Back at CES in January, Govee promised to have its first Matter product ready by this year, and now it’s here: a 6.5-foot multicolor light strip that’s capable of working with all the major smart home platforms.
On sale now for $59.99, the Matter-compatible LED Strip Light M1 arrives with 50 controllable color light segments, more than 64 light modes, and the ability to sync with other Govee lights.
This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart light bulbs.
More importantly, Govee’s M1 light strip is the first of the manufacturer’s products to work with Matter, the new standard that promises to help Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and other smart home ecosystems to work better together.
Practically speaking, that means you’ll be able to pair and control the M1 with any of the above smart home platforms (a Matter QR code is available within the Govee app, as well as on a tag attached to the remote cable).
And thanks to its Matter support, the M1 also marks the first Govee light to work natively with HomeKit, outside of pairing it with the open-source Homebridge utility.
The Govee Matter-compatible M1 light strip comes wiht a three-button remote; note the tag stamped with a Matter code.
Ben Patterson/Foundry
While you will be able to control the M1 light strip with the Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings apps, the actual degree of control you’ll get is limited to turning the strip on and off, adjusting the brightness, changing its color, and tweaking its white-color temperature.
To dive into the M1’s animated color modes and effects, including the ability to change the colors of the strip’s individual segments, you’ll need to use Govee’s smart home app.
The Govee app can enable the light strip’s music mode, which can make the strip’s LEDs pulse in sync with any music picked up by the integrated microphone, while Govee’s DreamView feature will sync other compatible Govee lights with your tunes, as well.
Like similar light strips, the Govee M1 light strip has a peel-and-stick backing for easy installation, and you can splice the M1 together with an extension ($17.99, available May 29) to double its length.
What you can’t do with the M1 is cut it to fit, a surprising omission given that most other smart LED light strips allow you to snip them shorter at designated points.
Govee says it will follow up the M1 light strip with a Matter-compatible version of its Neon Rope Light for Desks, which will be available this summer, with more Matter-ready Govee gear coming “later this year.”
We’ll have a full review of the Govee LED Strip Light M1 Matter Compatible once I’ve spent more time with a sample unit supplied by the manufacturer.
