
You can even activate special lighting effects on the via the EVE app if you so desire, to take advantage of the fully-addressable nature of the strip. No problem, you can do that too! It’s as straightforward as hooking up an ESP8266 to some WS2812B LED strip and flashing the right firmware that emulates an Elgato EVE LED strip. Let’s say you’re a real fancy-pants, though, and you want RGB-addressable LEDs for your HomeKit setup. The code loaded onto the ESP8266 is simple, and allows it to connect to Wi-Fi and link up with Apple HomeKit for control. It’s paired with a simple relay for switching a single-color LED strip on and off, and an MP2307 buck converter for power. It’s a cut-down board that only has two GPIO pins available, but for this job, that’s enough. This simple build uses an ESP8266-01S as the brains of the operation. However, if you want some smart lighting that works in that ecosystem without breaking the bank, you can always build your own!

As you’ve probably noticed, cheaper smart lights and the like typically don’t offer connectivity with Apple’s HomeKit system.

Google, Amazon and Apple are all duking it out for supremacy in the smart home space.
