HomeKit lamps are not missing on the market and have been a great success in my home with my family. My kids love multicolored lights, I like being able to turn them off from Siri using HomePods, and they're pretty cheap. My new favorite lamp is the YEELight HomeKit Lamp, which is the perfect size and shape for a nightstand.
HomeKit Weekly is a series focused on smart home accessories, automation tips and tricks and everything to do with the smart home frame from Apple.
Unpacking and adding to the HomeKit
I never heard of YEELIGHT until I bought this lamp, but it is a brand that I intend to check more in the future. When unpacking the product, the instruction manual (with a backup HomeKit code on the back), the lamp and a USB-C to USB-A cable result. It doesn't include wall charger, which is a bit confusing, but I have a drawer full of them. Choosing to use USB-C for input power is a welcome change from the USB-A or micro-USB standard. If you have a USB-C to USB-C cable, you can also use a USB wall outlet. If you have a surge protector that includes a USB-A input, you could probably use it as well.
The HomeKit QR code is on the bottom of the lamp, so it should be safe in the future as long as you don't spill anything under it. It integrated quickly using the Home app, but I'll note that it's only 2.4 GHz, so if you're having trouble, try disabling 5 GHz over Wi-Fi while adding it to the HomeKit. It added to HomeKit in seconds for me and I was able to choose a room from there.
Once the YEELIGHT HomeKit lamp is in the HomeKit, you have access to traditional controls to change the color, turn it off and on, and increase the brightness. However, one of the areas that HomeKit has improved over the years is the suggestion of automation. For example, I have a motion sensor in that room and he suggested I turn on the light when the motion sensor detects motion. Because it's a bedroom, I turned it on but quickly edited the automation just to make it day.
Where is the YEELIGHT HomeKit lamp practical?
As I mentioned earlier, it's the perfect size to walk on a nightstand, but I think it might be helpful to pair a HomeKit motion sensor with a child's bathroom. You can place the motion sensor in the hallway that comes out of the child's rooms, and you can set up automation to turn on the YEELIGHT HomeKit if it detects motion at night. It would be an easy way to prevent your children from having to look for a light switch at night. Its low profile would allow it to easily slide down the bathroom sink and connect to a GFI outlet.
summary
There is not much to say about the YEELIGHT HomeKit lamp. It looks nice, doesn't break the bank and is an easy way to put a HomeKit lamp anywhere in your home. It responds to a double tap to turn it on and off, so if your kids don't have iOS devices, they can easily control it from the bedroom. Once you have a device in HomeKit, there are thousands of automation options, so your home gets smarter with each device you add.
FTC: We use revenue-generating automatic affiliate links. More.
Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:
