Ikea Smart Blinds

Ikea smart blinds come in various fixed widths, from 23 inches to 48 inches in the US or 60 cm to 140 cm wider.

Things You Should Know About Ikea Smart Blinds?

Window shades that rise at sunrise and fall at sunset are the pinnacle of the modern home.

Unfortunately, smart blinds are very expensive. I know this because five years ago, I paid too much for a professionally installed pair.

All of that is about to change now that Ikea has released its first blinds in a bid to democratize the smart home.

Ikea’s Fyrtur and Kadrilj smart blinds:

  • They are much cheaper than traditional ones and do not require professional installation. I recently installed the Fyrtur Blackout roller blinds in a single window in my home.
  • They are a bit more expensive (from € 129) than Kadrilj blinds, but the Fyrtur model offers more privacy and light control; otherwise, the two are identical.
  • We first heard about smart blinds from Ikea in January. Since then, they’ve had a couple of false starts.
  • They were promised a US release on October 1 but have since been delayed again. Even though they are now available in Canada, I can assure you that it will be worth the wait whenever they arrive.

OUR IKEA FYRTUR DARK BLINDS REVIEW

GOOD MATERIAL

  • Relatively cheap
  • Flexible control options including timers
  • Good privacy and light management

BAD THINGS

  • No sunset or sunrise options for timers
  • Ikea’s frustrating Tradfri Gateway and Home Smart app
  • Only Google Assistant support at launch

I’ve wanted to cover a particular window with a smart blind for years, but the cost was too prohibitive.

Look, the window in question lights up a staircase during the day but allows a rather nosy neighbour to look directly into my office at night:

  • It is already equipped with an Ikea blind that I usually forget to lower to the delight of the disgusting road. No more.
  • Ikea smart blinds come in various fixed widths, from 23 inches to 48 inches in the US or 60 cm to 140 cm wider in Europe.
  • All are 77 inches (195 cm) long. The blinds ship with pre-paired wireless up / down remote that can control the blinds right out of the box.
  • However, you will need Ikea’s € 30 Tradfri gateway installed on your network to integrate the blinds into your smart home.
  • The package also includes a signal repeater to extend the Ikea Zigbee network beyond the gateway’s reach.
  • The repeater is equipped with an empty USB port for charging (with the included Micro USB cable) the removable battery inserted into the front left of the blind assembly.
  • The blinds are completely wireless and can be controlling via two dedicated buttons built directly into the front left corner of the blind mechanism.
  • Blinds can also be controlling via the Ikea Home smart app, where you can set timers for regular routines and assign blinds to groups for coordinated control.
  • The blinds are compatible with Ikea’s growing line of “smart home” devices, including Symfonisk speakers and Tradfri smart plugs, lights, switches, dimmers and motion sensors.
  • I was able to add the blinds to my Google Home for voice control.
  • However, Alexa and HomeKit were unable to discover them, although Ikea says that Amazon and Apple’s smart home platforms will eventually be compatible.
  • That could explain the delay of the launch in Spain and the United States. That had previously been linked to the availability of the three voice assistants.

Adding the blinds:

  • To the Tradfri gateway is frustrating. The general experience is plaguing with dropping connections, failed pairings, and resets.
  • Eventually, it works, but getting all the pieces together takes the patience of a saint. I found the Home Smart app on Android to be more stable than Ios.
  • With far fewer interruptions when communicating with the Tradfri gateway. Mounting the blinds on the window is much easier.
  • They are heavier and bulkier than typical Ikea blinds, but the double-ended brackets are essentially the same (only deeper).
  • Once installing and attaching to the gateway, the first thing you’ll want to do is set the maximum length of the blinds (they cannot be cut).
  • It can be done using the embedding buttons near the louvre assembly corner (next to the battery).
  • Hold down the bottom button until the blinds reach the bottom of the window, release it, and then click the button twice.
  • The blinds will do a little dance to mark the new maximum length. When you lower the blinds to 100 per cent, they will only drop to the bottom of the window. They will not unfold to the floor.

The timers in the app:

  • Are perfect for something like a morning alarm, allowing you to raise the blinds just a bit to help you wake up.
  • Not that you probably sleep to the noise that the blinds make if they are installing in your room. They are loud but no worse than my professionally installed smart blinds.
  • Timers are not ideal for my needs because they do not allow me to set local sunrise and sunset times as triggers for raising and lowering the blinds.
  • As such, I will have to find a workaround or manually adjust schedules throughout the year if I want optimal light and privacy control at my stair window.
  • There’s also no easy, out-of-the-box ability to make blinds responsive to third-party light or temperature sensors.
  • But with Zigbee, anything is possible if you’re willing to put in the effort.
  • Equipping a home with Ikea’s Fyrtur or Kadrilj blinds won’t be cheap, but it will be much less expensive than smart blinds from brands like Somfy or Luxaflex.
  • I hope you like grey or darker gray, because those are the only colors available at launch.
  • Ikea’s Fyrtur and Kadrilj smart blinds are slowly rolling out around the world. In some countries, they can be delivering directly to your home. In others, they are only available for purchase in the store.

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