Have you got a new smart bulb to eliminate some of the mundane tasks, like switching on the light every night, out of your life? You’ve made a wise decision. Before you can do that, you need to set up your bulb properly.

Here we take a look at using a free and universal app to set up, configure, and use the features of your smart bulb. Let’s get going with that.

What Is a Smart Bulb?

A smart bulb, for the most part, is just an ordinary bulb that plugs into your power socket and lights up your room. It’s called a smart bulb because it comes with connectivity options like Wi-Fi that let you control the bulb from your smartphone. You can be anywhere in the world and still turn your bulb on and off from your smartphone.

Related: The Difference Between a Lifx and a Philips Hue Smart Bulb

The smartness of your bulb just doesn’t end there. It offers a few other useful features as well.

1. How to Set Up a Smart Bulb

While you can definitely plug your smart bulb into a power socket and use it as a normal bulb, you will need to set it up properly to use its smart features.

Setting up a smart bulb requires using an app. Smart Life is one of the universal apps that you can use on your iOS or Android devices to configure your smart bulb. This app works for a number of other smart devices as well; you can make it your default app for managing all your smart devices.

Whether you’ve used this app before or not, using it to configure a smart bulb is as easy as this:

  1. Download, install, and launch the free Smart Life app on your Android or iOS device.
  2. Create a new account if you don’t already have one, and finish setting it up.
  3. Once you’re on the main screen after logging in, tap the + (plus) sign at the top-right corner to add a new smart device to the app.
  4. The app will ask you to choose the device that you want to add. Tap on Lighting in the left sidebar and select your smart bulb from the right-hand side pane.
  5. Select your Wi-Fi connection and enter its password. Then, tap Next.
  6. Plug your smart bulb into a power socket and turn on the socket switch.
  7. Turn your bulb off after a few seconds. Then, turn it on again after waiting for a few seconds. Do this three times and your bulb will be ready to be paired.
  8. Your bulb will start blinking rapidly. At this point, check Confirm indicator rapidly blink and tap Next in the app.
  9. Once your bulb is added to the app, enter a name for your bulb and tap Save.

You’re now ready to start controlling your smart bulb from your smartphone.

2. How to Smartly Use a Smart Bulb

You can use your smart bulb in many different smart ways. This smartness is not only limited to turning your bulb on and off from your smartphone. There are a few other features that add to the smartness of your device.

Some of these features are as below.

1. Change the Color of Your Bulb

Most smart bulbs allow you to change the color of the bulb light. This way, you can make your room green, red, blue, or whatever your favorite color is.

This is how you do that:

  1. Tap your bulb in the Smart Life app.
  2. Tap the Colour option at the top of your screen to change your bulb’s color.
  3. Use the slider on your screen to change your bulb’s color.

2. Turn Your Bulb On/Off After a Specified Time

If you only want to keep your bulb on or off for a specific amount of time, you can enter that time in your app and your bulb will turn on or off, depending on its current status, when your specified time has elapsed.

You can set a timer for that as below:

  1. Tap your bulb in the Smart Life app.
  2. Select the Left time option at the bottom-left corner.
  3. Enter a time period after which you want your bulb to turn on or off. Then, tap OK.

3. Turn Your Bulb On/Off With Schedules

Schedules let you automate tasks like turning your bulb on and off at specified times on select days. This basically eliminates the hassle of manually pressing buttons to use your bulb every day.

As long as your smart bulb is connected to the internet and its power socket is on, your predefined schedules will run just fine.

Here’s how you set up your first schedule with your smart bulb:

  1. While on your bulb’s screen in the app, tap Schedule at the bottom.
  2. Select Add on the resulting screen to add a new schedule.
  3. Specify your schedule settings by selecting a time, a frequency, whether to switch the bulb on or off, and so on. Then, tap Save to save your schedule.

3. Scenarios When Smart Bulbs Are Really Helpful

Smart bulbs are useful and there are certain scenarios when they prove to be even more useful. Here are some ideas when your smart bulb can really help out.

Related: 10 Annoying Problems in Your Home Solved by Smart Devices

1. When You Are Not Home

If you aren’t home and you’re worried about someone breaking into your home, you can use the schedule feature for your bulb to pretend that someone’s at your home. With scheduling, you can get your bulb to automatically turn on, say at 7pm, and this will make others think that someone’s home.

2. Mood Lighting

If you find yourself not in a good mood, you can create a scene for your bulb that automatically changes the bulb color. For instance, if you like to see the blue calming color when you’re angry, you can set up a scene that changes your bulb’s color to blue.

Then, all you need to do is tap on this scene and it will perform the specified action for you.

Getting the Most Out of Your Smart Bulb

It isn’t wise to use your smart bulb as just a normal bulb. With the easy to follow instructions above, you should be able to set up as well as learn to use your bulb in a smarter way in no time.

When you use a device like a smart bulb, you want to make sure it’s protected from the outsiders. Securing your smart home devices is vital for a safe and reliable home network.