I recently, maybe foolishly, replaced our apartment lights with some Matter bulbs. They’re mostly great, but yesterday the SO needed to turn on a light and it was such a chore for her. It’s had me thinking how I can make it work without voice. I’m guessing I’ll need a whole new setup, which sucks. I considered making a fancy Siri Shortcut to help her control things from her phone. Maybe a smart button on top of the switches? I’m a bit confused, if I’m being honest.

Any ideas on this are appreciated!

  • comicidiot@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Smart switches and local automations are the key, not smart bulbs in the cloud.

    100% this.

    OP is saying how it was a chore for his girlfriend to turn on a light and thought of putting a switch above the switch but not replacing the switch. A logical reason is that they’re renting and can’t replace switches easily; I feel like that’s an important enough detail to include.

    Unfortunately, Smart Bulbs only make sense in situations where the light isn’t controlled by a switch.

    • Uninterested_Viewer@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Unfortunately, Smart Bulbs only make sense in situations where the light isn’t controlled by a switch.

      Not true at all: ZigBee bulbs plus ZigBee wall switches (and then binding them together, of course) is the common, standard way of running whole-home circadian smart lighting