The Best Smart String Lights for Beautiful Holiday Upgrades
During the holidays, there is a common and dreaded ritual: taking out old string lights and seeing which ones still work. If you’re fed up find dead light bulbs or stick the same tattered decorative lights, I suggest a smart upgrade. Today’s app control LED lights offers incredible customization and better durability than any old Christmas lights.
Beyond changing colors to match your favorite holidays (and not just for holiday celebrations), these lights allow you to find beautiful hues that help match that classic warm and sparkly look or try something bolder. Add options like music syncing and you’ll discover whole new ways to use these Christmas lights.
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Govee 2 Christmas light garland
Govee lights can do it all, literally.
Length: 66 to 328 feet
Govee’s Smart String Lights improvements are some of the best, with several design changes that we particularly like. These lights — which support Matter and work with Google Home or Alexa — ditch the hanging bulbs for a string light design, making them much easier to place in a Christmas tree, wrap around a wreath, and more.
Plus, the app is very smart, with 130 preset modes as well as shape-mapping technology for complex DIY options and a surprising AI feature that will attempt to automatically customize the lights based on texts, audio music snippets, or image prompts, so you can really have fun. If you want to take the season to the next level, a music mode uses built-in mics to sync with nearby holiday tunes.
Note that you can choose a color for the LED string itself, with green being the best option for hiding the lights in a tree or bush. They’re also weather-resistant and ready for outdoor use, allowing them to fit into any vacation home project. We also like how affordable they are compared to many options.
Philips Hue Festavia light string
If you want lights that can be used for any holiday event, Festavia is for you.
Length: 65 to 130 feet
If you’re tired of taking out different types of Christmas lights for each event and then putting them away again, Philips Hue Festavia lights are designed for every holiday event. The indoor/outdoor string lights can be any color with the Hue app, down to each LED to set the exact theme you want. Add a Hue Bridge ($60, supports all Philips Hue smart lights) and you can also enable automatic music syncing. These lights work with Alexa, Apple Siri and the Google Assistant.
Nanoleaf Matter Christmas Lights
Nanoleaf has some unique tips to make vacation setup easier.
Length: 300 bulbs
This Nanoleaf system has many vaunted smart features, including Matter with support for Amazon Alexa, Apple Home/Siri and Google Home, as well as music syncing. It also has an in-line controller for people who don’t want to worry about reapplying while decorating. But our favorite feature by far is Screen Mirror on PC: download the Nanoleaf app and you can have the lights immediately reflect the colors of your computer screen, allowing for some truly creative setups.
150 foot sparkling strings
Twinkly has some of the best extra-long string lights.
Length: 26 to 200 feet
If you hate stringing together string lights to cover an important spot in your home, we suggest Twinkly’s 150-foot extra-long LED string light, which allows you to do it all in one go. The interior/exterior lights feature 750 LED bulbs, as well as support for Alexa and Google Assistant. The app is a little more limited than some, but it’s perfect for those who just want to set basic colors and timers with simple light mapping, without creating any headaches. You can add Twinkly mic ($30)sold separately, for easy music synchronization.
Govee Permanent Outdoor Lighting Prism
Govee’s permanent lights make your home shine for any occasion.
Length: 100 to 200 feet
Are you the type of person who hates taking down Christmas lights only to find that they “accidentally” stay on all year? Make it official with this elite Govee installation. Made specifically for your eaves but flexible in their placement, these lights adhere bulb by bulb for a permanent display. They can provide daily lighting, then switch to holiday themes and synchronized flashing when the season arrives. The lights feature a variety of color customization options and IP68 weather protection, as well as the ability to cut and splice the light strings as needed.
If you’re looking for patio lights that can handle holiday themes, Cync’s version works well.
Length: 48 feet
If you’re looking for lights that are suitable for your patio or deck and can stay on all year round, these cafe lights are made for exactly that. With Cync’s color-changing technology, the waterproof lights can change to any holiday color palette you have in mind. Each bulb comes with its own individual hook so it can handle all sorts of placements to suit your comfortable outdoor space – from trees and eaves to fences and awnings. I’m a big fan of the Cync app and its user-friendliness, but the lights also support Google Home and Alexa control.
To learn even more about your smart lighting options, be sure to check out our guide to best overall smart lights, best smart indoor lighting tips And the best smart plugs which can give even the stupidest Christmas lights smart features. Oh, and if you’re annoyed by LED lights going out all the time, we have a guide explaining exactly why this happens.
