Update 15 March, 2019: IKEA has delayed launch of their smart shades in Europe to later in 2019, and an exact date has not been made known, This means they will be coming even later to the U.S. Below is our original article on these products.
Vying to increase its imprint on the smart home, mega-retailer IKEA plans to launch its first motorized smart shades into the European market with the arrival of the Kadrilj and Fyrtur products. The cordless, wireless, and battery-operated shades are expected to be widely available in the EU later in 2019. Furthermore, it is broadly anticipated the same products (or at least the Fyrtur variation) will later become available in the U.S.
Light Filtering or Blackout Options
Designed to work with the IKEA Trådfri Gateway, these first smart window coverings from the Swedish company are designed around a conventional roller shade form factor. The Kadrilj shade fabric provides light filtering, while the Fyrtur is a blackout design.The Fyrtur shades are expected to begin at €129 in the 60 x 195 cm size (or about $137) and are to be available in several sizes. The largest shade, in a size of 140 x 195 cm, is expected to sell for €159. The only color available is gray.
Wireless and Rechargeable
Out of the box, these shades will already paired with a handheld remote control, and also include a signal amplifier (this is actually a ZigBee repeater) that can be plugged into a nearby electrical outlet. In contrast to many smart shades that use banks of AA batteries, these arrive with an onboard removable rechargeable battery and a plug-in USB charging adapter.
Add IKEA Trådfri Gateway for Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant
While the Kadrilj and Fyrtur shades can simply be used with the included remote control, you will need to add an IKEA Trådfri Gateway (about €30) to the home network to gain control with the Trådfri smartphone app as well as Apple HomeKit and Siri, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant control. The Trådfri Gateway connects to the home’s router via Ethernet.
How well do these work? We don’t have any hands-on experience with them yet. We will let you know once they reach the shores of the U.S. and we can bring them into our Digitized House Connected Home integration labs.
