IKEA FYRTUR Smart Shade Review: A HomeKit Must-Have & My Favorite Tech Purchase of 2021

The IKEA smart shades are a must-have for HomeKit users.
IKEA Shades: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/fyrtur-b...

Blog Post: https://powermoves.blog/smart-home/ik...

Summary:
The IKEA smart shades are my favorite tech purchase of the year.

If you have a smart home based around the Apple HomeKit ecosystem, these roller blinds are a must-have because they are the only affordable option.

I added my smart shades to a few different automations in my house. For example, my shades open each morning at 7 AM to let natural light in my office.

Another cool automation? When it’s time to shoot a video, I say “Hey Siri, set video,” which turns my two studio lights on, closes the shade, and turns on my Nanoleaf Shapes.

But there are a few downsides to the IKEA smart shade to consider first:

Unfortunately, only the blackout version is sold in the states and it only comes in one color: gray. For my house, I preferred blackout, and the gray works with my room's aesthetics, but it's not going to work for everyone.

You’ll need to purchase a IKEA's bridge for $35 if you want to control these shades with your phone. Otherwise, the only way to control them is with the physical remote.

While the physical installation is easy, the bridge setup can be painful because it involves pairing four devices to the bridge. Fortunately, this is just a one-time setup. Once the bridge is synced, you can stay in the Apple Home app for control.

They’re not the best built or the nicest looking, but they’re the most affordable way for Apple HomeKit users to add blinds/shades to a smart home. The closest HomeKit smart shade/blind competitor costs more than $600 (Serena Shades by Lutron), while IKEA's shades are around $180 (w/ the bridge).

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:49 Installation & Setup
3:23 Build Quality & Design
5:13 Software
6:52 Three automations I have in my house
8:20 The Competition
10:20 My Strange Issue
11:30 Who is this for?

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