Installing Ikea’s Trådfri was a breeze. I just followed the handy instructions, and a few minutes later my home was slightly smarter. But as soon as I finished, I realized there’s one critical piece missing. Ikea’s intelligent home products were not compatible with Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google’s Home. Thankfully, that all changes today.
UPDATE: Not yet.
Ikea has quietly updated the wording on its Trådfri product page to indicate that its smart bulbs, which were only launched in late March, are now compatible with voice assistant from Apple, Amazon, and Google. The update isn’t unexpected, as Ikea planned to launch it this fall, but it’s a few months early.
“Make sure that you have the latest upgrade of Trådfri gateway to be able to connect it with Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit or Google Home,” Ikea explains. All I need to now is to upgrade the Trådfri’s gateway firmware, and the wireless bulbs will be compatible with Apple’s HomeKit.
That means I will be able to control Ikea lights using my voice, and the bulbs should appear in the Home app.
Furthermore, 9to5Mac reports that the updates add compatibility with the Philips Hue bridge hub — that means Ikea light bulbs will appear in the Philips Hue app.
In October, Ikea will start selling multi color color-changing bulbs to complement the white light smart models currently available on its website. Even without a multi color option, the current Trådfri bulbs do the job and may prove to be a great addition to any smart home project especially now that they work with Apple, Amazon, and Google products.
UPDATE: Apparently, it was all a mistake. The update isn’t live, and it’s only coming this fall. “There has been information going out today about the compatibility of TRÅDFRI. We can now inform you that TRÅDFRI is not yet compatible with Apple, Amazon and Google. The plan is that everything will work as we’d like this fall. We are very sorry for the confusion!” said in a statement.
