Borealis

The Borealis app

The Borealis app does everything a smart home app can’t: scenes, music effects, the scene editor, auto-brightness and firmware updates. It’s free, has no account or sign-in, and talks to your lights directly on your Wi-Fi network.

The app is coming to the App Store and Google Play.

What you can do

Control your lights: power, brightness and colour, with your own colour presets.
Pick a scene: built-in animations and three music-reactive scenes that use Borealis’s microphone.
Make your own scenes: choose an effect, its colours and settings, and save up to ten on the controller. Effects added by firmware updates appear automatically.
Auto-brightness: turn it on, and draw how the panels should dim as the room gets darker.
Name your lights: the name is stored on the controller, so Home Assistant and other phones show it too.
Update the firmware: see the installed version and install new releases.
Set up new controllers over Bluetooth, without a smart home system.

What it needs

Your phone on the same Wi-Fi network as your Borealis.
Local network access on iPhone, and Bluetooth (Android calls it “Nearby devices”) when setting up a new controller. The app asks for each when it’s first needed.

The app finds your lights automatically and keeps looking while it’s open. If one doesn’t appear, check it’s powered and on the same network.

See the privacy policy for exactly what the app stores and sends: nothing about you leaves your phone.