works with Apple Home or Home Assistant without another hub in the cupboard, the SwitchBot Battery Circulator Fan 2 Pro is an easy recommendation.
Frequently asked questions
Does the SwitchBot Battery Circulator Fan 2 Pro need a hub?
No. Wi-Fi and Matter are built into the fan, so it connects directly to Apple Home, Home Assistant and other Matter platforms with nothing else in between.
Does it work with Apple Home?
Yes, over Matter. You get the fan, the light and the battery level as separate controls rather than a single on and off switch.
How long does the battery last?
Up to 12 hours from the 3600mAh battery. In my testing that holds up at a mid speed. At full power you’ll get far less.
How loud is it?
As low as 24dB on the quietest setting, which is fine for sleeping or for work calls.
Can you use it while it’s plugged in?
Yes. Run it off the mains cable or over USB-C and ignore the battery entirely if you want to.
Does it come with a filter?
Yes, there’s one in the box. You unscrew the back panel to fit it, and you can buy a replacement fan filter when it needs changing.
Does it work with Alexa and Google Home?
SwitchBot list support for Alexa, Google Home and SmartThings. I test on Apple Home and Home Assistant, so I can’t speak to how well those integrations hold up day to day.
