The Best Smart Lamps for All Situations

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Bring some intelligence to your lighting with smart lamps from Philips, Dyson and more.

While they had a good run, manually-operated light switches and single-color light bulbs are now a thing of the past. OK, maybe not technically, but they should be. With the many conveniences offered by smart lights — limitless colors, voice- and app-operated controls, intuitive features — there's no reason why you should still have "dumb" lighting in your home. Unless, of course, you're intimidated by smart lights.

I get it. Building out a smart light setup is kind of a big ask. You've got to decide which smart bubs to go with, then you've got to set up a network, which may or may not include a bridge or smart switch, then you've got to program everything a pray that an internet outage doesn't send you back to square one. But there's a much easier and faster way to bring smart lighting into your home: just buy a smart lamp. Smart lamps ship ready-to-go, usually just requiring a quick internet or Bluetooth connection and app download from you to get going. So if you've been holding out on adding smart lighting to your home, check out these smart lamps and start lighting your space more intelligently.

Compatibility: This is arguably the most important aspect to consider when shopping for a smart lamp. If you're looking to incorporate your smart lamp into your larger smart home infrastructure, then you'll want to pick one that will play nicely with whichever virtual assistant you've got running the show, whether that's Amazon Alexa, Google Home or Apple HomeKit. You'll also want to check to see if your lamp requires any sort of bridge that you'll need to purchase separately to unlock its full potential, such is the case with many smart lamps from Philips' Hue line.

Connectivity: Your lamp will either be operable through WiFi or Bluetooth or sometimes both. WiFi-capable smart lamps will give you more control and options, while Bluetooth lamps are simpler to set up and often less finicky. For the most flexibility, you'll want to choose a lamp that has both options.

Capabilities: Not all smart lamps do the same things. Some are designed to mimic the sun, gently waking you in the morning, winding you down at night and soothing you when it's cloudy. Others can sync up with your music or TV to provide mood lighting and ambiance. And others simply offer you customized control over your personal lighting. First, determine what features are important to you and then choose a smart lamp that offers those features.

Philips Hue remains the first name in smart lighting, and the Iris table lamp is one of the brand's most acclaimed and recognizable models. Sporting an unorthodox design with its transparent base and aluminum inner tube, the Iris looks decidedly futuristic. And it functions like it, too, with Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, voice integration through Amazon Alexa and Google Home and advanced features — like automated schedules and syncing with Spotify music — when paired with the Philips Hue Bridge.

Tech brand Loftie just wants to help you sleep better. They did so first with their excellent smart alarm clock, and they're doing it again with their gorgeous bedside lamp. Unlike other wakeup lamps, the Loftie Lamp doesn't look like some techie device you picked up at The Sharper Image. It's a beautifully-designed lamp that just so happens to be super smart. The lamp's innovative base is capable of lighting up different areas at different times, allowing the lamp to mimic sunrise and sunset, helping you to go to sleep and wake up in a more natural manner. It's controllable through the Loftie app, and can even pair with the Loftie Clock for an even smarter sleeping-and-waking routine.

As the maker of some of the world's most advanced vacuums, air purifiers and hair dryers, is it any wonder that Dyson also cranks out some pretty great smart lamps? The Solarcycle Morph is a desk lamp that does essentially what its name would imply: it mimics the sun and it changes shape to meet your needs. The lamp uses a GPS-based daylight algorithm to copy the sun's routine in your area each day, and its app-based controls allow you to customize your lighting based on factors like your age and mood. Plus, its flexible design and situational lighting settings allow it to be used for ambient, accent or task lighting as needed throughout the day.

You can think of Govee as the party lamp people, as pretty much every light fixture in their catalog is packed with RGB lights, pre-set party scenes and music-syncing abilities. Their new Cylinder Floor Lamp has a (slightly) more conservative look than their other floor lamp models without losing any of its fun side. The cylindrical "shade" offers 360 degrees of light, and in addition to offering millions of color options, it also includes 64 pre-set creative scenes that display patterns like the Pac-Man like "Dot Eater." Or, if you prefer, there's also a robust DIY mode that allows you to create your own creative scenes in the Govee Home app.

You don't have to spend a ton to get a capable smart lamp, and Lepro is proof of that. The Amazon favorite has pretty much everything you'd expect out of a quality smart lamp: a roster of over 16 million colors, voice controls through Alexa or Google Assistant, app-based customizations, a wide variety of warm and cool white lighting options and even timers and automation settings — all without the need for a hub. The lamp even offers most of its capabilities through on-device buttons, in case you don't feel like fiddling around with your phone.

Editor's note: Eve no longer produces the Flare, but it's still available through Amazon and other retailers.

What's more magical than a cordless ball of light that you can take with you wherever you go? Not much, which is why Eve's Flare is so special. Eve is one of the few tech brands that chose to go exclusively with Apple's HomeKit in the smart home wars, so you'll need an up-to-date iPhone or iPad in order to control the Flare with Siri. But once you're set up, you're in for a treat. The Flare charges wirelessly, has a battery life of six hours and even boasts IP65 water resistance so you can bring its millions of color options outside with you. If you're not on board with HomeKit, then the popular bowl-shaped Philips Hue Go is another great portable smart lamp option, but just be aware that it lacks any water resistance, so you'll need to be careful taking it outdoors.

First things first, let's get the sticker shock out of the way. Yes, this is a thousand-dollar table lamp, and it should be viewed as a luxury item. It's crafted in California from a billet aluminum base and handblown glass shade, and it looks like a true designer piece. But once you get past the good look and high-quality materials, you'll find that the SkyView's best features are on the inside. The lamp uses technology developed by a former NASA engineer who based it on the tech used on the ISS to keep astronauts' circadian rhythms (their natural sleep-wake cycles) in check. The lamp simulates natural light to stimulate your body's melanopsin response and get your natural circadian rhythm in sync, which should improve your mood, your sleep, your focus — basically every aspect of your life. The lamp will do this automatically based on your location once synced to the app, or you can manually adjust the settings to suit your schedule.

You're never too young to start enjoying a smart lamp. Amazon's own Echo Glow device is aimed squarely at kids, and the affordable lamp is capable of helping your little one do all sorts of tasks. It functions as a night light, a countdown timer, a reading lamp or just a fun bit of decor that allows kids to show off their own personality. The unique "rainbow timer" in particular provides a fun, colorful way for kids to learn routines, and with a price tag of just 30 bucks, you won't have to worry about your kids breaking it (Amazon rates it for ages 3 and up). Just know that, unlike many other Amazon Echo devices, the Echo Glow does not have a speaker or microphone, so you'll need a separate Echo device to control it with your voice.

When it comes to connectivity and compatibility, no one can touch Nanoleaf. The tech-forward lighting brand — whose wall-mounted panels you've undoubtedly seen in the background of your favorite YouTube vlogger's videos — offers connectivity not only through WiFi and Bluetooth, but also through the low-bandwidth Thread radio network that's used in some smart home protocols. It also offers compatibility with all three of the major voice assistant players, and even throws in Samsung's SmartThings for good measure. The brand's Shapes line offers wall-mounted light panels in a number of different shapes that you can configure as you see fit, and smart settings allow you to sync your lighting to your music, computer display and lots more.