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!
I’ve had smart lights since the 80’s, things I’ve learned.
Everything needs a traditional switch/dimmer where people expect them to be.
Switch functions need to override automations, I turn the lights off they stay off until automations figure everybody has left the room and now come back.
Voice is the worst way to control HA, I love the Star Trek TNG computer lights as much as the next guy it’s just not efficient.
Colors nice for accent not realy good for primary unless your throwing a rave in your living room (at which point you want DMX).
People are very sensitive to latency, they expect an immediate response so cloud anything works poorly. Even local logic can be a problem some things you want a direct link, dimmer talks to bulb directly.
From the sounds of it a pico remote that looks like a normal switch could take care of things. better would be a matter dimmer that can direct address those bulbs.