Nanoleaf's Matter Essentials Lights Now Available for Pre-Order

Nanoleaf today began accepting pre-orders for its Matter-enabled Essential lights, which are designed to work with HomeKit, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and more through the Matter cross-platform smart home connectivity standard.

nanoleaf matter
Matter-compatible Essential bulbs that include the A19 and BR30 are available, as is the Essential Lightstrip that works with Matter. Matter is a new smart home standard and is still rolling out, so these are some of the first lighting products that have native Matter support.

For ‌HomeKit‌ users, Matter works the same as ‌HomeKit‌ devices, but it connects through Matter instead of ‌HomeKit‌. That doesn't mean much for someone who has an all-HomeKit setup, but for households with multiple smart home platforms or different smartphone brands, it means the Matter lights can be controlled from any device. Both Android and iPhone users can control a Matter-enabled Nanoleaf light from their respective devices, provided the proper hub setup is available.

The new Nanoleaf Essentials lights work with Matter over Thread for an improved connectivity experience with other Thread devices. Nanoleaf's bulbs and lightstrip can be set to any one of 16 million colors or can be used to provide different shades of white lighting.

Essentials lights with Matter support can be controlled from any smart home app, such as the Home app or the Nanoleaf app. The Nanoleaf app offers useful scene setups for working, evening ambiance, and more, and it provides an option to have the color temperature of the light shift throughout the day.

Matter-enabled Nanoleaf lights can be ordered from the Nanoleaf website, with prices ranging from $20 to $50. The A19 bulb and Lightstrip are available for preorder today, while the BR30 is coming in April. Later this year, Nanoleaf will provide a GU10 light and a Recessed Downlight.

Nanoleaf is also working on an over-the-air update to add Matter to its existing line of light panels and light bars.

Top Rated Comments

Rychiar Avatar
11 weeks ago
makes no sense why they can't just firmware update the bulbs they have... though I guess it doesn't really "matter" since the current bulbs already have thread so this update really changes nothing for HomeKit users.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Alan Wynn Avatar
11 weeks ago

If I recall there was some poor excuse about requiring a different chip or something.
They built the essentials with an embedded chip that did not have enough memory to support the extra code required for the final version of the Matter spec.

just another way to get you to buy more products if want matter support lol
Doubt it. No one who bought them has any reason to upgrade. They already support HomeKit and Matter actually takes away features (at CES Nanoleaf said the Matter versions would not support HomeKit’s adaptive color feature, one of the nicest things that their bulbs currently do).
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
podycust Avatar
11 weeks ago

makes no sense why they can't just firmware update the bulbs they have... though I guess it doesn't really "matter" since the current bulbs already have thread so this update really changes nothing for HomeKit users.
If I recall there was some poor excuse about requiring a different chip or something.

just another way to get you to buy more products if want matter support lol
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rychiar Avatar
11 weeks ago

The app for Nanoleaf is garbage. The lights un-pair themselves so frequently that I just stopped using them via Wifi and just manually click the button to change colors. Better off with a 5 Below cheap-o light bar
Probably because nanoleaf bulbs don’t use wifi they use thread… If you don’t have a thread border router in your home they’d be stuck on Bluetooth, which is a terrible technology for smart home products…
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
svish Avatar
11 weeks ago
Good to see Matter support.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AbSoluTc Avatar
11 weeks ago
Will never buy another Nanoleaf product again after my Aurora problems. Plus their app is now pure crap.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)