NanoleafEssentials Smart LED Color-Changing Light Bulb (60W) - RGB & Warm to Cool Whites, App & Voice Control (Works with Apple Home, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings) (Matter A19 (3 Pack))

Update- 03/25/24Changed my rating to 5 stars. Nanoleaf posted a firmware update that has solved all of the connectivity issues with Amazon Echo and HomeKit. Well done!Migrating my smart devices to matter thread, Nanoleaf is one of the few options right now.Set up and be hit or miss and there seems to a specific setup process when trying to connect to the Nanoleaf app, Apple HomeKit and Amazon echo (in my case).The connection with Amazon echo is tenuous at best and any automations may struggle to run successfully and controlling the devices in the Alexa app can be a struggle.Support is a bit lackluster and hopefully some upcoming firmware updates may resolve these issues.

UPDATE 2: Changed from 3 stars back to 1 star. Added additional bulbs and not a single one linked up without some sort of error. Everything seemed okay at first but in less than 24 hours they started jumping around from thread to Bluetooth to disconnected. Couldn’t control with Alexa after a while. Couldn’t get the “unavailable” bulbs working again. Not worth the trouble. Took all of them down and shipped them back for a refund.UPDATE: Changed from 1 to 3 stars because I was finally able to get them added through Alexa but took about 12 hours of messing around, dealing with errors, moving near different Echo devices, moving near different bulb locations, moving near different WiFi access points. It was a nightmare.Not sure if it was an Alexa or nanoleaf problem but it refused to join the Thread network directly through Alexa and kept looping, prompting for a network key. I was able to get the network key from the nanoleaf app but it still didn’t accept it for future bulbs. So, the method was 1. Add to Alexa using Bluetooth 2. Add to nanoleaf app for Thread network and firmware updates. Still trying to figure out how to get Google to add the devices through Matter so I can use my choice of voice control but haven’t been successful. It sees the lights but won’t onboard them, even when generating a new Matter code in the Alexa app. Might not be possible because different manufacturers don’t share Thread network credentials? Not sure.ORIGINAL REVIEW: I was thrilled to learn that my Amazon and Google devices now support Matter, more specifically Thread and was looking forward to having easy to set up lights that worked universally across ecosystems and didn’t require a separate hub. Maaan I was in for the biggest disappointment of my life. Six hours later, I am giving up. Won’t work with Alexa or Google and even though it was smooth enough linking it to the nanoleaf app, it kept dropping from Thread to Bluetooth to disconnected. I could go on about all the different technical steps that I went through but I need to go figure out how to return these expensive pieces of junk and I’ve already wasted enough time fighting with 6 lightbulbs.

I got them on sale. The lights themselves have good color. Not super bright but good enough for the price. They work fine with the nano leaf app but are sketchy with the HOMEKIT app and accessories. I really only bought them to incorporate them into HomeKit with my HUE lights. The Nanoleaf app is ok too. A little busy.They’re also not as quick as HUE when it comes to on and off or changes. Nothing terrible. Just worth mentioning. I don’t know if I would have bought these if they weren’t on sale. Maybe? Overall they work. I’ve only had them for a week or so, so we’ll see.

I use these in my office/game room. During the day they work as great warm lights. In the evening when the moon comes out and my nerd side is free to roam, I can have any light you can imagine. The colors are vibrant and beautiful. I can turn on/off the lights from anywhere in the app.I was shocked at how easy it was to get to work. You download the app, take a pic of the QR code and you're off. It did need two updates that took around 10mins, but had multiple bulbs update at once. The app works great with different Nanoleaf products so go crazy.I highly recommend!

I’ve been disappointed with color fading on these bulbs. I wanted some low ambient lighting that slowly fades colors. These tend more to hop/flash from color to color than to gently fade, and there is a limit how many steps a scene can contain, so you can’t fake it very easily either. It’s especially visible when they’re set dimmer than 100% bright.Initially, I set these up using the Nanoleaf app. Then I realized I couldn’t automate them unless I got more kit, so I also bought a HomePod Mini, and set them up again using Home. They’re easy to set up either way.Via Apple Home it was easy to automate them. They turn off at night if I forget, or turn themselves on when my phone is the first one into the home at night. It was easy to set some basic settings and now I can shout to Siri to turn on bright lights or “make the lights blue” or whatever.The circadian setting in the Nanoleaf app is very good but I haven’t found a way to access it through Home. That is, if you want to use the circadian lighting, you have to do that via the Nanoleaf app every time, manually. Surely we could at least ask for a widget for this? But ultimately I want to be able to access that setting via Home because that’s where I automate from. It shouldn’t be so hard to say “turn on my light to the circadian setting for the current time of day,” but it’s not possible. Fingers crossed for an update.I’m happy with how bright they are and my partner, an android guy, is not having any issues accessing them from his own hardware.But for now, I’m mostly just turning them on and setting them to a solid color because the fades are so jarring, and that’s not why I got them or why I bought a HomePod Mini to go alongside them. So that’s disappointing and I think next time I’ll shop around more.