Skip to main content

Ikea still not ready to unroll its Fyrtur smart blind in the U.S.

What’s happening with Ikea’s Fyrtur smart blind? We’re not entirely sure.

The original launch date for the blackout shade came and went in April 2019 after the company said that during testing it found it could add additional functionality and needed more time to do so.

Related Videos

The second launch date — October 1 — has also passed without the blind appearing for sale on Ikea’s U.S. website or in its stores.

The company declined to give a reason for the latest delay, but told The Verge that the product will land in stores “later this year.” But going by its two missed launches, you shouldn’t build your hopes up.

It does seem odd, though, as the Fyrtur blind is already available across the pond on Ikea’s U.K. site. But U.S. consumers will have to wait longer. Or look elsewhere.

The Fyrtur blackout blind is part of IKEA’s new line of Tradfri smart home products, which also includes lights, motion sensors, and plugs.

‘Great for all generations’

For those not in the know, the elusive Fyrtur blind is powered by an integrated lithium-ion battery pack and controlled using the Tradfri smartphone app. In a rather awkward-sounding description on its website, Ikea touts the blind as being “convenient and great for all generations.”

As you’d expect, the Fyrtur can be set up to open and close at particular times, making it useful as a silent alarm with natural light filling the room each morning to ease you from your nightly slumber. It’ll also come in handy if you’re going away and want to present the illusion of an occupied home.

In the U.S., if and when it reaches stores, Ikea’s Fyrtur blackout blind is expected to go on sale for between $129 and $179, depending on the size.

Increased focus on the smart home

Ikea recently announced its intention to dive deeper into the smart home sector with the launch of a dedicated business unit, a move that represents its biggest commitment to a single product line since it introduced Children’s Ikea more than 20 years ago.

The Sweden-based company took its first serious step into the smart home market in 2015 with the launch of furniture that incorporated wireless charging technology for Qi-compatible smartphones.

It followed up with the launch of Tadfri smart lights and other related products, and just recently added Sonos-compatible Symfonisk wireless speakers to its range.

Editors' Recommendations

Vivint’s new updates make its smart home system even smarter
vivint doorbell outdoor camera pro updates  lifestyle 1

I've had a Vivint smart home for about 18 months, ever since reviewing the Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro and the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro. For the most part, I find them to be incredibly smart and useful. Plus, the integration with Google and Philips Hue in particular up the "whole-home smart home" game when I can unlock my front door and have my lights turn on. This week, Vivint announced updates to the Doorbell Pro and Outdoor Camera Pro, and it's great to see that "smart" extends to the company itself. Let's dive in.
On-device recording
Vivint upgraded all of its camera products -- the Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro, Outdoor Camera Pro, and Indoor Camera Pro -- in a pretty significant way. Vivint added on-device recording for 24/7 monitoring for up to 10 days. All that footage is stored on the device, which is significant in one keyway. The previous generation of the cameras streamed footage in real-time from the cameras to a separately purchased smart hard drive. From there, if you wanted to review the footage, it would stream back over Wi-Fi to Vivint's servers, and back to your phone.

Put simply, this can cause a significant hit on your home Wi-Fi's bandwidth. With the new cameras, the footage is stored on a secure SD card locally and only transmitted when it's being streamed or viewed. Meanwhile, onboard AI will continue generating smart clips detailing what happens (people, packages, etc). Plus, aside from freeing up bandwidth on your home network, local recording storage also works even when your Wi-Fi is down. All told, it's enough to get me pretty geeked, so I'll be excited to test these things out. That's the biggest news that covers all the devices, so let's get into each device in particular.
Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro

Read more
Is assemble-it-yourself smart tech the way of the future?
The Ikea Starkvind is a table and air purifier in one.

Ikea reached out a few weeks ago about the new Starkvind air purifier. Ikea's Tradfri line of smart home products offers affordable and readily available devices. Of course, I was interested. I waited, and then a box arrived on my doorstep -- unmarked, with no indication where it came from. I opened it up to find a lot of different pieces and an instruction book.

It was the Starkvind Air Purifier. And I had to assemble it myself.

Read more
Sleep Number’s New 360 Smart Bed monitors and improves sleep health as you age
The Sleep Number New 360 Smart Bed set up in a bedroom

Today at CES 2022, Sleep Number, a leader in sleep health and research, has unveiled the latest entry in its smart bed lineup, the new 360 Smart Bed. With the assistance of A.I. and machine learning, this new smart bed has unique features that will help it monitor and improve your sleep health as you age.

Sleep is a significant part of our lives and vital to our general health. Knowing that, Sleep Number created it smart bed years ago to help track sleeping patterns. This new iteration of the smart bed has even more features to track sleep patterns, as well as predict issues and react when they arise.

Read more