5 Best Smart Christmas Lights of 2025: From Twinkly to Govee

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• Best Smart String Lights

  

  Courtesy of Twinkly

  Twinkly

  Strings Multicolor

  I tested 3 different drawstring lights designed to spell connected a Christmas tree, and Twinkly's Strings Multicolor lights were easy my favorite. They're beautiful and easy to group up, and nan achromatic cord blends nicely into nan character (it besides comes successful green). The app's Gallery tab has galore premade ray combinations, and you tin besides trade civilization effects. It lets you creation a ray shape by utilizing an existing pattern, drafting pinch your fingers, aliases moreover uploading a GIF. The statement of lights connected nan character useful champion for gradient and stripe-style patterns, though—I emotion really nan candy cane stripe effect looks.

  I tested nan shortest length, 26 feet pinch 100 LED lights, and it was nan cleanable size connected my super-slim, apartment-friendly character (similar to this style). The drawstring lights travel successful 3 much sizes, from 66 to 158 feet, though nan erstwhile is what you'll apt request for astir Christmas trees. The cord has a controller astatine nan end—these alteration somewhat based connected generation. I tested nan Generation II, which has a azygous fastener you'll request to beryllium capable to entree during setup for Bluetooth pairing, and you tin usage it to move betwixt effects manually. Once you sanction nan lights, you tin sync them pinch Amazon Alexa via nan Twinkly Skill aliases Apple HomeKit to usage sound to bid nan drawstring lights. (There's Google Assistant support, but it's not arsenic easy to find and group up successful nan app.) These lights tin besides beryllium utilized outdoors, and nan controller container has a weatherproof IP44 rating. —Nena Farrell

• A Great Upgrade String

  

  Photograph: Philips

  For folks pinch existing Philips Hue lighting, nan Festavia String Lights are nan champion measurement to smarten up your tree. They travel successful 65-foot aliases 130-foot lengths and are weatherproof (IP44 rating), but we tested them indoors. The compact and comparatively lightweight 65-foot drawstring was easy to drape connected nan character and has 250 mini LEDs. The LEDs tin move immoderate colour and animate pinch different effects, aliases “scenes,” arsenic Philips Hue calls them. What sets nan Festavia isolated from astir strings is nan action to tune white, truthful you tin group your preferred colour temperature. We defaulted to a lukewarm achromatic that makes nan room consciousness other cozy and classy.

  Dig into nan Hue app and, alongside palettes for selecting precise colors aliases tuning nan white, you’ll find scenes for illustration candlelight, sparkle, and prism. The drawstring tin show 5 different colors simultaneously. You tin besides adhd scenes from nan Hue gallery, which has a typical wintertime holidays conception pinch options for illustration Snow Sparkle and Under nan Tree. There’s support for sound commands via Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit, positive automatic scheduling, and moreover mounting different colors aliases scenes for different times of nan day. You tin nexus Spotify aliases Samsung SmartThings to person your character sync to nan euphony you are playing, though it tin consciousness a spot excessively busy.

  Because I already person Philips Hue spotlights and a TV lightstrip, nan Festavia was elemental to add, and we tin move it connected aliases disconnected utilizing nan move for nan room. We tin besides play scenes aliases lucifer colors crossed nan full room, which ties things together, enabling you to create a statement vibe aliases a cozy acquisition for a Christmas movie. Downsides? The ample powerfulness adapter could beryllium a problem pinch immoderate outdoor sockets, and nan cablegram is achromatic erstwhile greenish mightiness person been better, but there’s small other to kick about, beyond nan eye-watering price. —Simon Hill

• Best Smart Icicle Lights

  

  Photograph: Amazon

  The icicle style is awesome for hanging from gutters and tin tally on your precocious and little roofline (if you person nan correct benignant of house). Different lengths of LEDs dangle from nan clear main drawstring to create an icicle effect. These lights are conscionable arsenic easy to usage arsenic Twinkly's String Lights. However, you request to representation them retired successful your abstraction utilizing your camera via nan app, truthful it mightiness beryllium tricky to get them each successful a azygous frame, depending connected wherever you spot them. The lights travel successful a fewer different colour sets, for illustration multicolor and achromatic ($110), gold and metallic ($86), and multicolor ($110), without immoderate plain achromatic options. Each group is 12 feet long. The value varies by set, but I urge nan multicolor and achromatic action if you deliberation you'll want a shadiness of achromatic astatine immoderate point. Without nan achromatic option, you'll person to effort to find nan cleanable shadiness of orangish and yellowish to replicate a bully achromatic Christmas-light shade. —Nena Farrell

  ★ A longer option: Govee's Icicle Lights ($270) are much of a splurge, but I for illustration nan measurement these look and they are IP65 rated, support Matter, activity pinch galore effects successful nan feature-packed Govee app, and are customizable. I tested nan 66-foot lights (which are made up of 2 strings pinch nan powerfulness splitter successful nan middle), but there’s a 33-foot type for $150.

• Best Smart String Lights connected a Budget

  

  Photograph: Amazon

  If fund is apical of mind, Govee's lights are often nan champion value successful smart lighting. Its Christmas lights are easy to instal acknowledgment to nan ample spool nan lights are wrapped around, truthful nary worrying astir tangled cords arsenic you group up nan tree. The Govee app has a batch of scenes to take from, and location are plentifulness of colour choices you tin rhythm done to customize nan tree.

  I group them up astir my mini tree, and while nan 66-foot magnitude was overmuch excessively long, you're capable to power nan cord successful segments, truthful I was capable to move disconnected nan parts of nan lights I wasn't using. Govee's drawstring lights person an IP65 waterproof rating and tin beryllium utilized outside, though I only tested them connected my character indoors. There's a built-in mic to observe music, allowing nan lights to sync up to tunes, and nan Govee app useful pinch Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant for smart location control. The only downside is that nan cord is simply a agleam silver, truthful it was easy to announcement connected nan tree. But if that goes pinch your aesthetic, past it's not an issue. —Simon Hill

  ★ Matter support connected a budget: If you for illustration controlling your smart location over Matter, nan caller Govee Christmas String Lights 2 ($100) are a small much expensive, but adhd Matter support for wide compatibility and nan action to representation your layout, which makes it easier to create cool effects, and nan cablegram is now translucent. The String Lights 2 are disposable successful 66-foot, 99-foot, 164-foot, and 328-foot lengths.

• Best for Year-Round Smart Lights

  

  Photograph: Govee

  Govee

  Permanent Outdoor Lights Pro

  Sick of climbing that ladder each twelvemonth to put your lights up? Consider a imperishable group of outdoor smart lights. This weatherproof exemplary from Govee scores an IP67 rating (IP65 for nan power box) and tin grip temperatures of –4 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. They are designed to beryllium up year-round. I tested nan 100-foot drawstring (200-foot is besides an option), which comes divided into six sections, pinch an hold cord to branch from nan little level to your tile line. Each bulb is astir an inch and a half quadrate and juts retired an inch. A level cablegram joins them together astatine 18-inch intervals. Installation was reasonably easy for nan astir part, pinch nan adhesive sticking good to nan integrative underhang of my home. I utilized nan supplied screw clips to tidy up immoderate cables and hole them much securely. You tin trim them, and connectors are included, but this task is not for nan faint of heart.

  Govee offers everything but nan room descend successful its engaged companion app. You tin group colors successful zones (two per section), tweak nan colour temperature, and take from a frankly bewildering array of lighting effects, called Scenes. Christmas is good represented successful nan Festival conception of nan Scenes, but location are besides immoderate bully effects successful location for different holidays for illustration Halloween. Depending connected your home, they tin service arsenic characteristic lights. The achromatic looks rather classy, and they tin get beautiful agleam (up to 50 lumens a bulb). There is Matter support for easy setup, and you tin usage sound commands pinch Alexa aliases Google Assistant.

  If you already person different Govee lights, you will bask nan expertise to group them for shared effects, and you tin schedule them, create effects, and moreover sync them to euphony aliases sound, though this feels gimmicky. They look pricey until you comparison them to different imperishable lighting. If you don’t person overmuch of an overhang, nan lights will formed shadows and make shapes connected nan wall (Govee suggests installing 1 to 3 inches out, and I would urge further if you can). My location is reasonably small, truthful I only needed 4 sections. I wish nan lights were person together, and a small much subtle. If visible bulbs and cables annoy you, these aren’t for you. —Simon Hill