IKEA Again Delays HomeKit Support for Trådfri Smart Lighting Range

Thursday October 12, 2017 4:19 AM PDT by Tim Hardwick
IKEA has had to backtrack once more on its claim that the company's Trådfri Smart Lighting range is ready to work with Apple HomeKit.

According to German tech blog SmartDroid, IKEA began rolling out an update yesterday to owners to bring support for Apple's smart home platform as well as Amazon Alexa, only for the company to announce on its blog that many users were reporting "technical difficulties" in getting the connectivity to work.


This is the second time IKEA has had to apologize to Trådfri owners waiting for HomeKit compatibility. Back in August the company told customers that support was ready, but quickly retracted the advice when word spread online.

IKEA has promised HomeKit support for its affordable range of home lighting products since May. The system was originally announced in late March, and includes LED bulbs, illuminated panels, a motion sensor kit, a gateway kit, and dimming lights.

IKEA went on to say yesterday that there is still no working support for HomeKit and Alexa, and apologized for the inconvenience while it works on another update that rectifies the situation. As it stands, Philips Hue smart hubs remain the only other means to control the Trådfri lights from smartphones.

Tags: HomeKit Guide, Ikea
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Hustler1337
24 months ago

IKEA went on to say yesterday that there is still no working support for HomeKit and Alexa, and apologized for the inconvenience while it works on another update that rectifies the situation. As it stands, Philips Hue smart hubs remain the only other means to control the Trådfri lights from smartphones.


Being able to control Trådfri lights though the Philips Hue hub is misleading - you need to update the firmware on the Trådfri bulbs before you can take advantage of that. In order to update the firmware, you need to buy the Trådfri Gateway (hub) which defeats the purpose of being able to control Trådfri bulbs via the Hue hub.

I think a lot of Trådfri users have fallen into that trap, only to find out that they need to buy the Trådfri hub!

At this rate, I think people would start to consider paying the premium for Philips Hue or LIFX if they want HomeKit integration.
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zorinlynx
24 months ago
I used to complain that Hue was expensive but after seeing how many problems there are with competing companies I'm realizing that you really do get what you pay for.

I own several Hue bulbs; I have had one bulb go bad but it was replaced swiftly by Philips. My only complaint about them right now is they really should sell higher lumen bulbs.
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michael siccofield
24 months ago
nøøø wââây :(
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MrZippyUK
24 months ago

Good point, but Hue — at least the original bulbs — due flicker a bit, at least when dimmed.


I haven’t noticed any flicker with my Hue bulbs, even when dimmed. I have a E27 richer colours, BC22 white ambience and E14 candle white ambience plus an E27 white. All 220-240V European bulbs purchased in last month.

I have tested the flicker rate using Viso Flicker Tester on the iOS App Store (free), believe all 799hz at all measurable brightness, as the app doesn’t work when too dim. But I did use the 240fps camera live view on my iPhone, that shows banding on screen opposed to flicker which I believe indicates a high flicker rate.

What is interesting when returning to ikea I went to lighting dept and used the 240fps camera live view to see their numerous display bulbs, a few types of regular LED had flicker, most OK though and just the white only Tradfri showed flicker. Of course display bulbs are well used!
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As it stands, Philips Hue smart hubs remain the only other means to control the Trådfri lights from smartphones.

Article Link: IKEA Again Delays HomeKit Support for Trådfri Smart Lighting Range ('https://www.macrumors.com/2017/10/12/ikea-delays-homekit-support-tradfri-smart-lights/')


Not quite true, install Homebridge and the Ikea Tradfri plug-in and you can, tested this before returning my bulbs.
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