Forget Philips Hue, this is the $15 Siri light bulb I can’t live without

When you hear the term Siri smart home, you probably think of advanced gadgets and appliances that cost thousands of dollars and require tons of setup. It doesn’t have to be that way—my favorite Apple smart home device costs just $15 and is as easy as scanning a QR code.

As someone who bounces around from place to place, Nanoleaf’s plug-and-play smart bulbs have accompanied me for years without any hiccups. Setting up one of the bulbs is pretty Apple-esque. I merely screwed it into a regular lamp socket and scanned the printed QR code using Apple’s Home app. It pairs in seconds and immediately lets me change the light’s color and intensity without even needing to download the Nanoleaf app (though it’s a good idea to install it for the occassional firmware update and to unlock additional features such as playlists, scenes, and motions that offer custom looks and so on).

You may be wondering why you’d want to invest in this lesser-known brand when Philips Hue exists and is perceived by many Apple users as the best smart light. Philips undoubtedly puts out high-quality products, but I have two main problems with its Hue devices: pricing and automation. A pair of basic Nanoleaf smart color bulbs costs just $30, while Philips charges a whopping $99. That’s not to mention that Nanoleaf bulbs support automations out of the box through your existing HomeKit hub (Apple TV or HomePod), while Hue requires a proprietary Bridge, which costs another $60 as well as its own setup. So, for a fraction of the price and effort, you’re getting a smarter, equally colorful bulb.

Thanks to HomeKit automations, my bulbs automatically turn on when I arrive home after sunset. They turn off on their own whenever I leave the house. I’ve also set a conditional automation that turns the bulbs on after sunset if I’m at home—and it adapts to my location and season, sparing me from manually adjusting it throughout the year. And once I’m in bed at night, I can just ask Siri to turn off the lights or alternatively use the Home app’s Control Center toggle. 

Hands down, this $15 smart bulb has made my life a bit brighter. All without anything other than screwing it in.