10 Reasons to Consider Switching to Smart Light Bulbs

If you want a top-quality LED bulb—plus built-in smart features—GE’s LED+ bulbs are a great option. Thanks to a built-in backup battery, you are assured of up to five hours of light even when the power goes out. You can even unscrew the bulb from the fixture and carry it around as a flashlight.

Related: 13 Problems a Power Outage Can Cause at Home

Smart lighting is all about options. Change your hues and mood easily with multicolored Wi-Fi-enabled bulbs like Sengled, Eufy, Phillips Hue White or the C by GE. In addition to voice-activated full-color switching technology, some brands also offers a tunable white bulb, which can change from warm to cool to daylight and can even be programmed to change temperatures automatically depending on the time of day to support a healthy sleep cycle.

Smart technology allows you to sync your appliances to your mobile device so you can monitor your home while you’re on the go. If your indoor lighting, appliances, and home security system are already connected to the cloud, why not upgrade your outdoor lighting to match? The Ring Smart Lighting security light, available in wired or battery-operated versions, connects to other Ring products and a smartphone app, and can send notifications to your phone when its built-in motion-sensors detect movement outside your house.

True, the upfront costs of switching to smart lighting is much higher than sticking to regular energy-saving bulbs but on a long enough timeline, you will save money on your lighting costs. The more intangible savings come in the form of time and effort—no more crawling out of bed to make sure the kids turned off the lights on the lower level—you can do it right from your phone. If you’re not eager to shell out any extra dough for home conveniences, consider more affordable smart lighting options, like Cree’s Alexa-compatible smart bulbs.

One of the best features of smart bulbs is their ability to change your room’s atmosphere as soon as you issue a simple voice command or swipe your screen. Sealight’s smart bulbs up the ambiance in another way, whether switched to the on or off position, with a stunning modern take on the vintage Edison-style bulb.

You can turn any lamp—indoors or out—into a stereo with Bluetooth-activated smart lighting with speakers. Connect the light bulbs to your device via an app, then stream music straight from your phone, tablet, or TV to bring the party to wherever there’s light. A number of options are available including a multicolored light bulb from Texsens and GE LED+ models that can be synced with up to as many as nine other light bulbs for surround sound.

A standard incandescent light bulb lasts between 1,000-2,000 hours. In contrast, an LED bulb will last 25,000-50,000 hours. Smart bulbs, which typically contain LEDs, promise to last between 15,000-25,000 hours. Depending on use, a single smart bulb can last years—and even decades.

Smart lights take “remote control” to a whole new level. No matter where you are in the world, you can monitor your home’s lighting as long as your bulbs are connected to your smart device.

Smart bulbs allow you to control your lighting preferences with simple voice commands. Thanks to home assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit, you can turn smart lights on, off, dim, or command them to stream music or change colors—just say it.

There is a wide selection of smart bulbs on the market, so whatever your needs or desires, you can find a product that makes your life easier, lessens your energy footprint, and transforms your entire home into a safe, stress-free, well-lit haven.

Switching to smart bulbs will save you money in the long run and make your life a whole lot easier.