Key Takeaways
- Nanoleaf Essentials smart lights have Apple’s Adaptive Lighting enabled in iOS 18.1 beta.
- Adaptive lighting allows smart lights to automatically change color temperature throughout the day.
- Nanoleaf’s lights allow you to take advantage of Apple Home features, and we expect more brands to follow suit.
Eagle-eyed Reddit users have been spotting Apple’s Nanoleaf Essentials smart lights Adaptive Lighting The feature is enabled iOS 18.1 beta. As first reported by The Verge, the adaptive lighting feature: Nano Leaf Essentials This lineup marks the first time that Matter lights will be able to take advantage of Apple Home’s Adaptive Lighting features.
The Verge has confirmed with Nanoleaf that the company is one of the partners involved in the launch of Adaptive Lighting products for Matter. Apple Home App This means the feature will come to other Matter products at some point, and we hope that eventually all Matter smart lights and bulbs will be able to use Adaptive Lighting within Apple Home.

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What is Adaptive Lighting in Apple Home?
Smart lights can change the temperature throughout the day
Braden Newell / Pocket-lint
Adaptive Lighting is Apple’s version of the feature that allows smart lights and bulbs to automatically change color temperature throughout the day. Most smart bulbs are available in a range of color temperatures, from warm yellow to cool blue. But if you want to change your lighting, you usually have to manually switch between these color temperature settings.
Adaptive Lighting in Apple Home does this for you, automatically changing the color temperature of your bulbs and lights throughout the day. You’ll wake up with warmer lighting and during the day the color temperature will automatically change to cooler colors to help you focus better. Blue light Your smart lights will remove the lights so you can relax and prepare for sleep.
All of this is controlled from the Apple Home app, but you can also connect to a home hub, e.g. HomePod or Apple TV 4K It will send relevant commands to the bulbs. However, currently, Adaptive Lighting does not work with bulbs that connect via Matter, although you can add bulbs and lights that connect via Matter to Apple Home.
But Apple Home isn’t your only option for this kind of functionality: The Philips Hue app includes a scene called Natural Lighting that achieves similar functionality with Philips Hue bulbs, and I also use a version called Adaptive Lighting. Home Assistant For several years.
Why is adding Adaptive Lighting via Matter important?
More light bulb choices available, including major brands
Case
Case is a smart home connectivity protocol developed in collaboration with leading companies in the smart technology industry, including Apple, Google, Amazon, and Samsung. Its aim was to create a standard that would allow smart home technologies from different manufacturers to interact with each other across the various smart home ecosystems that exist.
In other words, if you buy a Matter-enabled smart light bulb, Apple Home, Google Assistant, Alexa and in theory they should work exactly the same. You don’t have to worry about whether it’s HomeKit-enabled, Google Home-enabled, or Alexa-enabled; if it’s Matter-enabled, it will work with all three.
Eventually, any Matter-enabled bulbs or lights you buy may be able to take advantage of Apple Home’s Adaptive Lighting.
Currently, Apple Home’s Adaptive Lighting does not work with Matter bulbs or lights, which is a real problem for people like me who have Philips Hue smart bulbs or smart lighting products in my home because, like many other people, I updated my Matter bulbs and lighting products. Philips Hue Bridge This was to make it compatible with Matter devices. Unfortunately, doing so meant that you couldn’t use Adaptive Lighting with your Hue bulbs.
For now, there’s no confirmation that Philips Hue smart bulbs will be able to use Adaptive Lighting with iOS 18, but Nanoleaf said it was just one of the partners involved in the launch, so other manufacturers’ Matter lighting products should support Adaptive Lighting as well. This is good news for consumers, as it gives them more options. Eventually, any Matter-enabled bulbs or lights you buy may be able to take advantage of Adaptive Lighting with Apple Home.