Published: 9 May 2026 · By James Wright

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If you walked into an IKEA store five years ago and asked about smart home, the staff would have shown you a small TRÅDFRI display with bulbs, a dimmer remote, and not much else. In late 2025 IKEA quietly relaunched its entire smart home range with 21 new Matter-compatible products, joining Samsung SmartThings as a launch partner and committing to Matter-over-Thread as the underlying standard. By April 2026 the new lineup is in UK stores at a price-bracket that materially undercuts Philips Hue, Aqara, and the rest of the established ecosystem.

This guide explains what IKEA’s new Matter range actually contains, which products are worth buying for UK homes, where IKEA still falls short of dedicated smart-home brands, and how the new IKEA hub (DIRIGERA) compares to the old TRÅDFRI Gateway that early adopters might still be running. If you’re considering an IKEA-based smart home setup in 2026, this is the piece that tells you what’s actually different now.

Quick Verdict: Should UK Buyers Choose IKEA in 2026?

For most UK households starting a smart home setup on a budget, IKEA’s 2026 Matter range is now the most credible mass-market alternative to Philips Hue and TP-Link Tapo — provided you accept three things: (1) IKEA’s app polish remains a half-step behind Hue’s; (2) IKEA’s product depth is still narrower than Hue’s specialty lighting (no light strips with the Hue Sync TV box, no Hue White Ambiance pendant equivalents yet); and (3) you’ll buy a DIRIGERA hub (around £55) to get full Matter functionality, even though some products work directly on Wi-Fi or Thread without it.

The headline win is value. A starter smart-lighting setup with three IKEA E27 colour bulbs plus a DIRIGERA hub costs roughly £90. The closest Hue equivalent (three E27 White and Color Ambiance bulbs plus a Hue Bridge) is £180-£220. For a kitchen, hallway, and living room, IKEA delivers half the price for 90% of the experience — and now with full Matter support, the bulbs aren’t locked into IKEA’s app.

What’s Actually New: The 21-Product Matter Range

The relaunched IKEA Home smart range, available in UK stores from late 2025 through April 2026, covers six categories. Not every product reaches every UK store on the same day; smaller IKEAs lag the Wembley/Greenwich/Manchester flagships by two to four weeks, and online availability via ikea.com/gb tracks the flagships.

1. Smart Lighting

The largest category. IKEA’s Matter-compatible bulbs cover the standard UK fittings (E14 candle, E27 standard, GU10 spot, B22 bayonet) at three light qualities: warm-only, white-spectrum, and full RGB colour. Pricing is in the £6-£15 per bulb range, which is roughly half what Hue charges for equivalent specifications. The ring-shaped VARMBLIXT Smart Donut Lamp (frosted glass, 12 colour tones via included remote, £55) and the Smart Pendant (light-tube design with adjustable white, around £75) are the two flagship statement pieces launching specifically for April 2026.

2. Cabinet and Under-Cabinet Lighting

New Matter-compatible drivers replace IKEA’s older proprietary cabinet-lighting system. The wins here are real: kitchen under-cabinet strips that can be controlled via Apple Home, Google Home, or Alexa without an IKEA-only app, and which can be incorporated into automations alongside non-IKEA devices. Replacement drivers run around £25 for households already using IKEA SEKTION or METOD kitchens.

3. Air Quality Monitors and Air Purifiers

The updated air-quality lineup includes a refreshed VINDSTYRKA air-quality monitor (PM2.5, humidity, temperature; around £55) and revisions to the STARKVIND air purifier line, both now Matter-compatible. SHUK’s air quality monitors UK guide covers how the IKEA option compares to dedicated devices like the Aranet4 and Awair Element.

4. Motorised Window Coverings

The FYRTUR blackout blinds and KADRILJ light-filtering blinds get Matter-compatible motors as part of the relaunch. UK pricing is in the £75-£140 band depending on size, which sits well below Velux Active and IKEA’s main competitor in this space, Aqara’s roller shade motors. We cover the wider category in our smart blinds UK guide.

5. Smart Plugs and Outlets

The TRÅDFRI smart plug is updated to a Matter-over-Thread version called the SUNDDOFT, with an indoor-rated form factor and per-outlet power monitoring. Pricing around £15. IKEA does not yet sell an outdoor-rated smart plug in the UK; for outdoor use, Tapo’s IP65 plugs remain the better option.

6. Audio

The SYMFONISK collaboration with Sonos is positioned as IKEA’s audio play. The Matter-compatible refresh adds AirPlay 2 and improved Spotify Connect routing, with prices starting around £90 for the bookshelf speaker. Audio is a category where dedicated brands (Sonos itself, the new Echo Studio) genuinely outperform IKEA, but for budget-conscious households building a smart home end-to-end with one shopping trip, SYMFONISK is the path of least resistance.

The IKEA Hub: TRÅDFRI vs DIRIGERA

If you bought into IKEA’s smart home before 2022, you have a TRÅDFRI Gateway — a small white square that IKEA still supports for legacy products but which is not the path forward. Since 2022 the replacement has been DIRIGERA, a slightly larger hub that IKEA is now positioning as the central Matter controller for the whole range.

The migration question for existing UK TRÅDFRI users in 2026: do you upgrade to DIRIGERA? Our honest take is yes if any of the following apply:

You want to use Matter-only IKEA products (most of the 21 new launches require DIRIGERA).
You’re frustrated by TRÅDFRI’s reliability or app responsiveness, both of which DIRIGERA materially improves.
You’re integrating IKEA with non-IKEA devices via Apple Home, Google Home, or SmartThings — DIRIGERA exposes IKEA devices over Matter, TRÅDFRI does not.

The migration itself is straightforward: install the IKEA Home smart app, add the new DIRIGERA hub, and follow the migration prompt to import existing TRÅDFRI device pairings. Realistic time budget: 30-45 minutes for a medium setup, longer if your device count is in the 30+ range.

How IKEA Compares to the UK Smart Home Establishment

The most useful way to think about IKEA’s 2026 range is as a value-tier ecosystem in the same conversation as Hue, Tapo, and Aqara — not as a category leader anywhere, but as a defensible default if budget is the primary constraint.

Category	IKEA	Best Alternative
Coloured smart bulbs	£9-£15 per bulb, Matter, decent colour	Philips Hue (more colour accuracy, deeper integration ecosystem) at £25-£50 per bulb
Hub	DIRIGERA £55	Hue Bridge £50, Aqara M3 £120, Apple TV/HomePod (free with hardware)
Smart plugs	SUNDDOFT £15, indoor only	Tapo P125M £13 indoor, Tapo P115 outdoor IP65 £20
Motorised blinds	FYRTUR/KADRILJ £75-£140	Aqara Roller Shade £130-£180, IKEA edges on price; SwitchBot Blind Tilt for retrofitting existing blinds
Air quality	VINDSTYRKA £55	Aranet4 £180 (CO2-focused), Awair Element £200
Audio	SYMFONISK £90+	Sonos One SL £180, Echo Show 8 £130

UK-Specific Considerations Before You Buy

UK Plug Variants and Power Standards

Every IKEA product sold in UK stores ships with the BS1363 (UK three-pin) plug or has a BS1363-compatible power supply included. There is no need to import European-spec adapters or re-wire anything. The exception, oddly, is the SYMFONISK speaker line, where the early models shipped Schuko-only in some EU countries — UK stock has always been BS1363-correct. Check the box if buying second-hand from a non-UK seller.

UK Wi-Fi and Thread Reception

Most of the new IKEA Matter range uses Thread (not Wi-Fi) for low-power devices like bulbs and plugs. Thread mesh is more reliable than 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi in older UK housing because Thread devices act as repeaters for each other — every mains-powered IKEA Matter bulb in your home extends the mesh. For Victorian and Edwardian terraces with thick brick walls (a common UK Wi-Fi pain point), this is a genuine advantage over Wi-Fi-only systems like older Tapo bulbs. Battery-powered IKEA devices (sensors, remotes) are Thread “minimal end devices” and don’t repeat the mesh.

UK Stock Availability and Click-and-Collect

IKEA UK runs the Matter range across all flagship stores (Wembley, Greenwich, Manchester, Edinburgh, Cardiff) and has reliable click-and-collect from late 2025. Smaller IKEAs (Tottenham, Reading, Lakeside) carry a subset of the lineup. Online stock at ikea.com/gb is the most reliable indicator of UK availability; manufacturer-direct from IKEA usually beats Amazon UK on price for IKEA-branded devices because Amazon UK doesn’t list most IKEA products at all.

Apple Home, Google Home, and Alexa Compatibility

This is the big change with the 2026 Matter relaunch. Every Matter-certified IKEA device works natively with Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa, and SmartThings via the DIRIGERA hub’s Matter bridge function. You don’t need to use IKEA’s own Home smart app for daily control if you don’t want to; you can add the device to Apple Home or Google Home and that becomes your primary controller. The IKEA app remains useful for firmware updates and IKEA-specific automation features (sunrise wake-up, etc.), but it’s no longer mandatory.

Setup 1: Lighting-Only IKEA Starter (Budget: £90)

DIRIGERA hub (£55) + three TRADFRI E27 colour bulbs at £12 each (£36 total) — total £91. Ideal first project: kitchen, hallway, living-room main light. Add an IKEA wireless dimmer remote for £13 and you have a complete starter without ever opening the app.

Setup 2: Whole-Room Living Room (Budget: £180-£220)

DIRIGERA hub + four colour bulbs (two E27, two GU10) + one VARMBLIXT Smart Donut Lamp + one IKEA SUNDDOFT smart plug (for the Christmas tree, the floor fan, or the slow cooker). Adds a focal accent piece (the Donut Lamp) and one always-useful smart plug to the lighting baseline.

Setup 3: IKEA Whole-Home with Air and Window Coverings (Budget: £500-£700)

Setup 2 plus a VINDSTYRKA air-quality monitor for the living room, a STARKVIND air purifier for a bedroom, a FYRTUR blackout blind for the master bedroom, and motor-replacement drivers for existing IKEA SEKTION kitchen cabinet lighting. This is the level at which IKEA genuinely competes with whole-home Hue setups for less money — though Hue would offer more refined colour rendering on the lighting side.

What’s Still Missing from IKEA’s Smart Home Range

To be honest, three things IKEA still doesn’t offer well in 2026:

Cameras. IKEA does not sell smart security cameras or video doorbells in the UK. For these, see our smart security cameras UK guide and video doorbell guide.
Smart locks. IKEA does not sell a proper smart door lock for UK doors. Yale, Aqara, and Nuki are the better options, covered in our smart door locks UK guide.
Heating control. IKEA does not sell a smart thermostat or smart radiator valves for UK boilers. Drayton Wiser, tado°, and Hive remain the choices here, covered in our smart thermostats UK guide.

For those three categories, you’ll mix non-IKEA brands with the IKEA Matter ecosystem — which is exactly what Matter is designed to enable.

Frequently Asked Questions: IKEA Smart Home in the UK

Does IKEA smart home work with Apple HomeKit / Apple Home in the UK?

Yes, fully, as of the 2026 Matter relaunch. IKEA’s DIRIGERA hub exposes paired IKEA devices over Matter to Apple Home (the renamed HomeKit app), Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Samsung SmartThings. To pair: open the Apple Home app, tap “Add Accessory,” scan the Matter pairing code printed on the DIRIGERA hub, and Apple Home will discover all your IKEA devices in one go. The TRÅDFRI Gateway (the older, pre-2022 IKEA hub) does not expose Matter, which is one of the reasons we recommend upgrading to DIRIGERA.

What is the difference between IKEA TRÅDFRI and DIRIGERA?

TRÅDFRI (the original IKEA smart home hub, launched 2017) uses Zigbee for device communication and does not natively support Matter. DIRIGERA (launched 2022) is the replacement hub: it speaks Zigbee for backwards compatibility with the original TRÅDFRI device range, but also speaks Thread and bridges everything to Matter. If you’re starting fresh in 2026, you want DIRIGERA. If you have an existing TRÅDFRI setup, IKEA’s app provides a guided migration that imports your old TRÅDFRI device pairings into a new DIRIGERA hub.

Can I use IKEA smart bulbs without the hub?

It depends on the bulb generation. The newer Matter-over-Thread bulbs (post-2025) can be paired directly to Apple Home, Google Home, or Alexa via Matter using a Thread border router (an Apple TV 4K, HomePod mini, or Google Nest Hub 2nd gen all work) — no IKEA hub required. The older Zigbee TRÅDFRI bulbs need either a TRÅDFRI Gateway, a DIRIGERA hub, or a third-party Zigbee hub like Aqara M3 or Home Assistant with a Zigbee dongle. The simpler answer for new buyers: yes, you can skip the IKEA hub entirely if your home already has a Matter-capable Thread border router.

Are IKEA Matter devices a good budget alternative to Philips Hue?

For most UK households on a budget, yes. The 2026 IKEA Matter range delivers around 80-90% of Hue’s experience at roughly half the price for the same configuration. Hue still wins on three things: colour accuracy and subtle warm-white rendering at low brightness; deeper integration features like Hue Sync for TV-following accent lighting; and accessory ecosystem (motion sensors, dimmers, third-party apps). If those things matter to you, pay the Hue premium. If you want reliable, well-priced smart lighting that integrates cleanly with Apple Home or Google Home through Matter, IKEA’s range is genuinely the best-value choice in the UK in 2026.

Is the DIRIGERA hub better than the older TRÅDFRI Gateway?

Yes, on every dimension that matters in 2026. DIRIGERA has more reliable mesh handling, faster response time, full Matter exposure to other ecosystems, official Thread border-router function for low-power devices, and a more polished setup experience. The TRÅDFRI Gateway works but has not received feature updates for some years, and its app polish reflects the 2017 launch era. For roughly £55 in 2026, DIRIGERA is the right buy for both new IKEA smart home users and anyone with a working TRÅDFRI setup who wants Matter integration.

Where should I actually buy IKEA smart home products in the UK?

Best path is direct from IKEA, either online at ikea.com/gb with home delivery (free over £40 for most areas) or click-and-collect from a UK store. Amazon UK does not list most IKEA-branded products. Some third-party sellers on eBay UK and Facebook Marketplace offer second-hand IKEA hubs and bulbs at modest savings; these are generally fine for compatible older Zigbee TRÅDFRI devices but for the new Matter-over-Thread range, buy new from IKEA so you’re certain about firmware version and Matter certification.

What Is Matter? The Smart Home Standard Explained — pillar guide on the protocol IKEA is now built around
Zigbee vs Matter UK 2026 — comparison of the two protocols IKEA’s range straddles
Best Smart Lighting System UK 2026 — Hue vs LIFX vs Tapo vs IKEA
Smart Blinds UK 2026: Motorised Guide — covers IKEA FYRTUR/KADRILJ alongside SwitchBot, Aqara
Best Air Quality Monitors UK 2026 — IKEA VINDSTYRKA in context
Best Smart Home System for Alexa UK 2026 — including IKEA-Alexa integration paths

Smart Home UK Team - UK smart home enthusiasts who test, review and compare products. Independent. Honest. No sponsored placements.