More Yeelight HomeKit Updates With The Tunable White Bulb

Only a few days ago, we announced that Yeelight had begun to slowly issue a firmware update to bring their Light Strip Plus into the ‘HomeKit fold’. Then just a day later there was another update issued, this time to bring HomeKit compatibility to the Mi Smart Colour Bulb. Well, it really does look like Yeelight are true to their word with HomeKit updates promised for Q3, as they have now issued an update for their Tunable White Smart bulb.

This brings the update count to three of the four devices they originally mentioned would get HomeKit updates, with only the Yeelight Colour Smart Bulb remaining to get an update. We’re expecting this final update to be issued in the next days or so, considering the other updates have followed one day after the other.

Before you go rushing to search for these updates, it would seem these are being issued rather slowly at present, so updates for different regions appear to be being staggered, possibly to wait for feedback on any potentially unnoticed bugs. Aside from ourselves, there have been a couple of Reddit users reporting that they’ve been able to update their Tunable White bulbs. We’ve had all the currently issued updated products running in HomeKit for a few days now, and haven’t seen anything to worry about, with the bulbs still being exposed to both the Mi Home, Yeelight and HomeKit apps, which presents a massive opportunity to control both HomeKit and Xiomi-only devices together, with a little bit of clever automation.

Adding the Yeelight Tunable White bulb to HomeKit is as easy as the previous updated Yeelight apps, which requires the firmware update first of course.

• After installing the update, you should force close the app, then reopen it.
• A window may pop up, asking you to add the bulb to HomeKit
• if not, long-press the tile for the bulb, then press the HomeKit icon at the bottom
• From there, give the Mi Home app permission to access your HomeKit Home and simply follow the onscreen instructions.

You won’t need to scan a HomeKit code, but this also means you must use the Mi Home or Yeelight apps to initially install the bulbs before adding them to HomeKit, as the normal HomeKit procedure involves scanning a QR code or a unique 8-digit number.

We’ve had these bulbs for quite a while now, and it’s great to be able to get HomeKit integration. Regardless of that, these bulbs have been very reliable, so expect a full HomeKit review soon.