iOS 18 Brings Adaptive Lighting to Matter Smart Lights

iOS 18 expands Adaptive Lighting support to Matter-compatible smart lights, The Verge reports.

matter iot standard
Adaptive Lighting was introduced in iOS 14, providing a way to automatically adjust the color temperature of smart lights throughout the day. The feature currently only works with HomeKit-enabled devices, but it will be extended to smart lights that are compatible with the Matter standard with iOS 18.

Matter, a smart home interoperability protocol developed collaboratively by Apple, Google, Amazon, and other smart home brands, seeks to create a unified, platform-agnostic ecosystem for smart devices. Adaptive Lighting is an exclusive feature of the Apple Home ecosystem, meaning it is not included in the Matter specification itself.

The expansion of Adaptive Lighting to Matter devices was discovered in the latest beta version of iOS 18. Users running the beta reported seeing a new toggle for Adaptive Lighting in the settings of their Matter-compatible smart lights within the Home app.

Confirmation of the feature's development also came from Nanoleaf, whose CEO Gimmy Chu stated that the company is "one of the partners that are part of the launch of Adaptive Lighting on Matter products." It is highly likely that other major smart lighting brands, such as Philips Hue, will also support the feature in due course.

In addition to the expanded support for Adaptive Lighting, iOS 18 brings a range of other smart home enhancements to the Home app such as improved guest access controls, support for robotic vacuum cleaners like the iRobot Roomba, and hands-free unlocking of smart doors.

Related Forums: iOS 18, iPadOS 18

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features on Your iPhone

Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon. Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week. iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3

Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
iOS 26

iOS 26.4 and iOS 27 Features Revealed in New Leak

Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28. The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.2 With Alarms for Reminders, Lock Screen Changes, Enhanced Safety Alerts and More

Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. ‌iOS 26‌.2 is compatible with the ‌iPhone‌ 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation ‌iPhone‌ SE. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
Google maps feaure

Google Maps Quietly Added This Long-Overdue Feature for Drivers

Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you. Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
AirTag 2 Mock Feature

Apple AirTag 2: Four New Features Found in iOS 26 Code

Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products. Here's what's supposedly coming: An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
macOS Tahoe 26 Thumb

Apple Releases macOS Tahoe 26.2 With Edge Light

Friday December 12, 2025 10:08 am PST by
Apple today released macOS Tahoe 26.2, the second major update to the macOS Tahoe operating system that came out in September. macOS Tahoe 26.2 comes five weeks after Apple released macOS Tahoe 26.1. Mac users can download the macOS Tahoe update by using the Software Update section of System Settings. macOS Tahoe 26.2 includes Edge Light, a feature that illuminates your face with soft...
iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
maxresdefault

iOS 26 Code Leak Reveals Apple Smart Home Hub Details

Thursday December 11, 2025 4:02 pm PST by
Apple is working on a smart home hub that will rely heavily on the more capable version of Siri that's coming next year. We've heard quite a bit about the hub over the last two years, but a recent iOS 26 code leak provides additional insight into what we can expect and confirms rumored features. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Macworld claims to have access to an ...

Top Rated Comments

verniesgarden Avatar
18 months ago
i want to set adaptive brightness. let me say "after 10, make the lights default to 10%"
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
the.burn Avatar
18 months ago
Nice!
I just learned about this missing feature when I recently bought the Nanoleaf Matter strip. Happy that this downside will soon be gone :)
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cocoua Avatar
18 months ago

I’m not a fan of adaptive lighting. Maybe I’m old school and love 2700k or maybe I associate blue light with sterile cubicle work… I don’t know, but I wish HomeKit would stop pushing it and just set it as a toggle.
The problem is the quality of the blue light you are used to.

Cri>98 and high Ra 5500k light is another world of lighting. But nobody cares about light so consumer doesnt push companies for this specs.

Light is the most importante but underrated feature our eyes can sense.

High quality light + adaptative light (mimic the earth rotation) is the wining system by all means but is a tech far from being polished, just because consumer doesnt know what they want. As jobs said

The idea of having interior lights that extend the light is entering through the window without the bad UVA spectrum is a dream. The day some company smart enough could mimic this, would make a non return point for consumer light

This is changing, few years ago it was impossible to know CRI for most companies, IKEA niw puts the CRI in all its bulbs as is proud enough to offer >90 (far better than the >80 CRI most Philips bulbs offer)

Philips Hue Natural light (adaptative) was introduced in 2022 (seriusly no body at philips cared enough to mimic the sun earlier??) but is so bad implemented users need to custom code it. So a big fail feature right of the bos.

In the past also, but CrI bulbs with light sensor was sold reflexting the day time temperature, but who wants a horrible blue light bulb? The good intentions are lost as soon as your eyes are crying for such a bad quality light.

Temperature is not about more blue or more red “filters” , that is how cheap (99% consumer bulbs) get their temperature.

Good LED light Is quite complex at the end

Another inportant thing is the light source. Indirect light is how we see in exteriors at daytime. But hard to find that kind of light in interiors.

Very complex topic that people is used to solve with the cehqper bulb in a stick wired to the wall
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
McWetty Avatar
18 months ago
I’m not a fan of adaptive lighting. Maybe I’m old school and love 2700k or maybe I associate blue light with sterile cubicle work… I don’t know, but I wish HomeKit would stop pushing it and just set it as a toggle.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
McWetty Avatar
18 months ago

Matter support just keeps getting better and better. It's really great in Home Assistant these days, with major updates every month of this year. Matter just added support for updates to device firmware without having to use separate native apps. This is a big step forward. Nowadays, I only buy Matter devices (real support, not like the pretend support that some companies put in their devices that still requires their proprietary hubs) that work with Home Assistant. I just click on the device in settings and tell it to share the device with Homekit, and it creates a notification with a QR code, scan that in HomeKit and voila! It works! HomeKit doesn't support a lot of stuff (like Chmberlin Garage Door Openers) but you can add support through this process and integrations in Home Assistant, and in the case of Chamberline via ESP Home, which is owned by Home Assistant.
How are you getting Chamberlain garage openers into HA? I’m using HomeBridge and MyQ completely cut out API support.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
svish Avatar
18 months ago
Good to know about this.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)