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The Philips Hue Color and White Ambience Bulb was a painless experience to set up and also lets you adjust the temperature of the bulb. Read More
The tunable and dimmable L535E smart bulb's Matter certification makes it a great fit for any smart home. Read More
A bright and budget-friendly smart bulb that works with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri. It offers tuneable whites and millions of colors. Read More
The 60-watt Nanoleaf smart bulb isn't the brightest of the bunch, but it has good color output. It suffers from a confusing app and connection issues. Read More
You probably know that there are smart light bulbs that work with Alexa and Google Assistant, but did you also know there are some that work with Apple HomeKit—an app within your iOS devices? Since these are talked about less, it may be hard to know which ones to grab without doing some research.
Any old light fixture can become compatible with your Apple smart home if you grab the best HomeKit light bulbs. You can even control them using Siri via an Apple smart speaker like the HomePod Mini or the Home app for iOS.
After extensive trial and error, we’re confident the best HomeKit light bulbs are the Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance Starter Kit (available at Walmart for $208.56) , which continuously ranks in the top spot for its bright colors, simple setup, easy-to-use app, and ample versatility. However, we tested plenty of other HomeKit light bulbs for you.
The Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance bulbs offer some of the brightest and most vibrant colors of any smart bulb we've tested that works with Alexa.
Works with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri
Rich color palette
Easy setup plus an intuitive app
Requires a hub to work remotely
Works with Matter
Easy to use
Bright
Offers energy monitoring
Connection problems during setup
Works with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri
Colors and tuneable whites
Good value
None we could find
Supports Matter over Thread
Good lighting features
App can be confusing
Some connectivity issues
Hi, I’m Rachel Murphy, Reviewed’s home editor, and I’ve been covering smart home devices for several years.
I'm adding to previous testing by Sarah Kovac, Reviewed’s accessibility (and former smart home) editor.
To find out which smart bulb is best for Apple HomeKit, we bought the bestselling, highest-rated bulbs and tested them in a home with lamps and various light fixtures.
We tested each bulb using the Home app on an iPhone or iPad. We also tested the companion app for each bulb on iOS devices to see whether the experience was the same on both platforms, testing response times over the Wi-Fi network and data.
Finally, we tested each bulb with Siri to measure the bulb’s functionality and responsiveness to voice commands.
We tested the smart bulbs using an Apple HomePod (discontinued), but you can also use an iPad, HomePod Mini, or an Apple TV as a Home Hub.
An Apple Home Hub is required to control your HomeKit-enabled devices and run automations when you’re away from home using the Home app or Siri voice control. The Apple Home Hub is the middleman between you and your devices, allowing you to control them remotely when you're not home.
An iPad, HomePod Mini, Apple TV, or the discontinued HomePod (if you have one) all work as a Home Hub.
The Home Hub must stay at home, near your HomeKit gadgets, to control them when you're away from the house.
All HomeKit devices have a scannable barcode with an eight-digit number unique to your specific device. This code is necessary to add your HomeKit light bulb to the Apple Home app.
To set up an Apple HomeKit bulb, screw it into a light fixture. Open the Home app on your iOS device > tap the plus sign icon > “Add accessory.”
Scan the barcode on the bulb in the Home app, enter the code manually, or wait for the accessory to appear (make sure it’s powered on).
If you have trouble scanning the code directly from the bulb, there's usually a second barcode in the instruction manual.
The Home app walks you through the final steps, but it shouldn’t take more than a minute or two to get your HomeKit light bulbs online.
A Home Hub is also necessary to take advantage of Apple’s adaptive lighting feature. This optional feature allows your bulbs to change color temperatures based on the time of day. It’s autopilot for anyone who doesn’t want to fiddle with their bulbs throughout the day, but you won’t find it on every HomeKit smart bulb.
The Home app offers other useful automations like turning the lights on when the first person arrives home and turning them off when the last person leaves.
There’s always a security risk when using internet-connected devices at home, but there are ways you can protect your privacy when using HomeKit devices.
Apple claims that all HomeKit user data is encrypted end-to-end locally (meaning on your Home Hub) before being transmitted to the cloud so that no one has access to it but you.
HomeKit's infrastructure uses iCloud, iOS, iPadOS, and macOS to "protect and sync private data without exposing it" to others, including Apple employees. To secure your account further, enable two-factor authentication and make sure your password is unique and hard to guess.
You can read more about Apple's HomeKit data security policy.
One thing to know is that Apple, by default, keeps your Siri voice interactions (one of the primary ways to control HomeKit accessories) and may review the audio clips to help improve Siri’s accuracy.
You can opt out of this and delete your Siri voice history. For more information, check out Apple’s Siri dictation and privacy disclaimer.
Sarah Kovac is an award-winning author and accessibility editor for Reviewed. Previously, she worked with a multitude of outlets such as Wirecutter, TIME, PCMag, Prevention, The Atlantic, Reviews.com, CNN, GOOD, Upworthy, Mom.me, and SheKnows.
Rachel Murphy is Reviewed's home editor. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Central Florida. Prior to joining the team, she worked as a freelance writer for publications like Insider and Mashable, and as an associate editorial producer for Good Morning America. Aside from smart home tech, her interests include food, travel, parenting, and home renovation. You can usually find her sipping on coffee at any time of the day.
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