Osram, the 100-plus-year-old German company behind the Lightify smart bulb brand, notified Lightify Home users this week that it will shut down the cloud servers for its smart lighting devices on August 31, 2021.
NOTE: The server shutdown does not affect Lightify Pro gateway users, as the Lightify Pro gateway does not utilize cloud servers for its functionality.
When the Lightify servers are switched off, most of the functionality of the Lightify Home app will stop working, including the ability to add new devices, create or modify lighting groups or scenes, set up timers and activate “vacation” mode.
You also won’t be able to control Lightify bulbs using Alexa or Google Assistant, Osram said.
The app will still be able to perform some basic local functions such as turning lights on and off, adjusting their brightness, and changing their colors.
The good news is that you’ll still be able to control Lightify devices if you switch from Lightify’s Zigbee-enabled gateway to a third-party Zigbee hub, such as Samsung SmartThings or Wink, although you’ll have to reset your Lightify bulbs first.
Once you add your Lightify devices to a new Zigbee hub, you should once again be able to add them to scenes, put them on schedules, and perform other smart control options.
On its website, Osram said that it’s switching off its Lightify servers because the service is “technically outdated,” with performance that’s “significantly slower” than competing lighting systems.
Another problem is that Lightify devices run only on the older Zigbee Light Link and Home Automation protocols rather than the newer Zigbee 3.0 standard, making it “more and more difficult to ensure compatibility to other smart home systems,” according to Osram.