Nanoleaf: adaptive lighting with HomeKit soon also for Matter Light

With iOS 18 it should be possible to use Apple’s HomeKit “Adaptive Lighting” function with Matter hardware for the first time. LED lighting specialist company Nanoleaf told US IT blog The Verge. Accordingly, the feature should come to the corresponding devices from iOS 18. Nanoleaf offers various Matter bulbs, lightstrips and other accessories – the “Essentials Matter” series of products is also said to be the first to receive adaptive lighting.

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What adaptive lighting can do

With Adaptive Lighting, the color temperature can be adjusted during the day, ensuring more pleasant lighting. This does not happen with the help of sensors, but on a schedule. “The color is cooler during the day and warmer in the evening,” explains Apple. Among other things, this is intended to better prepare you for sleep. The problem: Until now, this could only be achieved with pure HomeKit products, but not with Matter devices that were integrated into Apple Home.

According to Nanoleaf CEO Jimmy Choo, the company is one of the launch partners. But it is said that there are other companies that offer adaptive lighting through Matter. What these are initially remained unclear. Nanoleaf says it has “extensively tested” the new feature to ensure customers have a great experience. Users of the iOS 18 beta should already have one found the corresponding switch To pass.

Regardless of the matter, only for Apple Home

Adaptive Lighting has been part of HomeKit since iOS 14, which was released in 2020. In addition to Nanoleaf, providers so far include Aqara, Eve and – via the Bridge – Philips Hue. But this only affects HomeKit products. This means that anyone who switched to the new Matter lights and Matter bulbs suddenly lost the function. This led to the odd situation where Philips Hue customers were advised not to give their Bridge the Matter upgrade. This led to disappointment.

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Now Apple is said to have given the go-ahead to implement the function as part of the Matter standard, which is also being followed by competitors such as Amazon, Samsung and Google. Nanoleaf emphasized that they had wanted to implement this function for a long time, but were unable to do so because Matter support was missing. There is a drawback, however: apparently adaptive lighting will initially only be available as part of Apple Home. According to The Verge, it is initially a “feature exclusive to Apple Home” via Matter. However, it can be speculated that the Matter Association Connectivity Standards Alliance will re-establish such functions – including dynamic lighting effects. Announcements related to this have already been made. Schedule: unclear.

(B.Sc.)