The Best Smart Christmas Lights

The icicle style is great for hanging from gutters and can run along your upper and lower roofline (if you have the right kind of house). Different lengths of LEDs dangle from the clear main string to create an icicle effect. These lights are just as easy to use as Twinkly's String Lights. However, you need to map them out in your space using your camera via the app, so it might be tricky to get them all in a single frame, depending on where you place them. The lights come in a few different color sets, like multicolor and white ($110), gold and silver ($86), and multicolor ($110), without any plain white options. Each set is 12 feet long. The price varies by set, but I recommend the multicolor and white option if you think you'll want a shade of white at any point. Without the white option, you'll have to try to find the perfect shade of orange and yellow to replicate a nice white Christmas-light shade. —Nena Farrell

★ A longer option: Govee's Icicle Lights ($270) are more of a splurge, but I like the way these look and they are IP65 rated, support Matter, work with many effects in the feature-packed Govee app, and are customizable. I tested the 66-foot lights (which are made up of two strings with the power splitter in the middle), but there’s a 33-foot version for $150.

If budget is top of mind, Govee's lights are often the best value in smart lighting. Its Christmas lights are easy to install thanks to the large spool the lights are wrapped around, so no worrying about tangled cords as you set up the tree. The Govee app has a lot of scenes to choose from, and there are plenty of color choices you can cycle through to customize the tree.

I set them up around my small tree, and while the 66-foot length was much too long, you're able to control the cord in segments, so I was able to switch off the parts of the lights I wasn't using. Govee's string lights have an IP65 waterproof rating and can be used outside, though I only tested them on my tree indoors. There's a built-in mic to detect music, allowing the lights to sync up to tunes, and the Govee app works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant for smart home control. The only downside is that the cord is a bright silver, so it was easy to notice on the tree. But if that goes with your aesthetic, then it's not an issue. —Simon Hill

★ Matter support on a budget: If you like controlling your smart home over Matter, the new Govee Christmas String Lights 2 ($100) are a little more expensive, but add Matter support for broad compatibility and the option to map your layout, which makes it easier to create cool effects, and the cable is now translucent. The String Lights 2 are available in 66-foot, 99-foot, 164-foot, and 328-foot lengths.

Sick of climbing that ladder every year to put your lights up? Consider a permanent set of outdoor smart lights. This weatherproof model from Govee scores an IP67 rating (IP65 for the control box) and can handle temperatures of –4 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. They are designed to be up year-round. I tested the 100-foot string (200-foot is also an option), which comes divided into six sections, with an extension cord to branch from the lower level to your roof line. Each bulb is around an inch and a half square and juts out an inch. A flat cable joins them together at 18-inch intervals. Installation was fairly easy for the most part, with the adhesive sticking well to the plastic underhang of my home. I used the supplied screw clips to tidy up some cables and fix them more securely. You can cut them, and connectors are included, but this task is not for the faint of heart.

Govee offers everything but the kitchen sink in its busy companion app. You can set colors in zones (two per section), tweak the color temperature, and choose from a frankly bewildering array of lighting effects, called Scenes. Christmas is well represented in the Festival section of the Scenes, but there are also some nice effects in there for other holidays like Halloween. Depending on your home, they can serve as feature lights. The white looks quite classy, and they can get pretty bright (up to 50 lumens a bulb). There is Matter support for easy setup, and you can use voice commands with Alexa or Google Assistant.

If you already have other Govee lights, you will enjoy the ability to group them for shared effects, and you can schedule them, create effects, and even sync them to music or sound, though this feels gimmicky. They seem pricey until you compare them to other permanent lighting. If you don’t have much of an overhang, the lights will cast shadows and make shapes on the wall (Govee suggests installing 1 to 3 inches out, and I would recommend further if you can). My house is fairly small, so I only needed four sections. I wish the lights were closer together, and a little more subtle. If visible bulbs and cables annoy you, these aren’t for you. —Simon Hill