Seven Smart Ways to Use Smart Lighting
Smart lights emerged at the start of the smart home technology revolution, and over the years, these smart bulbs and LED strips have gradually evolved to offer more in both features and form factors—so much so that you may not know everything you can do with smart lights even if you’ve been using them for years.
If your own smart lighting setup is mostly limited to turning off your bedside lamp with a voice command, controlling it remotely from your phone, or perhaps changing colors or adding an automation system or two, then you won’t be taking advantage of all the benefits these lamps can do for you. These are some of the best clever lighting tricks you can try.
Sync your lighting with your TV
Having your smart lights change colors and flash with the action on your TV can really make watching movies and shows more interesting – and a number of smart light manufacturers now offer the necessary kit and apps to make it easy.
For example, for Philips Hue bulbs, you’ll need either a sync box or its own app , depending on your TV model. This is also what you can do with Nanoleaf lamps using a system called Screen Mirror , which uses a small camera to see what’s on your TV.
Set up random schedules
One way smart lights can be useful when you’re away from home is to let would-be burglars know you never left at all. You can almost always control your smart lights remotely as long as you have Wi-Fi running in your home.
If you don’t want to remember to turn on the lights at home every evening while you’re at the beach or in the mountains, Philips Hue offers a random time setting available when setting up an automation that will automatically change when you turn on the lights every day.
Receive notifications through lights
Add to this several third-party services, and the list of possibilities increases even more. For example, IFTTT (If This then That) can customize routines based on specific triggers that lead to specific actions, and smart lighting brands including Philips Hue and Lifx support the protocol.
Because IFTTT can connect to various social media, mobile devices, and app systems, events on these platforms may cause your lights to flash or change color. One idea is to turn on a blue desk lamp when the weather forecast predicts rain.
Group lights into scenes
You can do even more with smart lights by grouping them together and setting specific scenes that you can switch between. Most platforms allow you to do this fairly easily, so all the lighting in a particular room can be controlled at once and changed over time.
For example, you can set scenes for early morning or late night, for movie night or for studying – the Nanoleaf app can even create scenes for you based on one or two keywords. Check out the Smart Light companion app to see what you have, or explore your customization options.
Wake up with the sunrise
Relax throughout the day by gradually turning on the smart light in the morning, simulating a real sunrise. You can even use this trick to replace your alarm clock.
This works for a wide range of smart lights, and some can even sync the feature with your local sunrise time. You can use this with any smart light connected to Google Home, for example by saying “Hey Google, wake up my light at…” and adding the time in Google Assistant.
Add a motion sensor
Combine a compatible smart motion sensor with smart lights, and you don’t even have to tap your phone or say a voice command to activate your smart lights—they’ll turn on as soon as there’s movement in the room.
Several smart lighting platforms offer this feature, including Philips Hue . You can adjust the brightness of the light – so you’re not suddenly blinded while stumbling to the bathroom, for example – and you can turn the light off after a certain amount of time.
Set up automated procedures
Your smart lights will become even more useful if you combine them with other devices. For example, you can set the lights to dim when a relaxing mix starts playing on your smart speaker at a certain time of night. Or you can set your lights and smart thermostat to turn off at the same time when you leave the house.
These practices are known as routines or automations, and you can set them up in Google Home (via the Automations tab), the Amazon Alexa app (via More > Routines ), and other smart home hub platforms (including Samsung SmartThings and Apple Homekit).