Your Lifx smart bulbs now support Apple HomeKit -- and Siri
You can now control color-changing Lifx smart bulbs using spoken Siri commands -- but only if you're using third-gen bulbs or better.
- 10 years product testing experience with the CNET Home team
The Lifx lineup of color-changing smart bulbs now works with Apple HomeKit , after a long wait. With HomeKit support, you can control your bulbs alongside other HomeKit-compliant gadgets in Apple 's Home app on your iPhone or iPad , or by using spoken Siri commands.
The catch? You need the newest, third-gen Lifx or Lifx Plus bulbs in order to sync with Siri.
Current-gen Lifx and Lifx Plus smart bulbs now work with Apple HomeKit.
First-gen Lifx bulbs and the second-gen Lifx White 800 and Color 1000 bulbs won't work because they don't include HomeKit's prerequisite MFi chip. Neither does the Lifx Z color-changing light strip -- it gets left out, too. That one's a bit of a head-scratcher, as Lifx Z was released right around the time the brand first announced that HomeKit was coming.
In order to connect your existing lights with HomeKit, you'll need to upgrade each bulb's firmware in the Lifx app. Then, you'll use the app to generate bulb-specific HomeKit pairing codes for each light. Enter those codes into Apple's Home app, and you'll be up and running.
With HomeKit, Lifx bulbs now work with all three major voice control platforms -- Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant. All three voice assistants can turn the lights on and off, dim them up and down, and change their color or color temperature. Adding in HomeKit support should help Lifx stay competitive with color-changing competitors from Philips Hue and Sylvania that already work with Siri.
For more information on how to get started, check out Lifx's website.
