UPDATE: 10/3/2108

We purchased a selection of Trådfri bulbs from Ikea.com in the UK, these all came with the new firmware installed. Hopefully this means the firmware is now fully rolled out so jump to step 2 on the below guide. Also note Alexa fully works once added to the network!


We originally brought you the exclusive comment from IKEA about Trådfri eventually supporting ZigBee  interoperability and therefore allowing you to add IKEA lights to your Hue network. Here is the original article.

For those of you wondering what on earth this means, it basically means they both operate using the same standard meaning they ‘must’ work together.

Now the software update has been released here is a detailed guide showing you exactly how to add IKEA Smart bulbs to your Philips Hue network!

You can buy Philips Hue bulbs from Amazon,currently for under £25 for a pair.


Philips Hue White Wireless Lighting B22 10W Smart LED Bulb Twin Pack iOS Android [Energy Class A+]

Check the Price on Amazon UK Check the Price on Amazon US

Unfortunately there is no way to check the bulb firmware from the packaging.

The bulbs we tested were from central London on 20/9/17 and still had the old firmware. This means they require an update so you need a controller and hub.

If your reading this a few months later you might be ok to try just a bulb and jump to part 2.

Don’t forget to check our our Philips Hue review!

Let us know in the comments how you get on and don’t forget to like us on Facebook for the latest guides, reviews and news.


Part 1 – Updating firmware

  1. Follow the IKEA instructions setting up your hub, controller and bulb. You do need both the hub and controller to update, sadly just the hub wont do it.
  2. Open the Trådfri app and check to see the firmware, now press update. the text will change to ‘Update pending’.Adding IKEA bulbs to Hue
  3. Our firmware update took over an hour to install. Once complete the lights blink.
  4. Go back into the app and confirm the bulb firmware shows as 1.2.217
  5. Make sure the light is on and remove it from the app.
    Remove bulb from app
  6. Turn off the bridge – we found it can cause issues with the Hue Bridge, most likely due to using the same channel by default.

Part 2Adding to Hue network

  1. Turn the light that has the IKEA bulb in on and off 6 times quickly, this resets its settings but maintains the firmware.
  2. Turn off all other Hue lights, to prevent ZigBee interference, and if possible move the IKEA bulb near the Philips Hue hub, ideally 30 CM or less.When we did ours we put the bulb in a portable lamp so we could put next to the hub before moving the bulb later once added to the network.
  3. Open the Hue app and search for the a bulb, in the same way you normally would.
    Adding Ikea bulbs to Hue search for light
  4. The bulb will appear as ‘colour temperature light 1’Adding Ikea bulbs to Hue added
  5. You can now name it add it to any room or group as you would a Philips Hue Bulb. We named our bulb ‘IKEA TRAFADIL’ so you could clearly see it in the group.Adding bulbs to roomsIKEA Trådfri added philips hue

If you could not find your bulb via the App you can try a 3rd party application called Lamp Finder, we didn’t need to use it but it is an option.


Part 3 – How to pair your IKEA Remote to Phillips Hue Lights.

However when you you pair them to the remote it removes them from the Philips Hue Hub. This means the app and Home Kit, Alexa can no longer talk to it. Also it is slightly tricky to add them back to the Philips hub.

You can however put up to 10 lights to one remote.

We spent a lot of time trying to pair the remote to the Philips Hue hub but didn’t find a solution despite getting them to communicate!

  1. Turn off other hue lights
  2. Hold the remote next to the bulb
  3. Hold down the small multipurpose button on the underside of the controller, the same one used to pair with IKEA smart lighting.
  4. Keep it held down for a maximum of 10 seconds or till the light stops flashing, for example if can be 5 seconds till it stops.
  5. The light will now be controllable by the IKEA Remote.

Reminder: You can buy Philips Hue bulbs from Amazon,currently for under £25 for a pair.

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Jacco
Jacco

Ikea Trådfri bulb batches “1721” and up should have the right firmware and should therefore be Philips Hue compatible…

Silverweb
Silverweb
Reply to  Jacco

Hi. I just bought TRADFRI LED 1000lm, batch number 1746 (I live in Poland), but unfortunately it didn’t connect – I reset the bulb (6x ON-OFF), then turned it ON (all other bulbs disconnected from power, HUE Bridge touching the IKEA bulb) and tried for about 15 minutes to search the bulb, but with no success… So I think the batch number does not guarantee, the bulbs will have correct firmware… 🙁 Seems, that I need to buy the IKEA Base for few days (thankfully we have 365 days to get it back, as it is quite expensive according to… Read more »

Chris
Chris
Reply to  Silverweb

If you don’t want to buy the base I found a way to get mine working. If you have one hue light bulb, which I assume you do if you have a bridge, delete it from you bridge. Then go and stick both the IKEA light bulb in and that one in. Add a light bulb and input the serial number of the hue bulb and search. When I did this it found this bulb and the IKEA one. Hope this helps you or anyone else.

Silverweb
Silverweb
Reply to  Jacco

Well, once again me here. 🙂

I DID IT! 🙂

I thought the batch number is not enough, but it worked!
I used HUE Essentials App and touchlink method to find the bulb, and here it is! I’ve got the E27 white 1000lm IKEA Tradfrii (batch number 1746) bulb connected to my Hue Bridge and configured to home automation by OpenHAB.

Hope it helps for someone! 🙂

AJ
AJ

Finding part 3 hard to interpret, am I correct that:

1. Its possible to pair an Ikea dimmer to either a Hue bulb or Ikea bulb.
2. If you do 1. then it’s not possible to have the bulb also controllable by the hub.
3. Alexa, Siri, Google Home (i.e. via Hue hub) will not control any Ikea lights connected to the Hue hub

Ade Thompson
Ade Thompson

Great article. Looking forward to giving it a try once I find some bulbs from batch 1721. I’m assuming all future updates will come via the HUE app and not the IKEA app, also once paired with HUE I’m guessing they are no longer seen or controllable by IKEA app?

Ade Thompson
Ade Thompson

So you’ll definitely need a hub and controller just to update the firmware if it gets updated in the future (outside of intitial HUE compatability). That’s disappointing I just wanted to get the bulbs.

Ade Thompson
Ade Thompson

Will do.

I’m intrigued by the following:

Note this does not give you HomeKIt or Alexa control of the bulb, yet. You do get an error about ‘Failed to update Siri’ we ignored it and all was ok.

Does that mean there is no HomeKit/Alexa support in the current firmware or after you ignored the warning it worked? Surely it’s the hub that communicates with Siri/Alexa and not the individual bulbs? So if the bulbs are seen by the hub they ‘should’ Work?

Ade Thompson
Ade Thompson

Thanks for the clarification.

Ade Thompson
Ade Thompson

There seems to be a lot of misinformation around about HomeKit compatibility and the current firmware: https://9to5mac.com/2017/10/03/ikea-color-homekit-bulbs/

Steve Cam
Steve Cam

I control my Ikea bulbs that are connected to the Phillips Hub with Alexa. All I did was search for new devices in the Alexa app after adding them to the Phillips Hub. Alexa doesn’t, however, work with bulbs that are on the Ikea gateway. I have some remaining on the Ikea gateway so that I can use the dimmer for these.

Sparky
Sparky

Hello. i’m looking to start a smart home setup in my bedroom for now. (i’ll get to the rest of the house once I get it set up properly in the confines of my bedroom. I’m on a budget so the hue hub is out of the question. I have some questions I would appreciate getting an answer to. 1.) My bedroom has one regular bulb and two floodlights. If I were to get a regular Tradfri bulb, and two of the Philips hue floodlights, could I control all of them via the Tradfri remote control, no hub? I’m aware… Read more »

Morten Th
Morten Th

Actually you can let the IKEA remote join the Hue’s zigbee network so that bulbs (both IKEA and Philips) can be controlled by the IKEA remote. Most other recipes for IKEA remotes and LivingColors remotes are wrongly using the other way round causing a reset of the bridge. Those you make the bridge join the network that the remote makes – so hands off the button on the Hue bridge – you don’t need to press it!! After making sure your remote is up2date reset it. Prepare to let your bridge send a touchlink command – Hue Essentials for Android… Read more »

Oliver-André Urban
Oliver-André Urban

If you connected a Tradfri bulp to the Hue-Bridge, it is possible to use the Tradfri remotes in parallel. The trick is to pair the remote and the bridge first: 1. In hue App, start adding a “hue-dimmer” 2. Take the Tradfri remote, push the connection button 4 Times; the LED should blink 3. Press the connection button permanently for about 40-60 seconds ( yes, its a long time) 4. Press the on/off button at the remote (short) 5 stop the app searching the hue dimmer The Tradfri remote will NOT show up in the hue app. But now it… Read more »

kelvin smith
kelvin smith

Great article!

My freind has just given me a spare Philips Bridge that he has and I was going to stock up on a colour bulb and the ambient white for the rest of the house for now.

Are the TRÅDFRI range still working with the Philips Bridge? There’s some reports online that after a recent update they are no longer compatible.

Mike
Mike

Great article, but I don’t understand one thing: I thought that Homekit and Alexa integration comes from the Philips Hue Bridge, and not from the individual bulbs? If Ikea bulbs are Zigbee-compatible as they should, why are they treated by the Philips bridge as second-class citizens? Is Philips intentionally blocking third-party bulbs, even if ZLL-compatible, from using certain bridge features? Or are Ikea bulbs not fully ZLL compliant yet?

Christian
Christian

Hi,

Could you please explain the tricky part in reconnecting the bulbs to the huesystem?

I had a couple of Ikea bulbs connected to the hue bridge and it worked fine. Then i connected a Ikea dimmer the the bulbs and lost the hue connection. Now i can’t get my hue bridge to find the bulbs. I have done the reset on both the bulbs and the dimmer.

Ervin Olsen
Ervin Olsen

How to Add Ikea Trådløs GU 10 003.182.92 to Philips Hue Turn off all other Philips hue lamps. Get hue lampfinder. http://huetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/lampfinder10.zip unzip and place on desktop. Turn the Hue Bridge off and on. Wait until the Bridge is online. Reset the trådløsbulp, turn off/on 6 times bulp blinks when resat. Startlampfinder , accepter og find Bridge. Bring the lamp close to the bridge the distance as on the pic worked here Click the button ”find light” on light finder. Count to five and turn the lamp off and on … when found the lamp dims..wait the lampfinder to finish.… Read more »

Daniel Breslan

If I had a room with hue and a hue dimmer connected to a bridge 2 that I control with HomeKit. Are there any differences in capability with adding a Tradfri White Spectrum to a side light or Hue White Ambience?

I assume the Tradfri will only have three three discrete temperature settings, but other than that it will be exactly the same? Ability to control via homekit (& scenes), dimmer, hue app etc.

Carl
Carl

Now it’s supported, I’ve got my ikea bulbs working fine with Apple Homekit for voice and remote activation, but as the IKEA range is limited, I was wondering if anyone has managed to do the opposite of this article and got a Philips bulb (or LED strip) to pair with the IKEA gateway.

tirrit
tirrit

IKEA Denmark, Odense

White E27 at 79,- DKK
-DO NOT- have the new firmware and will not pair without an update. So don’t tair your hair off trying to pair these of the current batch, without an IKEA hub.

The color kit bulb I bought was connectable to the hue hub out-of-the-box, but was also firmware outdated (I guess they update quite frequently at the moment to fix all the issues on their own hub:).

David
David

Thanks for the tips of how to add Ikea bulbs to Philip hue hub. Went out to by Ikea downlight bulbs yesterday which costs £7 each. The instruction here is working like a charm. 1. Turning on and off the light 6 times really fast. 2. Philip app will find the bulb and just add it to your list. 3. You can rename each light bulb if you like. 4. Go to Alexa app to enable Philip Hue Skill. 5. Ikea light bulbs will work with Alexa. Waiting for cheap multi coloured bulbs now. The Philip original is too expansive.… Read more »

Dale
Dale

Can I link a Phillips Hue Bulb to an Ikea Remote and see it in the Ikea app?
If I can will Alexa then be able to control it?
Thanks

Pasqualino
Pasqualino

Has anyone tried to link the tradfri to the Hue bridge and a tradfri remote? It worked for a week and then all of a sudden the tradfri gu10 (1.2.214) went offline for the Hue bridge and i’m not able to link them back. The remote still works. Now its or the tradfri remote linked or the Hue bridge is linked not both anymore that is. I also have another E27 bulb with firmware 1.3.002 and here it works both ways. I’ll have to get a Ikea hub to see if its firmware related unless anyone else has newer firmware… Read more »

Axel
Axel

I just bought a bunch of GU-10 in Germany with batch 1733, there was no need to update firmware to get them into Hue, I had to use “Hue lights” iOS app to force them to be found by the Hue Hub, yet to try with Alexa. Also have 2 of the 1000Lumen E27, which under the same process were recognized, those are 1743 batch, and worked fine with Alexa and Hue.

Emma Hazell
Emma Hazell

Hi, we have the Trådfri GU10 warm white £7.00 bulbs. We have updated the bulbs on the gateway but it will only update to version 214 NOT 217. Does this mean our bulbs are not compatible with our hue bridge?? This is driving us crazy….

Patrick
Patrick

Hi there,
Do I initially need an IKEA hub or remote control to setup. Or can I Just plug in the Trådfri bulbs and find them with my Hue app/bridge?

Zibando
Zibando

Hi there Just sharing some precision for IKEA remotes in HUE network. Try this : 1/ reset ikea remote 2/ link it to Philips hub (with Touchlink) 3/ link it to Philips bulb It allows you to control your bulb with an ikea remote but the bulb stays in the zigbee network of your hub, so you can control it through the app, other hue remotes, Siri, alexa,… just like before. I’ve successfully done that. Part 2/ is tricky, it doesn’t work easily, I had to repeat operation several times before it worked. However, this allows you to ad a… Read more »

Clive
Clive

Sorry, I know this is an old thread but wondering if anybody else has suffered wifi interference?? I’m not going mad here and it is definitely the IKEA bulbs. Have tried a a couple of times now with 4 GU10s. the first time I ‘forced’ connect to Hue bridge using the IOS touchlink app. All were connected and working but I had wifi drop outs all the time for a week until I had ruled everything out and it had to be the bulbs. replaced the bulbs and all good again. Second time I got the IKEA bridge, bulbs definitely… Read more »

Jane
Jane

I’m have the Hue set-up and just bought a variable white E27 one from bargain corner. Seriel ‘1739’ The Hue app couldnt find it at first so I tried the Hue reset routine of turning it off and on again 10 times (it blinks when you switch it on for the 11th time). It took 2 attempts at this and when I really opened the Hue App and tried again it found it! According to the helpful ikea person, the production code (written upside down on the back) gives Year then Week number. He said try to go for bulbs… Read more »

Solusan

Hi,

I got success connecting switching 6 times the bulb a E17 (LAD1649CS) but suddenly was disconnected and now I cannot pair it again.

Does anyone ever had this problem?

Any idea about what can I do?

Thanks 🙂

Chris H
Chris H

I have bought bulbs manufactured with both the old and new firmware. The visible differences between them are on the newer packaging there is a sticker placed over one of the codes on the rear of the box, changing the box printed “1744-1” into “1744”. This occurs in two places on the back of the box. On the bulb itself the laser printed text and logo’s are different, the newer (hue compatible) bulb has an additional IKEA style dimmable logo and additional text saying: “tradfri WS 1744” whereas the older (doesn’t work with hue) bulb had just the number “1722”.… Read more »

Sasch
Sasch

Thanks for the guide. I just followed this to pair a Tradfri remote with a Hue bulb. It works for on/off and dimming but can’t change colour with the remote.

It didn’t remove it from the Hue hub though and that still works perfectly. Maybe firmware has improved?

Lukas
Lukas

You can connect Ikea Remote to the Hue Hub and Ikea Bulb. In this step, you must reset the remote, and then pair to the Hue hub via TouchLink. This joins the remote to the Hue’s ZigBee network. There are a few different ways to do a a TouchLink search, which is not the same as a regular search. You can use the Hue Lights iOS app, Hue and Me Android app, LampFinder Mac/PC/Linux app, or Hue Developers’ API. 1. Reset the remote or dimmer by pressing the pair button 4 times quickly. 2. Wait 10 seconds. 3. Hold the… Read more »

AJ
AJ

I thought you might like to know that Ikea have released some LED drivers for the Tradfri range, and they work with Hue out of the box:
http://www.redsilico.com/blog/ikea-tradfri-transformers-hue

Pavel
Pavel

Hi everybody, please, your advice. I successfully added ikea bulbs to Philips hue system and I can remote them via Philips Hue app. Now I try to connect Ikea controller to remote all (Philips + Ikea) bulbs. I can remote all bulbs with ikea remote indeed but at this moment I loose remote via Philips hue app. I know there was written I need to pair Ikea remote controller with Philips Hue bridge via Touchlink (that I paired). The process of pairing was exactly as described, so I suppose it was successful. In final, when I make next step –… Read more »

AndrewFG
AndrewFG

Unfortunately, it seems that the IKEA remote controllers can no longer be used. They can neither a) be imported into the Philips Bridge, nor b) be bound to the Ikea lights (since binding them to the lights, causes the lights to become unbound from the Philips Bridge)..

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