Razer wants its Chroma RGB lighting to invade the rest of your home

This 2018 image for Philips Hue coming to Razer Synapse is so much better than the assets Razer provided for this story. | Image: Philips

Most of Razer’s products live in the entertainment center, or near the PC, but it wants to expand its reach to every corner of your home — or at least, everywhere you use smart lights. At CES 2022, the company announced that it intends to launch a Razer Smart Home app for mobile, which it says is a “simple, yet powerful tool that puts complete, unified control into the user’s hands.” With it, Razer plans to make it easier to set up, customize, and sync all of your lights, regardless of the manufacturer. It plans to share more details at this link.

Razer has been toying with this idea of tapping into other smart lights before. Currently, gamers who have Razer’s Synapse PC software can sync a Philips Hue Bridge (and the lights connected to it) to mimic the same lighting settings as the LEDs packed into countless Razer gaming peripherals. But a mobile app, in theory, seems like an easier way to quickly broaden its partners since many lights support both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.

Razer’s using the CES 2022 stage to send an open invite to any company that’s interested in joining its Razer Chrome Smart Home Program. Brands like Nanoleaf, LIFX, Yeelight, Monster, and Twinkly are already in the fold, and Razer says it has more partners coming soon (hopefully Signify’s Philips Hue).

Image: Razer
A screenshot of the landing page in Razer’s upcoming app.

Razer shared a lone screenshot of what its smart home app will look like, showing a simple layout that seems to make it easy to switch lights on and off in rooms, as well as change their color. Razer’s app will offer customizable routines, too. The company hasn’t shared what the setup process for each light will look like or what other settings there are.

There are other crucial details that Razer hasn’t touched on, like whether it intends to branch out beyond lights and into other smart home categories. We also don’t know if its app can handle necessary firmware updates for various smart lights, or if you’ll still need each of your smart bulbs’ original apps installed to handle that. It also hasn’t shared whether the app will be free to use — and remain free to use — and if it intends to allow any automation beyond scheduling routines. We’ve reached out to Razer for clarification on these details.