Nanoleaf, a pioneer in smart home technology, leads the way in smart lighting. With a global presence in over 100 countries and 200+ retailers, and 18 design and utility patents, Nanoleaf continuously innovates to provide delightful experiences. Their products are controlled via the Nanoleaf app, boasting 1M+ users and 500K+ Play Store downloads.
Google's new Home APIs harness the power of Google Home's 1P device signals and intelligent automation. The APIs enable developers to integrate automation routines directly into their own apps, unlocking richer and more context-aware experiences across 600M devices.
Google Home and Nanoleaf joined forces to leverage the Home APIs to enhance the user experience for one of Nanoleaf's key products.
The Challenge
Nanoleaf's popular 4D Screen Mirror device enables users to sync the colors on their TV to surrounding Nanoleaf lights - adding vibrant and dynamic backlighting to their favorite shows, movies, and video games. Once activated, Nanoleaf 4D provides users with a magical and uniquely immersive smart home entertainment experience. However, the experience was limited by two key factors:
Tedious setup: The key challenge was the friction of setting up the perfect movie night atmosphere. When a user wanted to activate or deactivate Screen Mirroring on the device, they needed to begin playback on their Smart TV or Chromecast and then navigate to the Nanoleaf app or press the "On/Off" button on the device itself.
Lack of voice control and no smart home integration: Moreover, when a user watched content, quite often they'd like to do so without the sun shining through the window! With no connection between a user's smart blinds and Nanoleaf 4D, a user needed to manually close the blinds before watching content. And with no voice control, all these steps added to greater friction.
What Nanoleaf Did
With the Automation API (part of the Home APIs), Nanoleaf transformed this multi-step process into a single, seamless "Movie Night" routine. Now, users can simply say "Hey Google, Movie Night" or begin playback on their Smart TV or Chromecast to automatically trigger the entire sequence.
The Nanoleaf 4D activates, including the smart blinds (just one example of tens of device types from thousands of brands now accessible via the Home APIs), and adjusts to create the perfect cinematic atmosphere. Lastly, when media playback stops, the Nanoleaf 4D device turns off, deactivating Screen Mirroring.
To start their journey with the Home APIs, Nanoleaf wanted to choose the right product and pair it with the right use cases from the Home APIs. And since Nanoleaf specializes in entertainment and Matter lights, they decided to go with Nanoleaf 4D.
Nanoleaf reported that the Home APIs were simple to implement, as the APIs primarily utilized Flows - familiar to any Android developer. With the Nanoleaf app largely using Flows as well, this made the integration that much easier. The Home APIs also had a well-defined structure and clear documentation, making it easy to understand and integrate.
Nanoleaf also utilized Google Home's documentation on various Matter traits, device types, and example automations and command calls to the devices. The online Script Editor was beneficial in the early stages of development as well to test automation ideas.
Google is taking a significant leap forward in empowering companies like
Nanoleaf to deliver innovative experiences faster and more reliably - and we've
been thrilled to leverage Google Home Automation API to enable an immersive
Nanoleaf 4D entertainment experience. We're excited to explore other
opportunities to leverage Home APIs to create even more groundbreaking solutions
for our users such as using Sense+ Smart Wireless Switch with Home APIs to
unlock further experiences in Home Automations.
Gimmy Chu, CEO of Nanoleaf
Results
The integration of Google Home APIs in the Nanoleaf app has already begun to transform the user experience - starting with Nanoleaf 4D owners.
Creating automated cinematic experiences with Nanoleaf 4D has become more intuitive and effortless. While it's still early (this feature is currently only available on Android), the Home APIs have enabled Nanoleaf's product team to ideate on previously unattainable solutions, paving the way for future app and feature updates.
Effortless Automation: The updated app allows for intuitive creation of automated cinematic experiences with Nanoleaf 4D, enhancing the user's smart home entertainment.
Unlocking Future Innovation: Home APIs have allowed Nanoleaf's product team to develop solutions and use cases that were previously unattainable, paving the way for exciting future updates. These could include integrating additional device types into future "cinematic" automations - or new automations altogether!
Ready to create immersive experiences like Nanoleaf? Start building with the Google Home APIs today!