HomeKit Update for Mi Colour Bulb Available Next Week

After the surprise (but nevertheless promised) update for the Yeelight Light Strip Plus that brings HomeKit compatibility, which seems to be (very) slowly pushed to select regions right now, there has been another update for the Mi LED Smart Bulb. This particular bulb is generally available in many of Xiaomi’s physical stores, off the shelf, although the branding will be different depending on the region for some reason.

I have to mention from the start, that whilst I have gotten the update, it isn’t officially available until next week it would seem, and even then only initially via the Asia server (Singapore, Taiwan etc., excluding China), but as with the Light Strip update, the different server regions should slowly get firmware updates. The update in question for this bulb should be 2.0.6_0029.

As with the Light Strip, once the update has been installed, to add the bulb to HomeKit you long press on the device’s tile, then click on the HomeKit icon that appears at the bottom of the screen. You then get asked for permission for Mi Home to add a device to your ‘Home’. From there, adding the device is the same as with any normal HomeKit device, with the exception of not needing a HomeKit code.

Once the device is added, it will appear in Home and work just like a normal HomeKit colour bulb. It should be noted that as these bulbs don’t come with a HomeKit code, and the Mi Home app doesn’t generate one, you do need to set the bulb up in Mi Home first, which also requires an account to be set up.

There is one bug, however, and it’s one we also noticed when the Mi Bedside Lamp 2 was first released. This bug only seems to affect the bulb when you try to adjust the white spectrum aspect, which results in the bulb’s brightness appearing to be at 50% brightness. This can be adjusted again in the Mi Home app but is less than ideal, but by the time the firmware officially drops, they’ll have either ironed this bug out or will follow it up with a further smaller update.

Further updates should also be dropping soon for Yeelight’s own 2nd generation Colour and Tunable White smart bulbs. These can be distinguished by their white patterned base, as opposed to the silver base of the Mi/Mijia variety.

Thanks to Sebastian G for the help with the update.