Can you buy smart home products at IKEA?

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IKEA began as a mail-order company in 1943 in a small town in Sweden. Today, it is the world’s largest home furnishings retailer, selling everything from furniture that you have to assemble yourself to kitchen appliances and office supplies. And so, in 2012, IKEA entered the smart gadget market with a collection of products that were part of its smart IKEA Home project.

IKEA invested more in its smart gadgets in 2022, when it launched the Matter-ready DIRIGERA hub and a new smart IKEA Home app. This gave loyal IKEA customers a platform to control all the smart home devices from the Swedish retailer. DIRIGERA with the IKEA Home Smart app is easy to set up and lets you organize all your IKEA devices individually or in designated rooms. It works similarly to other apps like Alexa, letting you set up scheduled routines and create scenes for different activities.

Customers can now walk into any IKEA store to pick up smart devices, such as light fixtures, that can be controlled via remote light switches or the IKEA Home smart app. From the basic TRÅDFRI bulb to the stylish MITTLED light strip, there’s no shortage of smart lighting options. The retailer also offers Wi-Fi speakers, motorized blinds, air purifiers and even makes its own smart plug that lets you control non-smart devices via the IKEA Home app.

IKEA smart device compatibility has its ups and downs

In 2017, IKEA added voice capabilities to its smart devices, allowing them to work with more popular voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple’s Siri. Additionally, IKEA partnered with SONOS, an audio brand known for its awesome speakers and headphones, to create the SYMFONISK speaker series. All of these features are certainly advantages to IKEA’s smart products, making them more appealing to smart home purists, but before you start filling your smart home with all things IKEA, there are some drawbacks to consider.

Unfortunately, according to IKEA, if you want to use IKEA’s smart gadgets — even if you already have another hub in your home — you need a DIRIGER hub “to use the IKEA Home smart app and connect IKEA smart products to your smart home.” Additionally, the hub and IKEA app aren’t as versatile as many would like — you can’t connect and control non-IKEA devices in the Home app unless they’re Zigbee-enabled.

This can be frustrating for anyone who has a mix of devices from different brands, as it means they have to download additional apps to their phone that they might not otherwise need. IKEA’s smart products may not be as widely used as competitors like the Google Home Hub, but they do add another option, especially for fans of minimalist or Nordic aesthetics. Just understand their limitations for now before you invest too much.