Nanoleaf Aurora Gains ‘Mi Home’ Compatibility

Nanoleaf, the Canadian startup that created a wave of wall lighting creativity with their groundbreaking Nanaoleaf Aurora LED panels, have now apparently gained limited compatibility with the Mi Home app. I say ‘apparently’ as I’m unable to test whether it actually works at present, or just that the wheels have been set in motion for a future update. However, if you’re an owner of the Nanoleaf Aurora, and also use the Mi Home app, you can try it out for yourself. Just open the Mi Home app, then click on Profile > Lab features > Third-party platform devices > Add, then scroll down to the Nanoleaf icon towards the bottom of the scrollable list.

Now to most people, they may not essentially see this as either a HomeKit worthy bit of news, or at best, something that offers little benefit to them, given that Nanoleaf already works with HomeKit anyway. However, with the slow emergence of devices that have a foot in both the Mi Home and HomeKit worlds, like the Aqara Hub, the Mi Bedside Lamp 2, and the Mi Desk Lamp Pro, there’s a lot of potential for having devices that only work in Mi Home, being able to control HomeKit devices. For example, the Aqara Cube is only compatible with Mi Home, but if it were able to control the Nanoleaf Aurora, you’ve essentially got a non-HomeKit Controller, controlling a HomeKit device. You could even imagine a scenario where you could create an automation in Apple’s Home app to turn on the Aurora and set it to a certain colour and brightness, which would then trigger an automation to turn on a colour Yeelight bulb to follow suit, even though the Yeelights are (as of typing) not actually HomeKit compatible.

While this is all just speculation, it does show that 2019 is definitely the year to watch companies like Mijia, Aqara and Yeelight, as they continue to make inroads into the smart home arena. Exciting times.