Lighting effects can make or break your TV room, gaming setup, etc. SwitchBot’s RGBICWW light bars take a different approach than most products, with dedicated cool white and warm white LEDs alongside the color zones. The end result means true white light for work and reading and 12-zone RGBIC color for movies. It all works over Wi-Fi/Matter too, so you don’t need a hub.
Weekly HomeKit is a series focused on smart home accessories, automation tips and tricks, and everything to do with Apple’s smart home framework.
RGB color mixing can produce something that technically looks white on a wall, but it’s not the same quality of light you’d want to read or work in for hours. If you work in an office building, you know what I’m talking about. SwitchBot’s RGBICWW light bars use separate cool white and warm white LEDs that produce true white light with adjustable color temperature that can range from 2200K up to 6500K and dim. It can produce up to 800 lumens across the pair.
Color-wise, each bar has six independently controllable RGBIC zones, so you have 12 zones across the pair. This allows you to run multicolored gradients instead of a single color across the entire bar. There are 26 preset dynamic effects and six music-responsive modes powered by a built-in microphone, so you don’t need a separate sensor to sync the lights with the sound.
Import via Wi-Fi
The light bars connect to Apple Home natively via Matter over Wi-Fi without needing a SwitchBot hub. The integration covers the basics: power on/off, brightness, color temperature, and color control via the Home app or Siri.
Deeper color zone control, music modes, dynamic effects, and scene creation are all found in the SwitchBot app rather than Apple Home, which is standard for Matter accessories at this level of feature complexity. A wired physical controller is also included for quick changes to the lights. I’m a big fan of smart home products that also offer a physical button option.
The lights include built-in magnets so you can attach the bars directly to compatible metal surfaces, even with adhesive as an option. They can be mounted horizontally, vertically, rear-mounted behind a monitor or TV, or placed upright with the included table stands.
Wrap
SwitchBot has created pretty much everything you would want here. The attention to color detail is fantastic. Matter over Wi-Fi means you can purchase it and connect it directly to Apple Home/HomeKit without a hub, while maintaining flexibility for the future.
You can purchase SwitchBot RGBICWW light bars from Amazon.
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