IKEA FYRTUR Smart Shade Review: A HomeKit Must-Have & My Favorite Tech Purchase of 2021

The IKEA smart shades are a must-have for HomeKit users.

Summary:
The IKEA smart shades are my favorite tech purchase of the year.

If you have a smart home based around the Apple HomeKit ecosystem, these roller blinds are a must-have because they are the only affordable option.

I added my smart shades to a few different automations in my house. For example, my shades open each morning at 7 AM to let natural light in my office.

Another cool automation? When it’s time to shoot a video, I say “Hey Siri, set video,” which turns my two studio lights on, closes the shade, and turns on my Nanoleaf Shapes.

But there are a few downsides to the IKEA smart shade to consider first:

Unfortunately, only the blackout version is sold in the states and it only comes in one color: gray. For my house, I preferred blackout, and the gray works with my room's aesthetics, but it's not going to work for everyone.

You’ll need to purchase a IKEA's bridge for $35 if you want to control these shades with your phone. Otherwise, the only way to control them is with the physical remote.

While the physical installation is easy, the bridge setup can be painful because it involves pairing four devices to the bridge. Fortunately, this is just a one-time setup. Once the bridge is synced, you can stay in the Apple Home app for control.

They’re not the best built or the nicest looking, but they’re the most affordable way for Apple HomeKit users to add blinds/shades to a smart home. The closest HomeKit smart shade/blind competitor costs more than $600 (Serena Shades by Lutron), while IKEA's shades are around $180 (w/ the bridge).

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:49 Installation & Setup
3:23 Build Quality & Design
5:13 Software
6:52 Three automations I have in my house
8:20 The Competition
10:20 My Strange Issue
11:30 Who is this for?

[ykhjndd]

Great review man, Keep up the great content!

[Boneman]

yo man great video. literally went over all my questions ESPECIALLY being able to change the "max" drop level to match my window sill

[tdrg_]

Do you need the bridge to use the blinds with HomeKit? What functionality do you lose by not using the bridge?

[iMagdog]

My only gripe is the IKEA blind dimensions are based on total width of roller mechanism, not the blind width. I bought for my measured window width, but a gap of a couple of millimeters each side let some light in. I.e. 36” blind is only 35” of fabric wide.

[ernestomeniano]

Good morning. Can I use as a projection screen ?

[drewie]

I assume one bridge is enough for using the multiple blinds with HomeKit?

[TheGameFreak]

Can you use another brigde than the ikea one? I have Philips hue lights and bridge, will it work with that?

[TheTarbita]

Creating content and sharing knowledge, insights, experiences is a real job. If it takes planning, effort, thought processes, actions, it's a Job.

[RaghunandanReddyC]

Can you use Smart things instead of Ikea bridge?

[joh]

Hi thanks for your video! So helpful! 😊 ChatGPT recommended yr video to me for yr reference! Well done! May I ask how’s yr blinds going now? We r looking into them now in Dubai 😍😍

[ferrisbuellerdayoff]

Great video! Thanks. -- If I was using the Dirigera hub, do I still need to use the Gateway to controll the blinds? Seems silly to plug in a gateway by the blinds... similarly, do I need a gateway for each blind in a room? thanks!

[fVNzO]

Can you customize how quickly it operates to lessen the noise output? Can you customize it to open and close according to the sunrise (as an example) with homekit?

[mybikebitungdessen]

Hi, how if i have multiple blind, let say 4 unit. Can it be controlled by apple home? Thanks

[ellenh]

My son and his gf work different shifts. I was looking at these for myself but after your review I'm thinking Christmas present! (Obviously after consulting them) Glad I found your channel.

[gm]

Hi and you can cut then to fit any size windows lile most have done and me 😁👍

[gabecarreras]

Is it possible to use a wall switch with the IKEA shades to make them go up or down? I’m thinking of purchasing these for an Airbnb I have, so guest will need a wall switch to use them

[mymovievideos]

Thank you, you really took the time to talk about all the info about this product, I think I will considered getting this especially that it works with home kit.

[hanilouz]

are those curtains still working for you ?

[JenniferCaraballo]

I’m curious if you have had any issues in the months since this video. Some reviews in March ‘22 in the Apple app store mention losing connectivity with HomeKit after IKEA ran updates to their app. And if you experienced this same disconnect, were you able to reconnect?

[jonmarc]

Great video. I always learn something from your videos that’s not mentioned by other creators. 👍🏾