LIFX vs SmartShaker+
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
LIFX
Control your smart lights with this app. Easily adjust brightness, color, and temperature. Automate schedules, create custom scenes, and explore fun lighting effects. Integrates with voice assistants and HomeKit for seamless control.
- Basic light control (on/off, dim, color, temperature)
- Group lights for easy management
- Automated schedules and scenes
- Special lighting effects (music visualizer, fire, etc.)
- Live color painting on compatible lights
- Custom color palettes
- HomeKit integration
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Like you, LIFX wants smarter light. This means we care about the way you control your smart lights, as much as we do about the lights themselves. We make it easy to get started with WiFi-enabled, bright, colorful smart lights that need no hub. Yep, you can start with just one device. LIFX App 4 can not only help give you the best start, but will turn your experience “up to 11”. Automate your wake up Schedule, or set up your movie-watching Scene (then set up voice control so you don’t even have to leave the sofa), or play with Effects next time you’re entertaining. Features. The LIFX app is packed full of features like: - The Basics: on/off, dim, change color, change white temperature. - Groups: control all lights in a group easily, including on/off and dimming with one touch from the Home Dashboard. - Group personalization: choose a LIFX illustration to suit or personalize Group cards with your own pictures. - Schedules: automate your lights to fade, change color, and turn on/off, all visible in an easy calendar-style view. - Effects: play with special effects like the music visualizer, fire, move, candle flicker, strobe, color cycle & more, all in one place. - Scenes: set your lighting just the way you like it and save it for later. - Themes: a library of one click color combinations for a Group, from ‘Proud’ to ‘Soothing’. - Paint: with your finger in the app, paint color live onto your LIFX Z, Beam, Tile and Candle. - Custom color palettes: add your favorite colors to a custom color palette. - Discover Tab: find How To guides, learn about integration partners, or shop for LIFX - and much more. Example uses from our customers: - Ambiance: schedule warmer light in the evening - to calm - and whiter light in the morning - to energize. - “Moccupancy”: set irregular schedules to make it seem like you’re home when you’re not. - Sleep: set your bedroom lights to deep red just before bed to produce more melatonin which helps you get better quality sleep. - Stay put: you’ve settled into the sofa for a streaming binge but left the lights on. No need to jump up to the switch, just ask your voice assistant. - Pet owners: if you're unexpectedly late home from work, turn the lights on for your dog from wherever you are. - Silent notifications: use partner apps to give you a light flash if… your car is arriving, or the forecast says it will rain, or you are mentioned on social media, and much more. HomeKit Best color-changing smart bulb for HomeKit cnet Pairing LIFX with Apple HomeKit is easy using the HomeKit onboarding QR code available in the product packaging. Stay in touch. Need a helping hand, or want to offer us some advice? We would love to hear from you about your LIFX experience. You can reach us at support@lifx.com. LIFX lights are available at lifx.com
SmartShaker+
Control smart devices like bed shakers and smart LED bulbs. Create custom wake-up scenes with light colors, brightness, and music. The bed shaker acts as a trigger to activate your personalized wake-up experience.
- Control SmartShaker/SmartShaker2
- Control Rainbow7 smart bulb
- Wake-up with vibration or melody
- Wake-up to music
- Set bulb color and brightness
- Define custom wake-up scenes
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* Please note that we are rebranding our app with new name "SmartShaker+" from " Somorio". SmartShaker+ is an application to control Smart devices by iLuv such as SmartShaker and Rainbow7 (sold separately). SmartShaker is a Wireless App-Enabled Bed Shaker. Rainbow7 is a Wireless App-Enabled multi-color Smart LED Light Bulb. SmartShaker+ application can be used to define a wake-up scene in which you can set bulb color, brightness and music on your phone to play. SmartShaker acts as a time trigger, and it sends a signal to SmartShaker+ app so that it can play the wake-up scene. Features * Full control of SmartShaker/SmartShaker2 * Full control of Rainbow7, a smart bulb * Wake-up to vibration or melody with SmartShaker * Wake-up to music and(or) smart bulb
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: LIFX at 3.7 against SmartShaker+'s 2.5. LIFX also leads on ratings volume (7.1K vs 56) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). SmartShaker+'s advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and iOS requirement (8.1 vs 18.0). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
LIFX holds the better App Store score, 3.7 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: LIFX has 7.1K ratings behind it against 56, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 18% and 19% positive.
LIFX ships an update fortnightly, SmartShaker+ every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | LIFX | SmartShaker+ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.7 (7.1K ratings) — better | 2.5 (56 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 18.2% of reviews | 19.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7.1K — better | 56 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 8.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 314 MB | 44 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | LIFX | iLuv-Creative Technology |
Customer experience
LIFX
SmartShaker+
User reviews
LIFX
From 7.1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🌟 Excellent color quality and brightness
- 🔍 Customizable lighting effects and scenes
- 🔌 Easy setup and connectivity
- 📱 Responsive and intuitive app
- 🤖 Good integration with smart home platforms
Room to improve
- 🐛 Connectivity issues and unreliable performance
- 🤯 Confusing and cluttered app UI
- 🔄 Frequent app and firmware updates breaking functionality
- 🤖 Poor integration with smart home platforms
- 🕰️ Scheduling and automation issues
SmartShaker+
From 56 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Works well for heavy sleepers
- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 👍 Wakes user without disturbing others
- 👍 Good concept for vibrating alarm
- 👍 Effective vibrations
Room to improve
- 🐛 Unreliable syncing
- 🐛 Frequent Bluetooth connectivity issues
- 🐛 App not updated for years
- 🐛 Device stops working after a short period
- 🐛 App crashes or doesn't open
Bugs and requests
LIFX
Reported bugs
5 issues- Lights randomly disconnecting from app
- Scenes and effects not working as expected
- Scheduling issues and lights not responding to timers
- Compatibility problems with newer iOS versions
- Frequent app crashes and freezes
Requested features
5 requests- More granular control over individual lights
- Improved scene and effect customization
- Better scheduling and automation options
- Seamless integration with smart home platforms
- Simplified onboarding and setup process
SmartShaker+
Reported bugs
22 issues- Syncing and Bluetooth connectivity is unreliable
- App not opening after update
- App crashes immediately
- Times and percentage of power not syncing
- Device not supported through Bluetooth on iPhone Pro
Show 17 moreShow fewer
- App not syncing with device
- App consistently fails to sync after reinstallation
- App not updated and out of date
- Trouble syncing, requires deleting and reinstalling app
- Device will never pair with the app
- SmartShaker2 won’t sync when alarm settings are changed
- App not supported by iPhone
- App will never let me sync to the actual device
- Sounds will not come out of Smartshaker 2 from an iOS device
- Cannot adjust vibration from the app
- App and alarm will not sync
- Cannot use two Smartshakers with the app
- App reverts vibration level to lowest setting
- App freezes on loading and is unresponsive
- Vibration strength on Smartshaker 2 doesn't stick
- App needs to sync with provider for location service to work
- App has bugs related to syncing and saving alarms
Requested features
8 requests- Add a timer function for naps
- Update app for location services
- Allow user to change snooze time
- Make alarm volume adjustable
- Support iOS 11 and newer iPhones
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Allow labeling of alarms
- Display alarms in chronological order
- Connect to more than one Smartshaker+
In-app purchases
LIFX
No in-app purchases
SmartShaker+
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is LIFX free?
Is SmartShaker+ free?
Which has better reviews, LIFX or SmartShaker+?
Do LIFX or SmartShaker+ have ads?
Which is updated more often, LIFX or SmartShaker+?
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