While you're shopping around for the best smart light, you may be trying to find the ones that play the nicest with your Apple devices. HomeKit compatibility helps you manage your smart lights alongside all other devices in the home from a common interface. This way, you can have seamless automation and control of everything in the house. Smart lights, in particular, have great control options through the Home apps for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, including full Siri support for hands-free commands.
Nanoleaf tops our list as one of the few smart lights that support Thread through HomeKit. Thread is a new wireless protocol that promises to improve response times and provide redundancy as devices get added and removed from the mesh network. Apple is all over this standard, and the HomePod Mini already supports it.
As for the quality of the lights themselves, Nanoleaf has made a great name for itself as a modular wall-mounted lighting system. You can find all the fancier features you'd expect, like screen mirroring, automations, and music sync, alongside the basics like scheduling and color recipes. If you're looking for added variety, Nanoleaf's and series also support Thread border routing via HomeKit.
Philips Hue continues to be one of the leading brands in smart lighting. The color bulbs support the full gamut of functions like music and TV sync, scheduling, automations, and more. The Hue Bridge that orchestrates all Hue lights in the home will get Matter support eventually, so it will benefit from the latest changes. This should help them play nice with other Apple-friendly smart home accessories for the foreseeable future.
LIFX connects directly to your Wi-Fi, meaning you won't need a hub like the Hue bulbs, or even a pseudo-hub like a Thread router, to get the most out of Nanoleaf. Even without that bit of supporting tech, LIFX bulbs support Siri and HomeKit integration. These bulbs go up to 1100 lumens in brightness and enjoy a color range of 1500K to 9000K. With a few of these peppered around the home, you can get quite creative with the mood.
Vocolinc makes a highly affordable HomeKit smart bulb that checks all the boxes. With 850 lumens of brightness, a color temperature range between 2200K and 7000K, and full compatibility across all the main smart home ecosystems, you'd be surprised you only paid $14 for one. They have their own app too, which also includes the usual scene management, scheduling, and preset effects.
The way smart lights connect to Apple Home will vary based on the manufacturer. Generally, you'll need to either tap your iPhone against the device or manually punch the pairing code into the light's native app once the bulb has power. After the native app is fully set up, you'll need to open the Home app and tap the "Plus" button in the top-right. Whenever you end up taking the plunge on your smart lights, be sure to take a look at our installation guide on how to set them up.
The easiest way to control lights with Apple Home is by using Siri. You can say things like "turn down the living room lights to 50%" or "turn off all the lights" and have it taken care of without having to dig around within the Home app proper.
That said, the Apple Home app allows you to organize your lights into rooms. You can add smart lights to rooms and zones by long-pressing them from Apple Home and tapping the Gear icon. This menu provides brightness and color control, not to mention grouping with other lights so they all act together. You can find out more about how smart lights work here.
Just remember that to make the most out of your HomeKit lights, you need to set up a Hub, which can be your iPad or one of Apple's dedicated accessories. We've got plenty of other tips on how to make the most out of HomeKit, too.
Matter is a smart home protocol that's nearly ready to roll out to major smart apps like Apple's Home app. Matter was created as a joint effort from Apple, Google, Amazon, and others to create a communication method that was more secure and worked equally well with all their smart platforms, solving many compatibility issues. Many brands have already announced compatibility with Matter, with more devices to follow. That means instead of looking for "works with HomeKit" when buying a device, you can simply look for the Matter logo or "works with Matter" instead and know that it's Apple-ready.
Simon Sage is a green tech contributor at Digital Trends. He looks at all sorts of devices that can help reduce emissions through electrification, like power stations, solar panels, smart thermostats, and LED lighting. He's also keen on exploring right to repair and sustainable transportation.
Simon started journalism 17 years ago in the mobile tech space, covering the meteoric rise and fall of BlackBerry. Since then he's dipped his toe in mobile gaming, app reviews, and sponsored content. He's been to his fair share of trade shows, such as Mobile World Congress, the Consumer Electronics Show, E3 (RIP), the Game Developer Conference, and a smattering of smaller shows. He's done multiple TV interviews, the most surreal of which was explaining how Pokémon Go works on a morning show. Simon's also hosted over 100 podcast episodes.
Previous publications include BlackBerry Cool, IntoMobile, and Mobile Nations sites like Android Central, iMore, CrackBerry, and Windows Central.
Simon's based in Ottawa, Ontario, where he is constantly clawing against the gravitational pull of becoming a government drone. He studied English at Carleton University there, including a stint at Lancaster University in the UK. He has since levelled up his education in sustainability through the Climatebase platform. Simon spends way too much of his free time playing games, especially Magic: The Gathering.
Outdoor security cameras are not always practical if you live in an apartment or rental. Drilling into an exterior wall may be off-limits, while pointing a regular indoor camera through a window can create another problem once reflections start showing up after dark.
Baseus is trying to solve both issues with the new PrimeSentinel W1, a $69.99 security camera designed specifically to monitor the outdoors through glass. It mounts directly to a window without drilling and uses a 4K Starlight sensor with an F1.0 aperture for full-color monitoring during the day and at night.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
Technology evolves every day, transforming how we live and work. Our devices are becoming more than tools we use. They are increasingly capable companions that help streamline day-to-day routines and spark creative ideas. If you have been waiting for the right moment to upgrade your tech setup, the Discover Samsung Shopping Event offers an opportunity to explore what connected, AI-powered living can look like.
With AI progressing so fast, it's only a matter of time before we start getting AI companions like the ones we used to see in movies like R2-D2, Wall-E, or Baymax. Now, Singapore-based OKA Technology has unveiled Mori, a cute little AI companion that looks less like a conventional home robot and more like someone turned the Pokémon Foongus into a table lamp.
Mori isn't meant to clean your house or control your smart home, but to serve as what OKA calls a "Nature Companion." It uses subtle movements, warm lighting, nature-inspired sounds, and small reactions to make its presence around the house feel calming rather than distracting. Mori can sit quietly while you read, sway along to music, welcome you when you enter a room, or encourage you to slow down for a moment without requiring a screen or a conversation.