Smart-lit living room controlled from a phone

Smart Lighting Specialists

Smart home lighting: what works with what

Before you buy a smart bulb, the only question that matters is whether it will work with what you already have. Here are the honest answers.

bolt No rewiring needed

mic Alexa · Google · Siri

smartphone Tuya · Mi · Hue apps

palette 16M colours and scenes

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Starting from nothing? Three steps.

1 Pick one room

Do not plan the whole house. Buy smart bulbs for one room, live with them for a week, and you will know what you actually want next. Almost nobody gets the plan right on paper.

2 Buy bulbs before switches

Smart bulbs screw into your existing fittings and need no wiring. Smart wall switches replace the switch and need a qualified electrician. Start with bulbs.

3 Add a speaker when you want voice

An Echo or a Google Home is not required. Your lights work from their app without one. Add it when you want voice control, or when you want devices from different brands running in the same routine.

What works with what

Every smart brand we stock, and what it connects to. If your brand is not here, ask us.

Brand	App	Alexa	Google Home	Apple Home	Hub needed?
Wink	Tuya / Smart Life	Yes	Yes	No	No, WiFi
Xiaomi	Mi Home	Yes	Yes	No	No, WiFi
Yeelight	Yeelight (and Mi Home for some)	Yes	Yes	No	No, WiFi
Philips Hue	Hue	Yes	Yes	Yes	Bluetooth for a few lights, Bridge for the full range
Sonoff	eWeLink	Yes	Yes	No	No, WiFi
Amazon Echo	Alexa	Is Alexa	No	No	Is the hub
Google Home	Google Home	No	Is Google Home	No	Is the hub

The one rule that explains everything

Brands do not join each other's hubs. A Wink bulb will not pair with a Philips Hue Bridge. A Yeelight will not join the Mi hub. Those are closed systems and they are meant to be.

But every brand here connects to Alexa and Google Home. So a Wink bulb, a Yeelight strip and a Xiaomi plug can all sit in the same voice command and the same routine, even though none of them can see each other directly. The assistant is the meeting point, not the hub. Once you understand that, mixing brands stops being a problem.

Or shop by what you need

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Smart home questions, answered

For most of what we stock, no. Wink, Xiaomi, Yeelight and Sonoff devices connect straight to your home WiFi and run from their app. Philips Hue is the exception: Hue bulbs include Bluetooth so you can start with a few lights without one, but the full range and the best performance need the Hue Bridge.

Yes, through Alexa or Google Home. What does not work is adding one brand's device to another brand's hub: a Wink bulb will not join the Hue Bridge, and a Yeelight will not join the Mi hub. But all of them connect to Alexa and Google Home, so you can control them together by voice and in the same routines.

No, not to start. Smart bulbs screw into your existing fittings and connect over WiFi. Rewiring only comes in if you choose smart wall switches, which replace the existing switch and should be fitted by a qualified electrician. Damage from installation not carried out by a qualified electrician is not covered.

It depends on the brand. Wink uses Tuya or Smart Life, Sonoff uses eWeLink, Xiaomi uses Mi Home, Yeelight uses the Yeelight app with many products also in Mi Home, and Philips Hue uses the Hue app. Most can then be linked into Alexa or Google Home so you control everything from one place by voice.

The switch on the wall still works, so you will not be left in the dark. App and voice control need the internet, and cloud-based routines pause until the connection returns.

Yes. These are WiFi devices connected through their app, so you can switch lights and change schedules from anywhere with an internet connection.

Smart bulbs for one room. They need no wiring, they work from the app without a speaker, and after a week you will know whether you want strips, switches or voice control next. Almost nobody plans a smart home correctly on paper.

No, and this is worth knowing before you buy. A smart bulb does its own dimming from the app, so it needs constant mains power. On a dimmer switch it will flicker, buzz or fail early. Either replace the dimmer with a normal switch and dim from the app, or use a smart dimmer switch designed for it. Ask our team if you are unsure.

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