Philips Illuminate vs LightShow®SmartLights
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Philips Illuminate
Control and customize your smart lighting system from your phone or tablet. Adjust colors, brightness, and functions, or synchronize lights to music. Network multiple kits for a larger, coordinated light display.
- Customizable lighting control
- Color and brightness adjustment
- Music synchronization
- Create custom light functions
- Network multiple light kits
- Continuous Motion technology
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Create your own light show using the Illuminate™ customizable lighting system. Control your lights from your smart phone or tablet using the Illuminate™ app. The easy to use app allows you to adjust the color, brightness or function of your Illuminate™ lights. Synchronize your lights to music or make your own customized light show. For a more robust display, network several starter kits together and use add on sets. The Illuminate™ starter kit includes one control box and one 25 light string. Connect up to 12 Illuminate™ lights strings (300 lights) to one control box for a fully synchronized light show using the Illuminate™ add on light sets. Only Illuminate™ features Continuous Motion™ technology, ensuring that the functions will travel through the length of all connected strings, keeping your light show perfectly coordinated. Customize your light show: • Choose a color from color wheel or select preset buttons for warm white, cool white or multi lights. • Make colors brighter or dimmer. • Choose from 21 pre made functions for a variety of effects, or create your own functions/colors. • Choose the speed of the function. • Select music from your own device and the lights automatically flash and change colors. Network your light sets: • Using your home WiFi router, network several starter kits together to create a whole house light show. • Each starter kit can be set for a different effect, or set your entire light display to one function. • Continuous Motion™ technology synchronizes colors and functions throughout all connected light strings.
LightShow®SmartLights
Control your holiday light displays directly from your smartphone. This app allows you to customize effects, colors, and themes for your lighting products, making holiday decorating easy and personalized.
- Smartphone control
- Dozens of effects and colors
- Multiple holiday themes
- Customizable lighting options
- Easy setup and management
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Put on a dazzling holiday light display–and control it all from your smartphone. The SmartLights® app works exclusively with SmartLights® holiday lighting products to control dozens of effects and colors directly from your smartphone. It’s super easy to set up and manage. Choose from multiple holiday themes, lighting technologies and color options for each lighting product. Perfect for outdoor or indoor holiday decorating, SmartLights® delivers the latest in holiday decorating technology for a custom look that’s a breeze to manage.Please make the below changes to the pages on the app stores
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Philips Illuminate at 142 against LightShow®SmartLights's 4. LightShow®SmartLights's advantage is review sentiment (23% vs 9%). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 1.9 for Philips Illuminate against 2.0 for LightShow®SmartLights. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Philips Illuminate has 142 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 9% of Philips Illuminate's written reviews are positive against 23% of LightShow®SmartLights's.
Philips Illuminate ships an update every 3 months, LightShow®SmartLights every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Philips Illuminate | LightShow®SmartLights |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 1.9 (142 ratings) | 2.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 9.4% of reviews | 23.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 142 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 9.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 20 MB | 14 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Seasonal Specialties LLC | Gemmy Industries Corporation |
Customer experience
Philips Illuminate
LightShow®SmartLights
In-app purchases
Philips Illuminate
No in-app purchases
LightShow®SmartLights
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Philips Illuminate free?
Is LightShow®SmartLights free?
Which has better reviews, Philips Illuminate or LightShow®SmartLights?
Do Philips Illuminate or LightShow®SmartLights have ads?
Which is updated more often, Philips Illuminate or LightShow®SmartLights?
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