Ikea’s New Lineup of Smart Home Gear Is Quietly Changing the Game

I've always been an Ikea fan. I lived in nine different apartments over 15 years before moving into my home, and every single one of those places had an abundance of Ikea furnishings. But the latest thing from Ikea that's been catching my eye isn't the new bold blue shade for the Billy bookcase, but the brand's expanded and upgraded smart home gear.

Ikea announced last year that its new lineup of smart home gadgets would be entirely Matter-compatible. That's a big deal, as the open source interoperability standard has Amazon, Apple, and Google signed up, meaning these devices will play well with Alexa, Siri, and Google's nameless voice assistant. While some of this gear has been available for a little while, much of the lineup—like the newest light bulbs and smart plugs—is new. These are now some of the most affordable smart home gadgets available, and from my experience, they also some of the best when it comes to ease of setup and price.

Ikea is still using its Dirigera Hub ($110) that launched a few years ago, so if you're already an Ikea smart home user, you won't need a new hub to start using these gadgets. But new users should pick one up if they don't have a Thread-enabled, Matter-compatible smart home hub in their home.

Here's what gear I've tried from Ikea's new smart home collection, and how it went.

The Kajplats Bulb

One of Ikea's key new products, just launched this April, is a new light bulb. Smart light bulbs are one of the most-used items in my home, and this is one of the most accessible and useful smart home products out there.

The Kajplats smart bulb has 11 variations, ranging from your classic E26 standard bulb to Edison-style dimmable bulbs. The bulbs are well-priced, ranging from just $6 for a 450 lumen white-only bulb for accent lights up to $13 for the 1,100 lumen color bulb. That puts it a little cheaper than my favored Cync smart bulb, but you'll miss out on extras like music sync that more expensive bulbs offer but which I don't find myself using very often.

The Kajplats bulb was easy to set up around my house, and because I'm an iPhone user, it also used Matter to sync to my Apple Home app as well as my Ikea app. I wish these came in more packs of bulbs rather than having to always buy them a la carte, but it's a solid bulb for a good price. Just check the lumens before you check out to make sure you're not accidentally buying the cheap, dim one when you need something bright enough to fill a room.

The Bilresa Remote

The Bilresa smart remote is downright adorable. It allows you to connect to Ikea's range of smart lights, plugs, speakers, and more so you can quickly control it without saying a word. It's almost like a smart switch, since you can use the included mounting plate and sticky adhesive to mount it in your home, but there's also a magnet backing that I used to attach it right to the fridge.

It comes in three colors, though you can only buy the white color individually; to get the tomatoey red and soft green, you'll have to buy the three-pack set. There's also the choice of spending a little more to get one with a wheel—ideal for adjusting brightness on a smart light, for example—or just buttons. The button-only models are $6 individually and $15 for a three-pack, making it a really cheap investment for such a handy little device. These do need AAA batteries, however, which aren't included.

The Myggspray Motion Sensor

There are a few new sensors that launched as part of Ikea's new line, ranging from door sensors and temperature sensors to even a water leakage sensor. I tried the Myggspray wireless motion sensor ($8) in my home. The design is really intended to turn on lights when you walk into the room.

There are controls in the app for what the motion sensor should do when it doesn't see motion anymore, but there's not a setting to confirm it's supposed to turn the light on when it does see motion. You can also set up a schedule for when it should react to motion, so that a midnight bathroom trip won't light up my entire room.

The Ikea Experience

Unlike the other Ikea products in my home, these gadgets came without the need to do any lifting or twist a tiny hex wrench. Yet they have the affordability, convenience, and style you'd expect from the brand. The Ikea Home Smart app quickly recognized each device once I plugged it in, and used Matter to connect to my iPhone's Home app for multi-platform control. I also really liked how clean the in-app experience was, and it felt easy to understand how everything worked and what I could connect it to.

Especially with the affordable price point, this smart home ecosystem is an easy one to get into. It's not expensive, and you won't feel like you need to be a tech expert. It's also fun that it's a part of such a popular home brand.