Ikea’s push to democratize the smart home continues with the launch of three new Zigbee sensors that won’t break the bank. There is a parasol, a door and window sensor; Vallhorn, motion sensor; and Badring, a water leak sensor. All will be priced under $10 when they go on sale worldwide in the first half of next year.
Parasoll is a typical window and door sensor that can be installed discretely to trigger automation when an open/close event is detected. It can also be connected directly to an Ikea light bulb right out of the box without having to purchase and configure the Ikea Home smart hub. It costs €9.99 in Europe, but exact US prices for it or any of Ikea’s three new sensors have yet to be confirmed.
The Vallhorn motion sensor can be used both indoors and outdoors (with IP44 splash protection from rain) to activate lights or other automation when motion is detected. It is powered by three AAA batteries and can be connected to directly control up to 10 Ikea smart bulbs right out of the box. It costs just €7.99 and can sense more rooms than Ikea’s existing $14.99 / €12.99 motion sensor, can be used in small but indoor spaces only, and requires more frequent replacement of its coin cell battery does.
The Badring water sensor includes a built-in siren (60dBA at 1m) that can alert you when it detects a leak. It can also trigger a mobile notification in the Ikea Home smart app for homes with an Ikea Dirigera hub ($69.99) installed. Sensors like these can save homeowners a ton of money before water leaks have a chance to do real damage. It will cost 9.99 euros.
Of the three, they are Parasoll and Badring sensors no Compatible with old Trådfri Home smart gateways from Ikea. All, of course, support the newer Dirigera hub, which fully integrates its sensors into Ikea’s growing range of smart home products and the Home smart app. The hub also allows Ikea’s devices to work with smart home ecosystems from Google, Amazon and Apple while at home or away.
Despite more than a year of Matter support, the company still doesn’t support it. Ikea plans to eventually enable Matter by turning on the Thread radio inside the Dirigera hub to eventually connect Ikea’s existing Zigbee-based devices to the next-generation smart home standard. in a comment sent to The Verge, Ikea digital product manager Jonas Söderqvist says the company has “decided to delay this feature” and will provide an update “when the time comes.” Given that Ikea’s products are already well integrated with other platforms, the ongoing delay is understandable, and the company is focused on keeping things as simple as possible for anyone who’s on a whim to get into a smart home while shopping for a new bookcase. And when you consider the hurdles required to make things work on Matter networks during this transitional period, Ikea’s delay is not justified.
Vallhorn will be available in select countries, including the US, starting in January 2024. The Parasol is launching internationally this month, but its US launch won’t happen until April. Badring is slated to hit retail in some countries in April, but won’t arrive in the U.S. until July. It’s confusing, but these tiered releases are a byproduct of Ikea’s franchise retail system.