I’ve tested two Govee smart floor lamps but I’d only ever buy one as an Apple fan — and it’s the cheaper one

(Image credit: Govee)

I’m a sucker for smart lighting. If it adds a little ambiance in a room and can be connected to some form of larger scene for some customization throughout the night, it can grab my interest. If it fits into my life without much effort, it will hold my interest for a long time.

Recently, I’ve been testing out the Govee RGBICWW Floor Lamp Pro, and the Floor Lamp 2. Despite that Pro name and a heftier price tag, I’d strongly recommend you pick up the Floor Lamp 2 instead if you’re an Apple fan. You will thank me later.

Let’s talk about that whole “Pro” thing

The Govee Floor Lamp Pro costs $219.99 at full price. The Floor Lamp 2, however, is just $149.99 at full price. Both prices are reasonable, especially considering Philips’ option, the Philips Signe gradient floor lamp is $329.99.

For that extra cost, the Govee Floor Lamp Pro is brighter and taller. In a room, it looks a bit nicer and has better customizability. It’s a seriously impressive bit of kit that comes with a magnetic remote control you can use to change between scenes and even play preloaded background sounds like a fire, a lullaby, and the crackling of fire. The speaker quality isn’t great but it’s good enough to add to the ambiance.

However, the Govee Floor Lamp Pro has one fatal flaw that stops me from recommending it to an Apple fan.

What’s the Matter?

Apple, from its ecosystem integration to its range of HomePod smart speakers, makes a great candidate as the basis for a smart home. The Home app is great, shortcuts are surprisingly intuitive to build, and the fact it can couple easily to your best iPhone makes it even better. As you might be able to guess from this preamble, the Govee Floor Lamp Pro is not compatible with HomeKit. If you have a smart home setup or want to one day commit to one, this Pro lamp will, unfortunately, sit just outside of it. You can control it with the remote or via its own app, but you can’t set up automations with it in mind.

The Govee Floor Lamp 2, however, is Matter-supported, which means it can fit into your Apple smart home easily. It is also pretty great, with nice lighting, custom scenes, and its own controller. It’s a step down in some ways from the Pro model but is available at a much nicer price point. If you just want a nice lamp, the Pro is a good shout but, for an Apple fan, I wouldn’t recommend anything other than the Floor Lamp 2.

James is a staff writer and general Jack of all trades at iMore. With news, features, reviews, and guides under his belt, he has always liked Apple for its unique branding and distinctive style. Originally buying a Macbook for music and video production, he has since gone on to join the Apple ecosystem with as many devices as he can fit on his person.

With a degree in Law and Media and being a little too young to move onto the next step of his law career, James started writing from his bedroom about games, movies, tech, and anything else he could think of. Within months, this turned into a fully-fledged career as a freelance journalist. Before joining iMore, he was a staff writer at Gfinity and saw himself published at sites like TechRadar, NME, and Eurogamer.

As his extensive portfolio implies, James was predominantly a games journalist before joining iMore and brings with him a unique perspective on Apple itself. When not working, he is trying to catch up with the movies and albums of the year, as well as finally finishing the Yakuza series. If you like Midwest emo music or pretentious indie games that will make you cry, he’ll talk your ear off.