Elsie Otachi · November 28, 2019 · 6 min read The most wonderful time of the year is just around the corner. If you’re like me, you’ve probably spent hours during November putting up the Christmas tree and hanging holiday decorations in their rightful spots.
But what about the Christmas lights? Does the thought of scrambling around the roof trying to string up the lights on every corner and checking each bulb frustrate you already?
Best Smart Christmas Lights
If your answer is yes, you can add some automation to your Christmas lighting routine by getting smart Christmas lights that you can control through an app on your smartphone, and bring that glimmering warmth back to your home or favorite space.
We checked out some of the coolest smart Christmas lights available that not only look great, but also add a touch of pizzazz to your holiday season.
GE Energy Smart Colorite 100-Light LED Multicolor Miniature Lights
These white LED string-a-long lights are available on a strand of 100, with a warm white color quality akin to traditional incandescents.
The durable green 22-gauge that holds the clear incandescent bulbs doesn’t twist or curl, and can connect up to 25 sets from one end to another to create a huge light display both inside and outside the home.
They’re more durable and safer to use, and can last you up to 10 holiday seasons without replacing individual bulbs each time they go out, thanks to the ConstantON technology that ensures all LED bulbs continues to operate.
Plus, the LED technology can help you save on energy costs compared to using traditional incandescent bulbs.
Twinkly LED String Lights
These are probably the most popular smart Christmas lights available right now. They’re easy to use and offer lots of customization, plus you can control how your tree or home lights up via WiFi, straight from your Android or iPhone, making it convenient and fun too.
The lights offer a seemingly endless variety of options for patterns and colors to choose from that you can save to reuse next season, and a handful of different bulbs and lengths for different Christmas tree sizes.
If you want, you can draw your own light display design or download some pre-loaded effects from the app and create an array of creative patterns with the multicolor RGB LED lights.
They’re also easy to set up and are compatible with Google Home, Alexa, IFTTT, and Homekit. If you want to schedule when the lights turn on or off, you can use the timer to preset the specific time you want.
The lights also dance to whatever tune you’re playing because of the built-in music sensors. However, they don’t come cheap. So if you’re on a tight budget, they may be a pricier set than the GE Energy Smart lights, particularly for longer string lights.
Christmas Lights, Etc Kringle Traditions Wide-Angle 5mm Multicolor Outdoor LED Christmas Tree Lights
If you want your smart Christmas lights outdoors, we recommend these vibrant and bright set of LED Christmas lights. You can get them in white, single color, or multicolor in various lengths and bulb spacings.
The great thing about this set is the wide-angle bulbs whose bright light output emits rich colors, and varies dramatically depending on where you stand. This gives the lights depth and texture whether you string them on your roofline, twist them around a porch post, or drape them over trees.
They’re durable and waterproof, with a design that ensures each bulb is resistant to water, rain, snow or moisture for weeks outdoors.
Its wires are thick and sturdy, and manageable too as they won’t change their shape or unravel no matter the weather condition outdoors. However, their lifespan is shorter compared to indoor LEDs because of the exposure to potentially harsh outdoor conditions, and they’re too bright for use indoors.
Zerproc 100 LED Smart, Bluetooth String Lights
These affordable smart lights offer similar features and functionality as the Twinkly LED lights, but you can use them indoors or outdoors.
While you can’t create custom light patterns with this set, you can still control the color patterns using the Blue lite app, and use the built-in timer to set timers and schedules for the lights to go on or off.
Like the Twinkly lights, you can also set these smart Christmas lights to music, and control the audio equalizer modes and sound intensity right from your smartphone or Apple Watch.
One of its nifty features is the ability to sync the lights with whatever music you’re playing, which creates creative dynamic lighting schemes you can achieve by enabling the pulse and disco mode from the Blue lite app.
They’re also waterproof, so feel free to use them outdoors and spread some Christmas cheer to your neighborhood.
NIDENIONLED Smart String Lights
Like the Zerproc lights, these smart Christmas lights have a companion app from which you can control the lights wirelessly.
It has a delicate but rugged wire that holds the 200 closely-spaced, well-encapsulated LED bulbs with an IP65 waterproof lights bead and control box. However, you may still want to put yours in an open zip lock bag to prevent any possible buildup of humidity.
Use your smartphone as a remote to turn the lights on or off, schedule them to automatically go on or off, and you can create your own program or use the modifiable programs available from the app.
It doesn’t have a chase pattern, but it has 20 different functions including adjusting speed and other creative dynamic lighting schemes. You can enable the disco mode and the bulbs will be very interactive, dancing with your ambient music when good times call for it.
These smart lights are a bit pricey, but they’re terrific for decorating outdoors like wrapping trees, hedges, fences, bushes, patios, or around a backyard fire pit area if you like.
Light Up the Holidays!
Hopefully, one of these smart Christmas lights will help make your holidays more festive and happier. You can get creative with any of them and use any of the preloaded designs from the app-controlled options, or create your own designs and get in the spirit!
Happy Holidays!
