Lifx Luna Lamp

Introduction

Lifx has been on the comeback trail for the past year or so and but at CES 2025, the Wi-Fi smart bulb specialist added something brand new to the lineup: a smart lamp.

The Lifx Luna is the company’s first go at a proper tabletop light, and it made its debut a couple of months after its Vegas unveiling.

Priced at $69.99, it goes head-to-head with rivals like the Hue Bloom or Govee’s Table Lamp 2, but Lifx isn’t just looking to light up your room.

What makes Luna unique is that it brings Lifx’s rich SuperColor tech to a smaller form factor, while also throwing in a clever twist: four physical buttons that can be used to control not only the lamp itself but other smart home gadgets as well, thanks to Matter, and a dose of ahead-of-the-curve device binding tech.

I’ve had the Luna parked on my desk for a few weeks now. Here’s how it shapes up…

Design and Placement

• Compact pill-shaped lamp
• Four onboard buttons
• Desk or wall mountable
• Flip to use as a nightlight

The Luna’s shape is more rounded rectangle than sphere; a compact pill-like design measuring 205 x 130 x 56mm. The front face is clear plastic, while the white plastic body has a slightly soft-touch finish. Around the back, a rubberized edge helps it grip whatever surface it’s on.

Up top (or bottom, if you flip it) are four physical buttons: a power toggle, FX cycle, and brightness up/down. The tactile buttons feel nice and match the lamp’s minimalist aesthetic. And yes, there’s more to those buttons than just brightness control, but I’ll get to that.

The Luna is clearly designed for desks and nightstands, but it also comes with a wall bracket. There’s a 3M adhesive strip pre-attached to the mounting bracket (which simply clips on), plus a screw and plug if you want a more permanent mount.

You can mount it horizontally either way, buttons up or down, but you’ll hit a snag if you want it vertical, as the cable notch only works in landscape orientation, which is a bit daft.

If you flip the Luna over, it turns into a soft-glow nightlight, thanks to the front plastic sitting slightly recessed from the outer frame. It’s a neat dual-purpose design that works surprisingly well.

Setup and Features

• Matter-over-Wifi
• Button-based routines and triggers
• Supports all major ecosystems
• Thread radio onboard (but not yet active)

The setup was refreshingly smooth. When I reviewed the Lifx SuperColor Ceiling Light earlier this year, Matter pairing was… let’s just say “temperamental.” But Lifx seems to have ironed things out.

This time around, pairing was a breeze. A quick scan of the Matter QR code in the Lifx app and the Luna was connected in seconds. No fiddling. No fallback to the ‘old’ HomeKit pairing route… just a refreshingly simple onboarding.

Once it’s added, you can link it to your smart home ecosystem of choice – Apple Home, Alexa, Google Home, SmartThings, Homey, and more – using a Matter code you generate in the app. If you are using an iPhone and want to add it to HomeKit – as was the case for me – there’s actually an option to do this directly from the app too.

Since the Luna uses Matter-over-Wi-Fi, you don’t need to worry about Thread border routers; you just need a Matter controller – like a HomePod, Echo, Nest Hub, or similar for the ecosystem that you want to use, and you’re off.

Interestingly, the Luna actually has a Thread radio built in, but it’s not doing anything right now. This is the case with a lot of Lifx’s recent launches and my bet would be that it’s future-proofing and Thread could be turned on down the line, for more cloud-less control.

Either way, this isn’t just a Matter lamp, it’s also a remote control from smart home devices too. And that’s where those buttons get clever.

Smart Controls and Matter Binding

• Buttons double as smart home triggers
• Local control for Lifx Matter devices
• Ecosystem routines supported
• Quirks in mapping across platforms

The four physical buttons on the Luna don’t just control the lamp, they also support Matter Binding. That means they can talk directly to other Matter-enabled devices, locally, with no cloud or hub dependency.

At least, in theory.

Right now, no major ecosystem (HomeKit, Google Home, Alexa, etc.) fully supports Matter Binding. So while the Luna’s buttons are future-ready, today they only offer local, hub-free control for other Lifx Matter lights, like its Ceiling Light range or A19 SuperColor bulb.

But there’s a workaround to get these buttons acting as triggers for your entire smart home. You can still map those buttons to do pretty much anything your smart home system supports.

I paired mine to HomeKit, then also shared it with Alexa using the Matter setup flow. That unlocked full routine mapping on both systems. So the + button, for example, could be used to kick-start an Alexa Routine that opens the blinds, turns on the smart speaker to your favourite radio station, and disarms the security cameras. And the power button could initiate a HomeKit Movie night automation: TV on and Netflix started, lights dimmed, soundbar and subwoofer powered up.

It’s not cloud-free, but it works. And it works just as fast as a regular voice controlled automation would and is just as expansive.

There are a few weird bits, though. In HomeKit, the Luna shows up as a light, a ‘Button’, and a ‘Switch’ – but only the Switch lets you assign actions to the actual buttons. Also, the button order is odd: in HomeKit, Button 1 is +, Button 2 is power, 3 is FX, and 4 is -… and that order is different when mapping the buttons in Alexa.

Each button supports single, double, and long press in HomeKit – giving you 12 possible actions – but Alexa only seems to allow a single press at the moment.

Still, this feature alone elevates the Luna from just another RGB desk light to a genuine smart home controller.

You can also map the buttons to control the Luna’s functions differently from the out-the-box default, or configure them to sync with non-Matter Lifx bulbs via the cloud.

Lighting Performance

• 26 addressable color zones
• Max brightness: 1000 lumens
• Color temp: 1500K–9000K
• Polychrome + effects via app

With 26 controllable zones and a top-end brightness of 1000 lumens, the Luna can throw out some serious light – enough that you’ll want to avoid looking directly at it when it’s cranked to full.

You can aim it at the wall for a more diffuse vibe, though the rear casing isn’t much to look at. So that’s perhaps not ideal if it’s going to be visible from other angles.

Within platforms like Alexa or HomeKit, you’ll get basic control: brightness, color, temperature, and on/off – and HomeKit supports Adaptive Lighting too. But to get the full effect, you’ll want the Lifx app.

Inside the app, you’ll find dozens of pre-made scenes and effects. Static options are grouped under “Themes,” while dynamic effects live under “FX.” They’ve got everything from Stardust and Meteor to Flame and Ghostly, plus holiday presets for Halloween, Diwali, and beyond. There are even themes for US sports teams.

I you want to make your own, there’s a full customization tool that lets you manually assign colors to each of the 26 zones, which is ideal if you’re after something more bespoke.

You also get Polychrome tech (Lifx’s multi-zone magic), and a tunable white range from a candle-like 1500K to a crisp 9000K. So it can do both cozy and clinical, depending on your mood.

FAQs