The Best Smart Bulbs to Light Up Your Home [Updated September 2020]

[Karlston]

The Best Smart Bulbs to Light Up Your Home

They're the easiest way to start building a smarter home. From Ikea and Philips Hue kits to ambient lighting, here are our favorites.

 

 

If you're anything like me, you spent your childhood dreaming of lights you could control by clapping. The Clapper's premise was brilliant—no more getting up from your bed to hit the light switch! (You can still buy it.) But technology has come a long way since then. Now, you can control the lights, set timers and schedules, and change colors with your smartphone or your voice if you have a smart assistant in your home. No clapping required.

 

Smart bulbs are a great place to start if you want to make your home a little smarter. Most options are relatively cheap, and they’re easy to install. There are also no cameras or door locks for someone to hack into and invade your privacy. I've tested and lived with a handful since March, and these are my favorites.

 

If you want to take your smart home a step further, consider getting a smart speaker or smart display so you can use your voice to control bulbs. Two affordable options we like are the Nest Mini and the Echo Dot, but you don't need them. You can always use the bulb's app.

 

Updated September 2020: We added new products from Ikea and Nanoleaf. Eufy discontinued the Lumos, so we removed it.

 

If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIRED

 

• 

  Photograph: Philips

  A Word on Smart Light Bulbs

  Lighting Tips

   

  You'll typically see smart bulbs categorized by full color, dimmable white, and tunable white (bright white and warm tone options). All the color bulbs we tried have numerous white and warm settings, so if there's any chance you might want to try out colors occasionally, we recommend going with them. If you're buying lighting for an office or other professional space where pink or blue shades would be frowned upon (or you just want the most affordable bulb), we have basic options listed below.

   

  Setting up a smart bulb is simple. Usually, you only need to replace a bulb. Make sure to leave the power switch or the wall switch turned on so the corresponding app can control power instead. You might have to occasionally reconnect the bulb to the app. Most bulbs can be set up as is, but some companies require you to connect a hub to your router. It's not the worst thing, but it can be a nuisance.

   

  Note: You might run into issues using smart bulbs with dimmer switches. Also, the lights we recommend below are not meant to be used outdoors. We'll be testing outdoor bulbs soon to bring you more recommendations.

   

• 

  Photograph: Ikea

  Best Smart Bulb Kit

  Ikea Tradfri Gateway Kit

   

  It's only natural to see furniture giant Ikea wade into the smart home market. Its Tradfri smart bulb kit is an affordable and easy way to make over the lights in your home. Plus, it comes with something you won't find with the competition: a remote. Controlling light bulbs from your phone has its obvious perks, but an additional remote gives you a little more flexibility. It's small, can turn the bulb on and off, and controls colors and brightness.

   

  To control these lights with your phone, you need a separate hub (or "gateway", as Ikea calls it)—it's not as convenient, but it does allow you to connect other gizmos to the bulb like a wireless dimmer or a wireless motion sensor. The kit doesn't include those, but it comes with two E26 LEDs, the remote, and the gateway. We've linked the white spectrum bulbs below, but you can also get the kit with color bulbs. If you need more bulbs, there are more types to choose from (separate purchases), like this pretty vintage-styled bulb.

   

  Compatible with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit

   

  $70 at IKEA

  $86 at Amazon

   

• 

  Photograph: Philips

  An Upgrade Kit

  Philips Hue Starter Kit

   

  This Philips-branded kit (now made by a company called Signify) is a perfect example of why hubs can be useful. It comes with four bulbs and a Hue Bridge hub, which lets you connect the bulbs to your phone or voice assistant. It's also how you connect older Philips bulbs if you have any, as well as other first- or third-party accessories like the Philips Outdoor Motion Sensor. Go with this if you want to use one system for all your smart home devices.

   

  You can choose many colors and brightness levels, as well as preset scenes to set the mood (or you can make your own). The app includes helpful how-to videos that explain the extras the bulbs can do, like using one as a timer (it blinks!). Once you have the hub set up, you can purchase more bulbs. They're affordable, and there are several options (including a color bulb). WIRED contributing writer Boone Ashworth says he's had issues connecting to some of the bulbs, but I haven't run into any problems during my testing.

   

  Compatible with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit (Via Hue Bridge), Samsung SmartThings

   

  $200 at Amazon

  $200 at The Home Depot

 

• 

  Photograph: Wyze

  Best Budget Bulb

  Wyze Bulb

   

  Wyze consistently rivals larger smart home brands with affordable but easy-to-use devices—we love its security cameras and smart plugs—and its bulbs are no different. Costing around $8 for one or $30 to $40 for a set of four (depending on the retailer), it's one of the cheapest ways to smarten up the lighting in your home. The compromise is that there are no bells and whistles. You can choose from shades of bright white and warm, and that's it. But if you don’t care about color bulbs, this is the way to go.

   

  Compatible with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa

   

  $12 at Amazon

  $8 at Wyze

   

• 

  Photograph: Yeelight 

  A Standalone Color Bulb

  Yeelight

   

  The Yeelight is a perfectly fine light for the price. You can set schedules and timers to work with your daily routine. Plus it can do fun things, like sync with music playing in the background. There are also preset scenes to change your lighting scheme with one tap.

   

  There's a color selection tool in the app, which lets you use your phone camera to pick up a color you want. For the most part, it chose the correct color families but didn't get exact tones like mauve or gray. It even took several tries to get to a normal deep blue. It's faster and more accurate to just go through the onscreen color wheel. The app overall can be a bit wonky—it took me a few tries to set up an account, and the connection timed out while trying to sign in.

   

  Compatible with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa

   

  $36 $32 at Amazon

   

• 

  Photograph: Nanoleaf

  Create a Light Design

  Nanoleaf Hexagons Smarter Kit

   

  Nanoleaf's Hexagon lights aren't the best for brightening up rooms, but they're a fun way to add ambient lighting and set a mood. Each hexagon is an individual light that connects to the others, so you can set them up in various patterns. Through the app, you control the color scheme, make it change to music, set schedules, and you can also get help designing a layout. They attach to the wall with adhesives; it's possible to remove them without taking the paint off, but you have to be careful. You should decide on a design first before installing them.

   

  These lights work almost anywhere, even in a kid's room, where they can double as a fancy nightlight. The set isn't cheap; the seven-piece starter kit is $200. You can add more pieces if you have a particular design in mind.

   

  Compatible with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Samsung SmartThings

   

  $200 at Nanoleaf

  $200 at Home Depot

   

• 

  Photograph:  LIFX

  If You Can Find It

  LIFX A19

   

  This was my favorite smart bulb but it's become increasingly hard to find. Snag it if you find it in stock. It offers a ton of white and warm tone options and it gets bright—1,100 lumens to be exact—but it can run surprisingly dim too. Plus. there are what feels like limitless color options (a trillion, according to the company). These Lifx bulbs also have more fun scenes than other bulbs I tried, like one rightfully called “spooky” if you want the perfect backdrop for horror movie night.

   

  There's also the A19+, which has a hidden little gem: infrared light (invisible to the naked eye) that will increase a security camera’s night vision when the bulb is below 5 percent brightness. This bulb isn't cheap, so if you don't have a security camera or have one with night vision built-in, go for the standard model.

   

  Compatible with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Apple Homekit, Samsung SmartThings

   

  $60 $47 at Amazon

  $60 at Lifx

 

• 

  Photograph: Philips 

  Let’s Talk About Philips

  Philips Smart Bulb Collections

   

  The Philips Lighting brand—now dubbed Signify—offers a lot of different smart bulbs, and it can be confusing to figure out what you want. Here's a short breakdown. Try to stick with one type, as they are (confusingly) controlled by three different apps.

  • There’s the Philips Hue kit we recommended above. It's expensive, and it needs a hub that connects to your router, but they're good bulbs powered by a great system. These are controlled via the Philips Hue app (on iOS and Android).

  • The Philips Hue A21 bulbs are less expensive at about $20 each. They don't require a hub to work, but you'll need the Philips Hue Bluetooth app (on iOS and Android) to control them. You can also connect it to Alexa or Google Assistant.

  • Then there's the budget Wiz-Connected Philips bulbs. They also don't need a hub and cost around $10 each. You can set them to a circadian rhythm (bright white during the day and warmer as it gets closer to bedtime). Some of its features, such as a flickering candle, aren't that impressive, but it works fine as a simple bulb. You'll need to download the Wiz app (iOS and Android) to control them, and they also work with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri Shortcuts.

   

  $200 at Amazon (Hub-Connected Kits)

  $20 at Best Buy (Bluetooth-Controlled Bulbs)

  $10 at Home Depot (Wiz Bulbs)

   

• 

  Photograph: GE

  Honorable Mentions

  More Smart Bulbs

   

  There are a lot of good smart bulbs that work perfectly fine but don't quite outshine our top picks. We've tested the bulbs below and like them, so if nothing above caught your eye, maybe one of these will.

  • C by GE Two-Pack for $43: With these bulbs you can create scenes or choose from the many white and color options available. You can set schedules within the app, but to control it away from home (or with a voice assistant), you'll need a bridge.

  • Samsung SmartThings White A19 for $10: If you already have other SmartThings products, like a TV or smart plug, you may want to get this to control everything in one app. It's cheap and easy to use too, but it needs a hub for app control. You can also connect it to Alexa and Google Assistant.

  • Brilli lights for $25: Brilli lights are not smart in the same way as the others in this guide. You don't control them via an app, but we're including them as they're made to work with your circadian rhythm. The warm Wind Down lights help you prepare for bed, and the cool Charge Up lights are good for daytime to get you focused and alert. (The Get In Sync lights can be used for both, but they work only with certain ceiling fixtures.)

   

• 

  Photograph: Wyze

  If You Can't Swap Bulbs

  Wyze Plug

   

  If you want the pros of using a smart bulb without switching out all your lights—maybe you use fancy bulbs, are already stocked up and don't want to let them go to waste, or you just can't change the lights in your home or apartment for some reason—consider a smart plug. They use your home's Wi-Fi network to let you remotely control power to the bulb. Using the corresponding app, you can control your lights and schedule on and off times, or you can connect it to a voice assistant for voice control. We've tested a bunch of smart plugs, and the Wyze Plugs are our favorite.

   

  You can also replace your light switches with smart ones, but that requires a little more work. We haven't tested these, but Lutron and TP-Link's options come well recommended.

   

  Compatible with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa

   

  $15 at Wyze (Two-Pack)

  $20 at Amazon (Two-Pack)

 

The Best Smart Bulbs to Light Up Your Home

 

[Arachnoid]

Youtubes Techno Dad Life recently released a video on hacking the firmware for the Wyze plug to work with Home kit

[rezencry]

Well, I tried some of them, and they are pretty good.

Edited December 19, 2022 by shwescorpion
Removed text format as dark theme user unable to see the text.