Microfluidic devices are miniaturized liquid handling systems with potential for biomedical applications because of their small sample and reagent volume requirements, potential for efficient mass transport to functionalized surfaces, ease of automation, low-cost, and disposability.1,2 Although microfluidic chips are small, their operation often requires complex peripheral equipment so that instead of living up to their promise as lab-on-chip devices, the reality resembles ‘lab-around-a-chip’ limiting the application of microfluidics in point-of-care settings.3 Capillary microfluidic devices use capillary effects (also called capillary action or capillary force) to manipulate liquids. Capillary effects are governed by the interplay between surface tension of a liquid and the geometry and surface chemistry of its solid support.4 Capillary microfluidics are often referred to as ‘passive’ because they typically afford no real-time control over flow, as opposed to ‘active’ devices with external peripheral control. New descriptors such as self-powered, autonomous, advanced, integrated, and circuit have been associated with capillary microfluidics to reflect their evolving capabilities and inherent advantages related to minimally-instrumented operation and point-of-care testing