# Starfish Smart Lighting — user reviews > 31 indexed App Store user reviews of Starfish Smart Lighting by Satco Products, INC, rated 4.70/5 from 1,001 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/starfish-smart-lighting/id1507949233/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/starfish-smart-lighting/id1507949233.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 828 · 4★ 113 · 3★ 28 · 2★ 7 · 1★ 25 ## What do users think of Starfish Smart Lighting? Overall sentiment: negative **Pros** - 🚀 Easy to use - 👍 Great app and products - 👍 Awesome features - 👍 Bright and functional lights - 👍 Affordable and best in the market - 👍 Works with Siri Shortcuts - 👍 Controllable with Google or Alexa **Cons** - 🐛 Difficult to connect and setup - 🐛 Frequent disconnections and crashes - 🐛 Not intuitive or user-friendly - 🐛 Missing key features like color control - 🐛 Compatibility issues with iOS 16 - 🔒 Privacy concerns with location tracking - 🐛 Unreliable performance with larger setups **Commonly reported bugs** - Lights turning on unexpectedly after power outages - Inconsistent color settings after turning lights on/off - App freezing and unresponsive - Inability to connect new devices after router upgrade **Most requested features** - Localized sunset/sunrise support for scheduling - Native HomeKit support - Improved documentation and app localization - Better power outage handling ## Newest reviews (10 of 31) ### 3/5 — Power Outage Flaw *2024-06-22* I have smart bulbs in my two beside lamps. Every time there is a power outage and then power is restored the bulbs turn on. So if the power goes out and is restored at 3am the beside lamps are on at 3am. Why is there not a feature to prevent this? ### 2/5 — This app will fight you every step of the way *2023-05-27, version 1.0.8* Not really intuitive to use. Devices constantly disconnect when other IoT devices are stable. Devices come and go. It’s worse than Lightify and they killed Lightify. The app freezes constantly, controls and interface are from the 2010s. I can’t recommend unless you’re going small scale like 2-5 lights, any higher and it’ll give you grief. I went with 16, I don’t think the app can scale that high. Lights are all within line of sight of WiFi AP about 8-10ft away, and strictly running 2.4ghz. Turned off 5Ghz just to give the devices the best possible chance of working. I think I might have better results if I used a pre-802.11ac WiFi access point from before 2014. I don’t have one but if you do, that could be the solution to make their devices stable. ### 2/5 — Amazon compatibility *2023-02-19, version 1.0.7* Compatibility with Alexa is behind other lighting systems. ### 4/5 — I love what this product does!! *2023-01-03* I have several Starfish lights in several rooms of my house! They are great once you get them linked. The problem is linking them for the first time. You have to link your phone to the light bulb using the starfish software. It sometimes takes several tries to link everything properly. I will buy more, I just hope it gets easier to link them!! ### 4/5 — Remote Lights *2022-12-02, version 1.0.7* I was able to add to Google home and my iPhone Being able to turn on before arriving home is worth the investment! The user interface is well designed! Thank You! ### 3/5 — Not very friendly *2022-05-06* Linked to google account is a bit tricky…. ### 4/5 — Starlite bulb hard to connect in my opinion. *2022-01-29* Hard to connect to ### 3/5 — The app is good *2021-03-24* The app itself is fine. But it’s so hard to connect. It took me hours to connect it. Same your money. ### 5/5 — Color lamps make great effects in the home! *2020-11-07* I love the RBG lamps! They create fun ambiance’s to your home! They are super easy to pair to my smart devices and the app is easy to navigate. Highly recommend! ### 5/5 — Easy to use *2020-11-02* This app and lamps are easy to use and easy to set up right out of the box. I love the color changing ability but also the tuneable white white features but my favorite feature has to be the colors changing to music! Genius! ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Garbage *2026-07-23* The systems they have in place are in no way user friendly. It’s just a lightbulb it doesn’t need to be this complicated and the directions they give are very poorly written, Don’t buy these pointless lights with a trash design.! Ps, the standard light is an ugly white ### 1/5 — Stopped working *2025-03-10, version 1.1.0* All of a sudden two out of my four Satco S11283 R20 lightbulbs in my bedroom have stopped connecting. I disconnected and tried to re-pair, and now none of them will connect. Completely useless. ### 1/5 — Difficult to use and missing major functions *2024-09-02, version 1.0.9* This app is very difficult to use and not at all intuitive, try creating a scene! It is also missing some basic functionality, such as setting the color for the lighting in an automation. I also think there is a bug in that when I turn the lights on, I set it to what I thought would have been the color it was when I turned them off, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I have the undercabinet lighting. Lastly, the literature that I found on YouTube and received from the manufacturer doesn’t match this interface, and nowhere can I find what the do not disturb feature is. ### 1/5 — Apple *2024-07-30* Not able to sign up? Such a disappointment . ### 1/5 — Terrible App *2023-05-28* This app is incredibly clunky and not user-friendly at all…Why do I have enter in my Wi-Fi password EVERY time I try to add a device to my home network? I should be able to enter the password one time and have the app smart enough to know that when I add a device to my HOME, that it’s the same network. Now, since upgrading our router, I can no longer connect any of the devices. The lights flash as they should, but the connection just times out without finding any devices at all. The bulbs are now entirely useless. Will be replacing everything. ### 1/5 — Slow, frequent crashes, and limited customization *2022-12-13* Been using for about two months to control 50+ lights and plugs in three homes. Quite disappointed in the connectivity and reliability of the app. ### 1/5 — Does not work with ios16 *2022-11-04, version 1.0.6* Can’t sync up new bulbs and the existing ones don’t respond to the app with iOS 16. Huge bummer ### 1/5 — Impossible to setup without intruding privacy *2022-10-15* Why the app needs my exact location to set up? The developers should be ashamed of themselves for forcing people to provide their private information like location and email. They make money by reselling the information. Throwing the lamp in the garbage now as I don’t trust the company ### 1/5 — What happened to Siri Integration? *2022-07-03* The product documentation clearly states that the Satco Starfish products can be controlled via Siri Shortcuts. But the Satco products cannot be controlled via Siri. Or at least I can’t find a way to do it. The documentation is horrendous (better stated: completely inaccurate for switches and dimmers) and language in the app was clearly written by a non-native English speaker. Satco: properly represent your products, and spend a little money on properly localizing your documentation and apps. ### 1/5 — Such a waste of money *2021-02-20, version 1.0.3* I am so mad I thought I was going to get a color changing light but it does not work at all ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Great app! Need a new feature *2023-12-12* Love this app! But would like to see a feature added for automation that the hue app has. The issue: Scheduled triggers mean lights do not turn off/on based on ambient light outside. Feature Request: Please add localized “sunset” or “sunrise” support for scheduled triggers. ### 5/5 — El vigilante *2023-10-15, version 1.0.8* Siempre me lleva al día de todo lo que esta cerca de mi casa ### 5/5 — Love Starfish *2023-07-24* I love being able to control my lights with an app. I don’t have to shut off lights when I leave the house, I can shut them off after I leave. I like being able to turn them on before entering the house. Completely satisfied with this product ### 5/5 — I am a waffle *2022-12-08* I am very impressed. There is a learning curve the first time you set up. You MUST use a 2g Wi-Fi. It will not work with 5g Wi-Fi. It does work with IOS 16 after an update. To use Siri it must be programmed. You set up a scene, then add it to Siri, and you can call it whatever you want. Example: “Hey Siri, party mode.” Or “Hey Siri, Lights out, down goes Fraiser.” The lights in white mode are plenty bright, but in color mode they are fairly low lumen. They seem to handle extremes in temperature well. I have had two on my porch for a year, and winter and summer they function without issue. -20°F to 102°F I also have some in ceiling fans, they are also working well. I have the plug in switch. It works great to control my window unit AC, so it can handle reasonably high loads. ### 5/5 — Awesome *2022-08-31* Buy them! ### 5/5 — I really enjoyed it *2022-01-11* It was well worth the money. I love how much power I have over the vibe of my room. It’s such a daily thing for me now. I change my light for when I have my morning coffee and read or when I fall asleep to red light with a freaking timer! ### 5/5 — Great lights. Works with Siri Shortcuts. *2021-11-13* I have two pairs of 12 set string lights which I have connected together for a total of 24 lights strung together. They are working great outside on my porch. The color options, automation (such as going on/off around sunset and sunrise), and durability all seem great. After setting up an account on the app by added automation was Siri shortcuts. I got it set up on each of my family members phones as well so that they can also use Siri shortcuts to work with the lights. I would love it with native HomeKit support but the quality and Siri shortcut integration makes these excellent even without that! ### 5/5 — Great products *2020-12-19, version 1.0.2* Love this app and the Starfish products. So simple to setup and use. ### 5/5 — WOW *2020-12-18* Incredibly easy to use. I jUst had to make sure I was on the correct router setting and worked like a charm. Bright, functional, affordable and best I have seen. ### 5/5 — Smart lighting *2020-11-10* Easy to use and controllable with Google or Alexa. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-10.*