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Christmas is approaching and if you’re planning on updating your decorations, some new Christmas lights may be in order.

Smart lights can give you more colour options and more control (no more crawling around under the tree to find the switch). Plus, we’ve found some options for decorative smart lights that can stay up all year and don’t need to be packed away with the baubles and tinsel come January. Take a look at our round-up of the best smart lights for more ideas.

Following, we share our pick of the best smart Christmas lights available (sadly, none of them are able to untangle themselves yet).

Twinkly offers several smart light designs for Christmas – including an icicle design – but you can’t go wrong with the classic string of LED lights. 

Once wrapped around your tree, you’ll be able to connect the Twinkly app to scan the placement of the lights, and then control them. There are a number of preset designs to choose from, or you can create your own patterns and colours.

There are numerous lengths available, so choose wisely depending on the size of your tree – or, get a longer string to decorate an entire room. 

If you have more than one set of Twinkly lights, you can add them all to your home Wi-Fi and control each individually through the same app. You can also connect them to your Google Home device to control them using your voice.

The Twinkly String Lights start from £119.99 for 20 metres and go up in price depending on the length you choose. In the UK you can buy them from direct from Twinkly, John Lewis or from Festive Lights, while in the US they’re available from Amazon.

Brizled Christmas lights are also smart, but they work in a slightly different way to Twinkly’s. You can choose between cool white, warm white or multi coloured LEDs, and the connected app controls the brightness rather than the patterns or colours.

Things get more interesting when you discover the pulse and disco function of the app, which can coordinate the lights with the music you’re playing.

You can also connect the lights with up to five devices, meaning the whole group can control them, although we imagine this could become quite chaotic. But what’s more Christmassy than that?

Additionally, there’s a timer and schedule feature that means you can make sure your lights are already on when you arrive home and off when you go to sleep, for example.

The app isn’t quite as polished as Twinkly’s and the usage is a little more limited, but they are much cheaper at $25.99 for 200 lights. Sadly, they’re only available in the US right now, but there’s a big selection on Amazon.

Nanoleaf Shapes aren’t typically used for Christmas, but they are smart and they can be used to make your home feel festive if you select particularly warm and cosy colours, or a pattern such as the one shown here.

The Wi-Fi enabled wall-mounted lights can be used to create different patterns and sequences using the accompanying app.

You get four panels in the standard starter kit for £89.99, nine panels for £179.99 or 15 panels for £269.99, which you can control individually to determine the colour, brightness and the speed if you opt for a pulsing pattern.

We’ve included links to the triangular shapes but you can also opt for hexagons, although at £119.99 for four, they’re a little pricier.

In the US, your $199.99 will get you seven panels in the triangle or hexagonal shape.

Assembling the panels is easy – they just click together, and you add more with  three-panel expansion packs. They attach to the wall with double-sided tape, which is included in the pack.

Get a Nanoleaf Rhythm upgrade module (£34.99/ $44.99), and you can make your lights sync with music, so you can rock around the Christmas tree in style.

These are not a cheap option but they are usable all year round so you’ll get a lot of value from them and won’t have to pack them up come new year. 

Like the Nanoleaf, the LIFX LED strips aren’t designed with Christmas in mind, but they could be used to add some festive cheer to a room.

Each strip has eight colour zones, enabling you to change the overall theme using a selection of pre-set options in the connected app, or ‘paint’ your own colours if you want to make your own design.

These are bright lights with good colour reproduction – and they don’t require a hub.

Thanks to separate white LEDs, the strip also creates fantastic white light. You can choose from 2500-9000K, which is a huge range covering very warm white to cold bluish light.

The strips will adhere to most flat surfaces, are water resistant and bend vertically.

If you’re looking for something budget-friendly, colourful and easy-to-use that you can decorate a room with, look no further. The 12W RGBW LED smart strip from Hey! is excellent value and you don’t need a hub. Just download the free app and jump on your Wi-Fi.

It’s nicely packaged, and in the box, you’ll get a 5 metre LED strip, which can be stuck to most surfaces, and a power supply. It’s easy to set up (as long as you have a good Wi-Fi connection) and the simple app makes controlling your lights a doddle. It’s also compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant for voice control.

There are two lighting options: white and colour. Control the colour option with a touch wheel that allows you to choose from a spectrum of shades. You can also adjust the brightness and saturation for more or less subtle effects.

The white lighting option has a dimmer but there’s no way to change the warmth of the light, which is a relatively neutral white.

You can opt to adjust the lighting yourself or choose from one of the pre-set ‘scenes’ that cycle through colours. You can also create and save your own scenes.  

Hey! smart items are nicely boxed and come with an easy-to-follow start-up guide, making them nice gifts for the less technically proficient. Hey! products are only available in the UK for now.

Emma is Home Tech Editor at Tech Advisor. She covers everything from kitchen appliances to smart home devices, from floor care to personal care to air care technology. She’s particularly interested in environmentally conscious brands and products that save people time and money.