After nearly a decade in development, Nanoleaf's smart switch is finally here. You can pre-order the Sense Plus Smart Wireless “Anywhere” Switch for $30 today, and it should ship in October. But to get to this point, Nanoleaf had to move away from its Thread launch and develop a new, proprietary protocol called Litewave.
The battery-powered device allows physical control of Nanoleaf's smart lighting system. You can turn the lights on or off, dim or brighten them, or change colors with the touch of a button. In addition, built-in motion and light sensors allow you to adjust your lighting to suit room conditions.
“We had to make sure that our products were reliable and less platform dependent,” said Gimmy Chu
The Sense, a version of which was first announced in 2020 and then again in 2023, has been long-awaited by fans of the company's RGB lighting line. As a wireless switch, it doesn't plug into a lighting circuit, but allows you to wirelessly control all the smart lights in one or more rooms without having to use your voice or get out your phone. The concept is similar to Philips Hue's wireless dimmer switch or Lutron Caseta's Pico remote, and it can also be mounted on a wall plate like a traditional light switch or used as a portable remote.
However, in addition to the standard lighting controls, Sense has two configurable buttons that can be programmed in Nanoleaf's app or set up for use with Apple Home and Samsung SmartThings via Matter.
This allows you to create automations with other devices, for example to have a “movie time” scene that closes the blinds, dims the lights, and adjusts the thermostat at the touch of a button. However, since not all Matter platforms support smart buttons yet, Sense's Matter integration is currently in an early access program.
The Sense uses two protocols at once to connect to Nanoleaf's lights. Matter over Thread and Litewave, a technology the company developed specifically for this product. Litewave is a proprietary local protocol that works over the same 802.15.4 radio as Bluetooth/Thread, allowing the Switch to communicate with all Nanoleaf lights, regardless of whether they use Thread, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi.
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According to Gimmy Chu, co-founder and CEO of Nanoleaf, it took eight years to find the right technology for a reliable wireless switch. “We needed a low-power networking solution like Thread, and also a common communications protocol – like Matter,” he says. Although the company is a big proponent and early adopter of Thread, it struggled with implementing Matter over Thread. This led the company to develop the proprietary protocol to ensure its new smart switch would work reliably with all of its smart lights.
In an interview with The edgeChu attributes some of these issues to the complexity of Matter and its various platforms. “We don't have control over the Matter controller, which is responsible for making sure things like pairing work properly and the Thread network is properly maintained,” he says. “We needed to make sure our products work reliably and are less platform-dependent.”
Chu says Litewave provides a robust and reliable local connection that enables instant control—as fast as flipping a light switch. “It allows us to be part of the Matter over Thread mesh network and also support our communications at the same time,” he says. Litewave also doesn't require a Thread border router or Matter controller to function, making it easier for users to set up. You only need these additional devices if you want to enable Matter.
Through Litewave, Sense controls multiple Nanoleaf lights instantly, without the “popcorn” effect (where one light comes on after another). Chu showed me this in action during our video interview: A dozen downlights instantly turned on and off when he pushed the button. “We tested it with over 100 devices across 10,000 square feet, and everything works instantly with about 100 percent reliability,” he says.
No longer relying solely on Thread, Nanoleaf is launching its first Matter-over-Wi-Fi bulb—all of its current bulbs use Thread. The full-color and white-tunable Essentials Matter Wi-Fi A19 Smart Bulb was designed for Walmart and costs $29.99 for a pack of two (you can also buy it from Nanoleaf's webstore for $49.99 for four).
Chu says they chose Wi-Fi because they felt Thread was still too niche for Walmart customers. “The mass market doesn't know Thread,” he says. “When we launched in a store like Walmart, we wanted to make sure we were reaching as broad an audience as possible.”
“The mass market doesn’t know what Thread is,” Gimmy Chu
Nanoleaf is not the only company to use Matter instead of Thread. After several Thread-only launches, Aqara's latest lighting products work with Thread And Zigbee – the protocol it used to connect all of its devices before moving to Thread. The company says it did this because Zigbee currently offers more features on its platform than Matter does through Thread and it wanted to give its users the choice.
The just-released Thread 1.4 update is designed to fix many of the current issues, and as Matter continues to evolve, feature parity should be reached. However, it will take a while for manufacturers to implement the new Thread specification. In the meantime, companies like Nanoleaf have little choice but to look for alternative solutions while Thread sorts itself out.