Aqara’s new Zigbee gentle strip helps HomeKit Adaptive Lighting and Matter

Aqara has launched a brand new Zigbee RGB sensible gentle strip referred to as the LED Strip T1. It prices $49.99, requires an Aqara hub, and is suitable with Apple Dwelling, Amazon Alexa, Google Dwelling, and IFTTT. When paired with sure hubs, together with the Aqara Hub M2, the sunshine strip can be suitable with the Matter sensible dwelling protocol.

The T1 is among the only a few gentle strips that assist Apple’s Adaptive Lighting characteristic — and the one one which helps each Adaptive Lighting and Matter. It doesn’t assist Adaptive Lighting by Matter, sadly; nothing does. Nonetheless, it’s good to see new, Matter-compliant lighting come to market utilizing the strong Zigbee customary. (No matter occurred to that Hue-to-Matter bridge, I’m wondering?)

The 6.6ft (2m)-long gentle strip’s Adaptive Lighting assist means you may set it to robotically tune its colours all through the day to be hotter or cooler relying on the time. The one different gentle strips that assist Apple’s circadian lighting characteristic in the intervening time come from Hue and Eve (additionally the previous Nanoleaf Necessities strip, which doesn’t, er, Matter).

The Aqara LED Strip T1. Picture: Aqara

As I stated although, connecting the Aqara Strip T1 to Apple Dwelling utilizing the Matter protocol as a substitute of the old style method means you’ll lose Adaptive Lighting, for the reason that still-nascent “common” sensible dwelling customary doesn’t at present assist it. The good factor is that — in contrast to Nanoleaf’s Matter Necessities strip, which solely helps Apple Dwelling by Matter and thus doesn’t assist Adaptive Lighting in any respect — Aqara’s Apple HomeKit certification means you don’t have to present that up.

The T1 is an RGBIC strip, that means it could possibly present a number of colours concurrently (versus older-style gentle strips that may solely present one colour at a time). Additionally, Aqara says every of its ten segments is addressable, so you may management them individually when altering colours, although that doesn’t apply to the tunable white gentle portion of the LEDs, which applies to your entire strip without delay.

Lastly, like different colourful sensible bulbs and light-weight strips from corporations like Govee, you may arrange customized results throughout the Aqara app if you wish to showcase enjoyable snaking gradients or flashing colours — it could possibly even sync to music utilizing a built-in microphone.

The trimmable, IP44-rated Aqara T1 LED Strip prices $49.99, and a 1-meter extension equipment prices $14.99. It’s accessible at Amazon within the US, Canada, and several other European nations and at different retailers listed on its “the place to purchase” web page.