This article helps you to build your own wake-up light setup with smart lights. You need a bright light that can preferably change its color temperature from warm to cold light. This light has to be HomeKit compatible, so you can control it easily with your iPhone, Siri and Wake Up Light. It could be a standing lamp on your night table, a light strip that is attached to your bed, a lamp hanging from the ceiling or some other solution.
Make sure that the light is bright enough (see science), therefor I recommend to set it up as direct light. If your sleeping room is bright (many white-ish walls/ceilings), indirect light might also be bright enough (read about measuring your lights brightness below).
Choose Lights and Lamps
I bought an Eve Light Strip (2 m) on Amazon and placed it directly next to my bed. The light strip is very bright (1800 lumens) and has support for colors. This makes it the perfect companion for Wake Up Light.
Alternatively you can use an Eve Flare and place it on your night stand. This light is a spherical light that is compatible with HomeKit and can even be carried around.
The Philips Hue Starter Set with Bridge is another alternative. Philips provides a lot of smart lights that are compatible with HomeKit, but you need the Philips Bridge for these lights. They have a lot of different lights on sale, the quality is great but they are not the cheapest ones on the market.
In general when buying lights and accessories: look for the Works with Apple HomeKit badge to make sure they work with HomeKit and Siri. The smart lights listed here are compatible with Apple HomeKit and bright enough, when positioned correctly.
Measure your Wake-up Light
When you bought a light, make sure to test it in the dark. As the science points out, the brightness of the light is very important for the desired effect.
I used a Lux Meter from Amazon to measure the brightness of the lights. This helped me find the best possible position and brightness settings for my smart lights.
Think about your different sleep poses, which you might end up in, when waking up. If your whole body turns away from the light, is it still bright enough? But maybe having one side, that is a bit more dim is desirable for you.
Consider using smart blinds
With the release of Wake Up Light version 4.8.0, you can now incorporate smart blinds into your wake-up schedule for an even more personalized and effective wake-up experience. Smart blinds are an excellent addition to any wake-up light setup as they allow for control over the amount of natural light that enters the room.
For those who already have blinds in their room, the Eve MotionBlinds kit is an excellent option for upgrading to smart blinds. These blinds are HomeKit compatible, making them easy to integrate into the wake-up light setup. For those who do not have existing blinds, purchasing smart blinds that are compatible with HomeKit technology is recommended.
When programming the wake-up schedule, it is wise to use slow openings of the blinds to minimize any disturbing noise that may be created when the blinds are opening. Additionally, finding good quality fabric that black out enough is important for blocking out external light during the night.
Incorporating smart blinds into the wake-up schedule adds an extra layer of personalization to the wake-up experience. You can now wake up to a gradual increase in natural light from their smart lights and smart blinds, leading to a more natural and energizing start to their day.
Download the app
In order to create a wake-up automation in your smart home that turn your lights on and make them brighter over time, you need to download our app Wake Up Light for you iPhone or iPad.
Create a wake-up light alarm using this app and your self build wake-up light is ready to wake you up more naturally in the morning.
Additional requirements
You need to have a home hub in your home in order to create and manage automations (see Help). After setting them up next to your bed, make sure to use the Wake Up Light app to configure a light alarm.
Do you have any questions reg