IKEA Smart Blinds: First Looks (Unboxing and Walkthrough)

[@Homekitgeek]

If you're interested in using Home Assistant to connect the IKEA Smart Blinds to Apple Homekit, check out this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/mmmqdHSbn9J6nK8

[@darkroguezv]

My questions are more focused on the TRÅDFRI Gateway. 1. Is it something I must buy? 2. Does it always need to be connected to my modem? 3. How quiet are they?

[@Homekitgeek]

This is an “it depends question”. If you want to control the blinds through your phone or connect them to Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, or Google Home.then you will absolutely need the Trådfri gateway and it must be connected to your home network (modem). If all you want though is to use the remote control to open and close the blinds then you don’t know the gateway. If you decide later that you want to use your phone or Siri/Alexa/Google. To control your blinds you can always add a gateway in the future. Hopefully this helps!

[@CarlosFlores-cu9vo]

thanks for the video... Can I set these up with just google home or do I have to purchase the Ikea Gateway?

[@Homekitgeek]

Right now you’ll have to use the IKEA hub and then connect the IKEA skill in your Google account. Hopefully we will get direct connection in the figure but not available today.

[@CarlosFlores-cu9vo]

@@Homekitgeek thanks for replying so fast, I'm trying to pair it to the control and it's not working??? I already pressed the up down buttons 1 sec and I pressed the remote multiple times and the red lights come on but they don't pair???

[@Homekitgeek]

It’s a bit finicky but it does work. You really need to follow the process. pair the remote to the gateway, then the zigbee repeater to the remote, the the blinds. One thing that’s fairly common (unfortunately) is that even though they pair they sometimes don’t show up in the app right away. I had one set that didn’t show up until the next day. make sure the gateways updated to latest firmware as well just to make sure you’re not hitting any bugs. Good luck!

[@CarlosFlores-cu9vo]

@@Homekitgeek I figured it out, I had to connect the remote to the repeater first then to the blinds thanks again have a good night.

[@Homekitgeek]

Glad to hear it worked out! Have a great night!

[@JRsReviews]

Sounds like you encountered the same issues as me with the firmware. I have moved them over to a home Assistant now and found them rock solid after

[@Homekitgeek]

I prefer to go native integration with HomeKit when possible. I’ve been thinking about going the Hass road but I don’t want to double expose it later once IKEA delivers. The Google automation have delivered on my initial use case which was just opening and closing the blinds for the kids bedtime. Looking forward to rolling out to the rest of the house. :)

[@JRsReviews]

Chris Young yes, nearly done every window now with these

[@Homekitgeek]

Nice. I’ve got 2 more bedrooms to go then it’s waiting for the translucent version before starting again. For my master bedroom I think I’m actually going to have to pair 2 of the smaller versions as IKEA doesn’t make on large enough for that window. Should be interesting!

[@JRsReviews]

@@Homekitgeek Not sure Canada is getting the shade version.

[@Homekitgeek]

I guess a little cross border shopping? Or an IKEA international import business? Really hope that’s not the case. That makes me sad. :)

[@sdotr1990]

Wondering if I could get some help, confirmation within the app is not appearing when I am pairing the blinds to the remote control, wondering if I could get some help?

[@Homekitgeek]

Happy to help if I can! Although most of the blinds properly, I have seen the blinds will pair to the gateway, but I didn’t see a confirmation on the app. In my case I went to bed to look at it the next day and found that the blinds had syncd properly once I woke up. If the gateway can see the remote, the zigbee repeater and you’re able to control the blinds with the repeater I would recommend waiting for a few hours to see if the new blinds show up.

[@MrAbcdefghi12435]

Can Google Assistant set the blinds to a certain % or just fully open/fully closed? Does Philips hue bridge work with this? (a longshot, but since you have both?) Thanks for doing these videos!

[@Homekitgeek]

My pleasure! So for the first question - Tested and confirmed. You can set percentage by saying "Hey G, open blinds to 2%" and Google responds "Ok. Opening blinds to 2%" where "blinds" is the specific name of the blinds you're working with. For the Hue bridge, I'll try and add that to the list, but I'm not expecting to see anything good there. Although you may be able to connect it to the Hue bridge, I don't see what that will buy us. Hue will not expose non-hue devices to Homekit and my understanding on the Alexa support is due to the fact that Amazon doesn't have a "blinds" profile available to them in the Alexa Smarthome SDK. So connecting the IKEA blinds to Hue MIGHT let you remove a hub, but that will be at the expense of being able to do firmware updates. Given where the blinds are in their lifecycle, firmware updates is much more important to me. :)

[@MrAbcdefghi12435]

@@Homekitgeek Fair enough, if Hue has no "blinds" support in their app then so be it. But you can use Apple's Shortcuts app as a workaround for native HomeKit incompatibility. Example: I used Sylvania Lightify Smart Plug, which hue doesn't pick up properly and expose properly to Home Kit natively, but if you make a Hue scene that toggles it, you can use Shortcuts to trigger that scene within Hue.

[@Homekitgeek]

That’s really cool! The way I understand it is that Hue can’t expose non-hue (or at least friends of hue) products to HomeKit because of the Apple certification requirements. Nanoleaf has managed to slip by heat in the past but I’m not sure if that’s still the case.

[@TomAbbott]

Do you reckon you could see Amazon Alexa support by Christmas as I would really like a pair.

[@Homekitgeek]

Honestly, I have no idea. It’s my understanding that the integration requires Amazon to do the work to create a “blinds” category that IKEA can use. Depending on your use CSE, you might be able to getaway with the IKEA app automation until Amazon and IKEA can work this out.

[@joseleitao8353]

I’m from Portugal and all my smart home devices are from ikea and up and running with HomeKit since I got them about 3 months ago

[@Homekitgeek]

Bem-vindo! Hopefully everything is working out for you! What’s your favourite things about your smarthome?

[@joseleitao8353]

Chris Young automation and the way my house started to really help me with my daily routine

[@Homekitgeek]

I totally understand. I love the sunrise feature on my lights which help the house get out of bed in the morning.

[@arongatt]

Is the fabric sunblock or see-through, cos I would like a couple for my cinema room

[@Homekitgeek]

This version is sunblock. Blackout blinds meant for bedrooms, etc... There is supposed to be a translucent version coming in the future, but I haven't seen any confirmed release date yet.

[@arongatt]

Chris Young that’s great, thanks man as always

[@garrypresnall8474]

I just bought the FYRTUR blackout version from Ikea Spain. They also had in stock the KADRILJ which is the see through version. Both only in grey at the moment.

[@jackb2374]

could you set these to open at a certain time in the morning to wake you up?

[@Homekitgeek]

Absolutely. There’s a fairly simple time of day automation capability in the IKEA Home Smart app, or alternately you can use a routine in your GoogleHome app.

[@ecmanaut]

How is the new native homekit support released in the US now? (see kzbin.info/www/bejne/nKq8aYGbd7Z4gKs for a vpn tutorial on how to get it elsewhere, if it's still US-only)

[@Homekitgeek]

IKEA released the native Homekit support in the rest of the world. No need for any VPNS, Homebridge, or HomeAssistant anymore to get this.

[@mreddiekid]

First view

[@Homekitgeek]

And I appreciate it!

[@techytime6197]

Took you until 3:30 to show us the actual blind, way to long. Another point, Amazon Alexa is not dependant on Ikea, Amazon need to support window coverings. You are not the only one that got that wrong.

[@Homekitgeek]

Totally appreciate the critique! I'll keep that in mind! This video was really an experiment for me in a lot of ways. You're totally right. My understanding is that Amazon needs to update the Alexa Smarthome skills SDK to provide a blinds profile for IKEA to be able to support Alexa. Hopefully that will be happening soon! Again - Really appreciate the comment and the correction!

[@SxWerks]

Is it possible to change the fabric by yourself?

[@Homekitgeek]

Hi Ben! Great question. This isn’t something I’ve done yet but there are a few different examples of this I’ve seen online for people shortening their blinds to go their windows. Having watched the video it definitely seems possible to replace the fabric piece with another choice. Again though that’s a guess on my part and I have actually done it. Hopefully the answer helps!

[@SxWerks]

Chris Young I wonder if you could widen these blinds using some way to splice new framing and fabric.

[@Homekitgeek]

Ben Seibel been wondering that myself. I have one window which is about 5” larger than the largest width. Still digging. I’ll let you know if I find something. It’s not a rush for me but it’s something I’m looking for. Stupid large windows.