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IKEA's smart home system now supports scenes
IKEA has finally added scene support to its smart home system, and shortcut buttons appear to be close at hand as well.
IKEA's smart blinds now work with Apple HomeKit
IKEA's smart blinds should be much easier to control if you live in an Apple-centric household. The home furnishing giant is now rolling out HomeKit support for its FYRTUR blinds, making them easy to control without either using the remote or relying on Google Assistant. You'll need a TRADFRI gateway for this to work, but it should otherwise be straightforward -- you can use Apple's Home app or Siri to open the blinds as much as you need. They can also tie into scenes, so you can fling your blinds wide open in the morning at the same time as you adjust your lights.
IKEA's upcoming smart home shortcut button surfaces in FCC filing
IKEA's next smart home product may be a Tradfri Shortcut Button that allows users to control their smart home with one click. Based on an FCC listing, first spotted by Swedish site Teknikveckan, it appears to be a small, square device that will let users create smart home "scenes." For instance, you might be able to tap the button before you leave the house to turn off the lights and draw the blinds.
IKEA creates a business unit devoted to smart home tech
It's clear by now that IKEA is serious about smart home tech between its Sonos-powered speakers and connected lights, but the home furniture giant wants to formalize that commitment. It just established a full-fledged Home Smart business unit that, as you might guess, will be dedicated to smart home products. It's the "biggest" new unit since the Children's IKEA division, the company's Peter van der Poel said.
IKEA is working on robotic furniture for small apartments
IKEA wants to "empower people to have big dreams for small homes." To do so, it's creating a line of robotic furniture. Today, the company announced that it's partnering with Ori, an American startup that develops robotic furniture meant to address the challenges of small apartment living. IKEA and Ori will introduce their new line, dubbed ROGNAN, in 2020.
IKEA is launching low-cost smart window blinds
Almost a year ago, Swedish furniture giant IKEA signalled its intention to make people's homes smarter with the launch of its own intelligent lighting range. TRÅDFRI -- as we now know it -- has grown to include a variety of LED bulbs, motion sensor kits, dimming lights and a selection of LED light panels and doors that can be built into kitchen and bedroom cabinets. With its low-cost lighting now in stores all over the world, IKEA has decided it wants to further automate people's homes and has confirmed the launch of a new product: smart window blinds.
IKEA’s smart lighting officially supports HomeKit
After what seems like an eternity (for IKEA and HomeKit fans, at least), the Swedish furniture maker has added support for Apple's smart home platform. As 9to5Mac notes, so long as you have the company's Tradfri hub installed at your house, you'll be able to start controlling the lighting via your iOS device. It's worth noting that, this will only work with smart lightbulbs at this time; dimmer switches aren't online just yet. More than that, the hub integrates with Amazon's Alexa so if you aren't all-in on HomeKit, you can still use voice commands to turn your lights on and off. Google Assistant support isn't included in this update, however.
IKEA smart lights will play nicely with Apple HomeKit this fall (update)
IKEA's Tradfri smart lighting line is an impressive system at a relatively affordable price point, and it just got even better. Earlier this year, IKEA announced that it would be integrating Tradfri with Apple's HomeKit. Today, the Swedish furniture company pushed an update to all existing hubs that does just that. What's more, Ikea bulbs will now work with Philips devices, meaning you don't have to buy an IKEA hub if you have a Hue Bridge compatible with HomeKit. Bulbs will come in multiple colors starting in October.
