Signify brings Wi-Fi motion sensing to its WiZ smart lights

Motion-triggered smart lighting is pretty magical. Figuring out how to set up little white motion sensors all over your house to make it work is not. With its new SpaceSense feature, Signify may have come up with the perfect solution: let the light bulbs do the work.

SpaceSense is a software feature coming to Signify’s Wi-Fi smart lighting line WiZ later this month. It uses Wi-Fi sensing technology that detects changes in Wi-Fi signal strength caused by movement to turn lights on when someone walks into a room and off when motion stops. Wi-Fi sensing is already being used in some routers and security systems, and it was only a matter of time until a lighting company figured out how to apply it to their tech.

With WiZ, the sensing technology is embedded directly in the light bulb; you only need two or more WiZ bulbs in a room to get started. Wiz has a wide range of Wi-Fi-powered smart light bulbs starting at $11, so the barrier to entry is low. The company also recently released several new products, including a floor lamp and portable lamp as well as new color-changing outdoor string lights that are coming next month.

Image: Signify

All WiZ products work with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple Siri Shortcuts, IFTTT, and SmartThings, and the company has promised it will support the new smart home standard Matter.

SpaceSense will be set up and controlled using the new WiZ V2 app, which launches this month. The app also allows a user to adjust the sensitivity of the motion detection and set a delay to keep lights on for a set period of time, even if no motion is detected.

The technology is opt-in and doesn’t detect or record a person’s exact location or recognize faces. WiZ says all the detection data is processed locally on the light bulb.

According to WiZ, SpaceSense will work on most WiZ-branded products released since September 2021. It’s working on compatibility with older models. Those brands include WiZ lights, Philips Smart LED lights, and any brand with the Connected by WiZ logo. It won’t work with Signify’s Philips Hue lighting products, as Hue uses Zigbee, not Wi-Fi.

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