Linkind Matter Smart Light Bulb, Smart Bulbs Work with Apple Home/Siri/Alexa/Google Home/SmartThings, LED Color Changing Light Music Sync RGTBW, Smart Home, 60W 800LM A19 E26 2.4Ghz WiFi Only, 2 Pack

Like most, our smart home setup is a bit of an ad-hoc combination of different brands. For this reason, I was hesitant to add yet another with these Linkind bulbs. That being said, I was looking to add color lighting to our finished basement for a kid's party, and the cost of the 6-pack from Linkind was close to what I'd have paid for one single HUE bulb.Cost savings aside, these bulbs perform close to, if not just as well as their HUE counterparts. At full brightness, I feel that the HUEs deliver slightly more luminance, however, there are a number of benefits (in addition to being a fraction of the price) that more than compensate for that!I was not thrilled when downloading the AiDot companion app, as I already have a collection of subpar "brand-specific" automation apps taking up space on my phone, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The UI is very well-designed and responsive - even more so than the native HUE app I tend to use at times in place of invoking Alexa. It also offers a great variety of pre-set color schemes, many of which feature interactivity with your music or television audio (a huge hit with the kids)! Aside from being "yet another" brand-specific automation app, my only gripe with the AiDot app is the prominence of its selling components. To be fair, these are not "ads", but rather a store function (which is found in many other manufacturer's apps); it just feels like it should be tucked away in a less "in-your-face" presentation.Integration with Alexa is essentially a non-issue. I installed all six of these bulbs in my basement, and by the time I was screwing the fourth one in, Alexa had already recognized the first two and was prompting me to assign their names and rooms. I'd like to say the process was intuitive, but in truth there really is no process at all - they really are plug-and-play as far as Alexa is concerned. My "configuration" really just consisted of creating Alexa routines so we can invoke the AiDot color scenes we liked using by voice.Apple homekit has been a different experience entirely, but I'm not prepared to fault Linkind in any way for that. My apple "automation" has never proven to be reliable in any way, and attempting to add these bulbs to homekit was no exception. To this day, I have not been able to have homekit recognize a single one of these bulbs using qr code, serial number, network address, mac IDs, back magic, or pleas to the gods of home automation. Again, I'm not blaming Linkind for this - these are really the first matter products I've owned, and I guess my hopes were that this feature would help with apple integration. This was not the case. The only comparative "con" I'll offer here is that apple integration is obviously a bit of a challenge, unlike my HUE bulbs which do appear in and can be controlled by homekit (presumably due to the presence of the latter's hub device).In summary, if your primary automation platform is apple-based, I'd recommend researching these before buying. If like me, Alexa is your go-to for smart home functionality, these bulbs are an exceptional value and perform amazingly well. If I could go back in time, I'd install these in place of the dozens of HUEs I have without hesitation!One thing I CAN say I've been happy with using HUE is their longevity, something for which I can't speak to with the Linkind product as I only installed them about a month ago. Hopefully, they offer an equally long lifespan, but considering that they are a fraction of the price, anything close can be considered a net win!

This was my first time working with a Matter device. I was able to connect to the bulbs without downloading a manufacturer's app and without sending my personal info to yet another company. All 6 bulbs connected without issue and all 6 are changing colors, brightness and temperature perfectly. This is not a long-term use review because I have only been using them for about an hour but I am impressed with the ease of setup and the fact that I can control the bulbs without connecting to any cloud services. I am controlling them directly from Home Assistant.

The media could not be loaded. We have had smart bulbs before and have had varying experiences with getting them setup and with ongoing ease of use--or lack of it. We now use Apple Home exclusively as our home automation. Many smart devices say they work with HomeKit, but we have had issues with setup and ongoing reliability. So far, these are perfect.These bulbs don't appear to come with any instructions so you have to utilize everything they give you on the outside of the box. You can scan the QR code on the outside of the box which will take you to your App Store to download the AiDot app. Or you can just open your App Store and search for "AiDot". That is the first step. Don't skip it! Before you can add these to Apple Home you have to set them up in AiDot. I don't love having to install these apps, but if I want automation it is necessary. Take a quick look at their privacy policy by clicking the link to it when you're installing the app. At the time I installed it, their stated use of my personal information is acceptable. They stated they don't sell it or use it to advertise to me and also stated their privacy policy would transfer to the buyer if the company is sold. We never know what they're really doing, but this is about as good as it gets in terms of disclosing how they use my personal info. You need to setup a login for the app which only requires name, email address, and a password. I use "hide my email" and disposable email addresses for these apps.Once you have the app installed, the rest is pretty intuitive. Have a plan and be armed with what you need to do the setup start to finish before you start!Know:What you will name each room that has a bulb.What you will name each bulb (be logical and plan to use the same names for the bulbs in the AiDot app and in your preferred AI app (Alexa, Apple Home, etc.) I bought a box of 4 and named them Smart Bulb 1, Smart Bulb 2, etc.Your network name (the SSID-what network name you choose when you're connecting to your home wi-fi)Your network password.Know if your wi-fi broadcasts the 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz bands under the same name or separate names. Example, you might have "MyWiFi 5" and "MyWiFi 2.4 " as choices (Replace the "MyWiFi" part with whatever yours is named). Or you might only have "MyWiFi" without a number after it so that both your 5 Ghz and 2.4 Ghz bands are broadcast under one network name.Smart bulbs can't use the 5 Ghz wi-fi band so if yours broadcasts two names, only the one that is 2.4 Ghz will show up during setup.**Very important--If you don't see your Wi-Fi broadcast twice, one for 5 Ghz and a separate one for 2.4, you won't see your Wi-Fi as a choice during AiDot bulb setup. Don't despair! In AiDot select "other networks" at the bottom of the list of Wi-Fi choices. By doing that you will be given the option to type in the name of your Wi-Fi (the exact SSID) and the password. The app will then find your 2.4 Ghz band, connect to it, and remember it so that after you setup one bulb your Wi-Fi network will be there as a choice for all subsequent bulbs. Just be sure you type it EXACTLY as it is broadcast or it won't be found.If this applies to you, first go into your phone's Wi-Fi settings and note the exact name of the Wi-Fi you're using including Capital letters, lower case, etc. Type that exactly in the network name field in AiDot after choosing "Other networks" during setup. Also, your phone must be connected to the same network you're connecting the bulbs to during setup. If you have more than one Wi-Fi network near you, make sure your phone is connected to the right one or the setup will fail and you won't know why. You can't be off of Wi-Fi and just using your cell phone data either. Be sure you're connected to Wi-Fi correctly before you start setup.Right after I setup each bulb in AiDot, the latest firmware for the bulbs was installed automatically. Keep the bulbs on and your phone near the bulbs while this is happening. I was installing in bedroom ceiling fixtures so I laid my phone on the bed under the light fixture and left it until the install and update was complete in AiDot. The lights flicker a little when the update is finishing. It only took a few minutes.For Apple HomeKit setup, there is a QR code on the the base of each bulb. You will need to use that to set them up and the bulbs need to powered on the entire time. Don't bypass installing in AiDot first!I had to unscrew my bulbs just slightly so that my phone camera could capture the QR code on the bulb. If I was careful I could unscrew it just enough for Apple Home to see the code but not enough to cut the power to bulb. Hold your phone really close to the bulb while HomeKit is finding it and setting it up. I think many people who had trouble with HomeKit setup probably moved their phone away from the bulb before setup was complete. The one time I laid my phone down on the bed under the light fixture during Apple HomeKit setup, it failed to setup. I immediately started again but held my phone right up to the light and it setup in about 30 seconds.I will update this review if we experience problems. For now, I highly recommend these bulbs especially if you've been struggling to find bulbs that work with Apple HomeKit.