Nanoleaf Matter Essentials B22 LED Bulb, RGBW Dimmable Smart Bulb – Matter over Thread, Bluetooth Colour Changing Light Bulb, Works with Google Apple, Room Decor & Gaming

Great easy to use light bulb
I can’t think of any faults with this bulb.I have previously had a different branded bulb which ended up being a bit temperamental and turning on and off randomly. I have never had those issues with this bulb.It’s simple to setup if you have a decent internet connection. I use it through the apple HomeKit app and it’s very responsive and great to be able to change the light colour at different times of day.Having spent similar money on a different product that wasn’t as good, I would say value for money here is great and it’s lasted so far quite a long time.

Nice light but app can be optimised.
IOS, no widgets. Must use Apple Home Kit widgets instead. Set up is fairly easy. Nice bright colours

Awful reliability
I bought 8 of these initially for my downstairs. Setup with HomeKit was relatively easy, and once I had them all working I felt quite content. Occasionally I saw the connectivity would drop out, so updated all the bulbs to the latest software and ensured I did the same with my phone and HomePod minis.After a day or so, I noticed the bulbs would constantly go offline or take 20+ seconds to respond to a command. Using the Nanoleaf app, I could see that the bulbs were connecting to thread, disconnecting, switching to Bluetooth over and over. It wasn’t an issue with where the border router was placed as it was in the same room, and the bulbs were no greater than 1.5 meters apart (with most in one room and hallway being less than a meter away).I then added bulbs to my upstairs, and that’s where it all fell apart completely. My house is not large, and thread is designed to ensure that the network stays permanently connected even if one device goes offline. This did not happen. When one bulb went offline, all of them did – and it took either removing and completely factory resetting then to get everything working again. Once everything was working, after 20 minutes it would all happen again.I also use thread/matter devices from Eve and Aqara, placed at extreme ends of my house. These devices work perfectly and have never once lost connection. They respond instantly.This has demonstrated these these Nanoleaf bulbs are simply not fit for use. I’d understand it more if it was one faulty bulb, but I bought 14 of these and every single of them does it.If you are thinking of buying these, I beg you to reconsider. I’ve returned all of them, and will never buy from Nanoleaf again. Don’t let the more premium price tag fall you – these are simply awful products and you will have a nightmare using them.Instead I’ve begun using Wi-Fi bulbs from Meross, which respond instantly and have never once gone offline.Avoid these like the plague.

Works well enough when it works
Key points: Good light bulb, nice colours, useable maximum brightness, latency/performance is highly variable, ‘works’ with my Google home assistant.Extended review:I have a Google nest display 2, so I thought it would be a good idea to get a smart lightbulb for a cool sunrise effect and use the red light at night (for better sleep obviously).Connecting the bulb to nanoleaf’s app was fine and work pretty well to be honest. The problem is that it used Bluetooth, and the whole point of buying a matter enabled device is to use matter.This is where my Google nest display comes in, it acts as a thread router, basically allowing my bulb to use matter (I believe it creates some sort of separate network on a different frequency so it doesn’t interfere your WiFi or Bluetooth devices, that’s one of the the main benefits).And like a lot of other people I had trouble with setting up and it took hours blah blah blah…I had to disconnect from the nanoleaf app, reset the lightbulb to default settings via some magic light switch code:power cycle the bulb 5 times(turn on the bulb, turn off the bulb immediately, wait 3 seconds, repeat for a total of 5 times) If done successfully the bulb will flash red like some intruder alarm.Connect to my Google home app as a matter enabled device by scanning the qr code on the bulb or the sticker on the included quick start guide (the better option if you don’t want to be blinded while the bulb is on).I also installed the nanoleaf app afterwards and made sure to connect the bulb again and ensured it was using the thread network.Results? A smart bulb that works most of the time 👍, there are occasional hiccups where it takes sthe bulb about 5 seconds to turn on or switch colours, which doesn’t seem to happen on Bluetooth…But usually it performs well, takes about 1-2 seconds to change in Google home app, and instantly on nanoleaf’s app.As for what smart things I use it for:I give control of it to my alarm and morning schedule to turn on slowly before the alarm.I also made 2 single word routines ‘daylight’ and ‘night light’ (that’s just how Google interpret speech, I would have preferred ‘day light’)It changes the colour and brightness of the bulb simply.Oh right, main downside of a smart bulb, you would want to control it with smart stuff only. You can still turn it on and off at the light switch, but it will disrupt the connection between the bulb and the smart device, so it will have some issues when you then try to change some settings.(There are some cool smart switches that allow you to operate smart bulbs without cutting power to them, but those are expensive and require installation)

Everytime apple release an update the bulbs will get disconnected for few days.

Emerging technologies’ crucial word is: Should. ‘It should work,’ ‘should be fine,’ etc. Nanoleaf updates the firmware for their products constantly. Each time, it ‘should’ work, better. But very much like Apple, each update creates issues that never before existed. Like when the app says you can’t update more than 3 devices at a time, and you are only updating one. Yes, you must update the light bulbs (which is actually indecision: “Oh, we can always change the firmware if it doesn’t work”). The negative applies too: “Oh, it shouldn’t do that.” Or maybe, “I shouldn’t have to do that.” Look, it’s great in concept, and the damned things do work, as long as you are prepared for them not to. All this for a 9W bulb that is actually quite dim, once you start asking it to change colors. Their execution is not ready for prime time. Or wait, it totally is, if you are ready to pay to join their R&D department. Because — like Apple — they know early adopters are thrilled to work for free. Even better, they will PAY to work for free! Because, like someone in jail, you have loads of free time, right? And don’t forget: you need a device to change colors. So if you absolutely must turn your home — or dorm room — or prison cell! — into a disco, go for it.

The light does what it should. The app needs work. Some automations don’t work reliably