With just a few taps on your smartphone, you can create a warm, comforting ambiance with the best smart lights. The greatest smart lighting means you don’t have to leave the sofa to brighten or dim the light, turn it on or off, or, in some circumstances, even change the color it glows.
Light bulbs have become a lot smarter in recent years. With a few taps on your smartphone or tablet, you can now replace your typical incandescent bulb with a variety of connection alternatives. Some of them are also compatible with smartwatches and virtual assistants, allowing you to control them using only your voice.
Here are some popular smart lights for 2022.
Philips Hue
One of the most popular options on the market is Philips Hue smart lighting. The company’s white variants are inexpensive, but its color-changing models offer a lot of flexibility.
If you prefer simplicity over functionality, they may run without a hardware hub thanks to built-in Bluetooth connectivity. They are simple to set up using the smartphone app. The white ranges from 2000k to 6500k. There are over 16 million different hues in their color palette.
There are some limitations to using Bluetooth. Although it has a theoretical range of 40 feet, walls frequently block the signal, so you must be in the same room as the light to use it. Bluetooth also limits the number of lights that can be linked to ten. Adding the optional Wi-Fi hub is the solution. This greatly expands the feature set. From anywhere, up to 50 smart lights can be controlled. Timers for the entire house can be set. For voice control, it works with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit.
Philips Wiz Smart Wi-Fi LED Color Bulb
The Philips Wiz Smart Wi-Fi LED Color Bulb is a terrific choice if you want to cycle through colors for the holidays, a dinner party, or just for fun. It provides a strong white light and other vibrant colors, as well as dependable scheduling and unique effects. It also comes in a variety of white tints that are ideal for task lighting or creating a peaceful atmosphere at home. This bulb has various presets including fireplace and party the option to save favorite colors and Scenes, and a Vacation Mode that turns the light on and off at random to make it appear as if you’re at home when you’re not. It’s worth noting that Philips Wiz bulbs aren’t compatible with Philips Hue lighting.
Nanoleaf Shapes
The Nanoleaf Shapes reimagine lighting as a base-over-apex experience. You may build a dynamic shape on your wall (or ceiling, or both) using a combination of hexagonal and triangular panels that can shift through over 16 million different colors.
Furthermore, the panels may either glow solid colors or flow between colors at different speeds to produce a distinctive lighting effect in your home. You may even program the panels to respond to touch or music playing in your environment, putting you in the middle of your own music video.
The basic set has nine panels, all of which are the same shape; however, you may add additional and mix and match the different shapes. We confess that these plastic panels aren’t particularly attractive when they aren’t lighted, so if you want a more elegant look at all times, consider Nanoleaf Elements’ hexagonal panels with a wood-like veneer. They’re also tough to remove once they’ve been installed.
Lifx Mini
Not just because it’s smaller than the competition, the Lifx Mini is one of the best smart light bulbs for tiny settings. That’s because Lifx’s app connects with Alexa, Google Assistant, and HomeKit, and offers a ton of cool functions and effects like a candle flicker and a strobe, as well as the ability to sync up to your music or other sounds around.
Lifx bulbs also connect directly to Wi-Fi, eliminating the need for a hub. The Lifx Mini bulbs, on the other hand, are a little pricier. Mini White, Mini Day & Dusk, which allows you to change color temperature, and Mini Color, which allows you to choose from 16 million hues, are all available in the Mini series.
Final Thoughts
The greatest smart lights might be as simple as a single mood bulb or as complex as a whole-house lighting control system. For good reasons, this is usually the first smart home purchase buyers make. They’re both entertaining and useful. Smart bulbs are more expensive than standard bulbs because they use light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and a number of technologies to function.
This is crucial to remember, especially if you want to renovate your entire home. However, they are cost-effective in the long run. Ensure that you have a reliable Wi-Fi and router like the Google Nest Wifi Router And Point when upgrading to a smart home.
