If you’ve been looking for an affordable way of adding smart lights to your Apple Home smart home setup, you’ve got an excellent new option today. WiZ, the budget smart home manufacturer, has rolled out an update to its products that brings compatibility with the new universal connected devices standard, Matter, which effectively makes all WiZ lights now compatible with Apple Home, too.
In order to hook WiZ lights up with Apple Home previously, you’d need to create Siri Shortcuts as a workaround to get the devices talking to each other in an Apple-only environment. But Matter support means WiZ lights will now be seen just like any other Apple Home product, ready to communicate with any other scenes or devices on your network.
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WiZ lights will also work with Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Home, and Samsung’s SmartThings platforms, but the Matter update will benefit all smart home styles, as they will now work over a local Wi-Fi connection, and are no longer dependent on internet connectivity.
Top notch value
WiZ lights and devices offer excellent value for money — they’re under the Signify banner, sharing a stable with the premium Philips Hue range. WiZ in fact now has one over its better-established Philips Hue cousin, with the Hue Matter rollout having faced delays.
The vast majority of WiZ products will get the Matter upgrade — provided your lights and smart plugs were made after Q2 2021, and that you’ve let the accompanying app upgrade to WiZ v2, you’ll be good to go. A Matter controller like a HomePod, HomePod 2, or Amazon Echo is needed to control the Matter functionality, and you’ll need to transfer Matter control to each device in the WiZ v2 app individually.
If you’re looking for WiZ devices that go beyond your usual bulbs, check out our reviews of the WiZ Luminaire Mobile Portable Lamp and Wiz Luminaire Pole Floor Light — both offer great accent lighting options for your living spaces. The list of products that work with Matter continues to grow!
