Not another damn light bulb. That’s what you might be thinking if you’ve been following smart-home tech for the past decade or, indeed, building out your own fortress of missed connections.
The first Nest thermostat launched in 2011, Philips Hue in 2012, the Amazon Echo in 2014. But for anyone who has spent long nights scrolling through IoT troubleshooting forums since then, here’s the latest: It’s finally time for a do-over. Everyone’s agreed that the open source interoperability standard Matter, which has Apple, Google, and Amazon signed up, is the answer, and Ikea has 20-odd new and improved devices to boost the case.
The Details
It’s very much back to basics with this new Matter-compatible line-up of 11 KAJPLATS smart light bulbs, five different sensors, a GRILLPLATS smart plug, and—likely to be the most popular of the lot—two BILRESA multi-device remotes. These will roll out to Ikea stores between this November and January 2026 in the UK and Europe, in many cases a straight swap for products in series like the TRÅDFRI range that run on the old Zigbee standard. A later launch, including the smart bulbs, is penciled in for US stores.
Photograph: Courtesy of Ikea Photograph: Courtesy of Ikea
First, those two BILRESA remotes: handheld, cute, and ergonomic. There’s one with two buttons that can be set to trigger different functions across any Matter device: Switch bulbs on and off, change brightness and color, adjust the volume of a speaker, switch smart blinds up and down, switch between pre-set scenes. The scroll-wheel remote is more advanced: “We refer to this as the room remote,” says Ikea's global head of product strategy David Granath. This one has three LEDs and allows you to quickly toggle between controlling three different groups of devices: lights, audio, whatever, via one remote. The BILRESAs will be available to buy standalone and in kits of three of the same format.
Second, the sensors. Again, these are replacing older Ikea iterations, with feature tweaks here and there. There’s a MYGGSPRAY indoor and outdoor motion sensor that can trigger smart lighting, a MYGGBETT door and window sensor which sends alerts to your phone, and a KLIPPBOK water leakage sensor for sinks and appliances. The TIMMERFLOTTE sensor checks temperature and humidity and the ALPSTUGA sensor adds air quality to that mix.