Firmware v2.90 & 3.90

Public release date:
26th of October 2022 
🟢 LIVE

Summary

This massive release has a lot packed in! We've got bug fixes and other items listed in the release notes below, but it also has three huge pieces of work to improve your daily LIFX experience:

 

Connectivity and stability.
 
You should see improved stability in your product's connection, with less lights ‘going dark’ when things are patchy. For some products you'll also see the process of getting them set up has had a connectivity boost too. You asked and we listened—our small but dedicated team will keep working on even more improvements, after all, you can never be too connected.

 

Ultimate Color Calibration. 
Using extensive scientific testing, some complicated maths and a lot of visual 'eye feel' fine tuning (for the parts only humans 'get'), this is the launch of a unified visual color profile that's a best-in-class, 'truer' color space. No one does color like us, and we know it's a big reason our users are so loyal to our brand. Go on, feast your eyes on superior color.


Security
We wanted to get up to the minute on the latest and greatest improvements for your chip software, and this includes a lot of security improvements. Not that things weren't good before, but when it comes to keeping things safe, extra is almost always better.

 

How do I get this amazing update?

You can download and install LIFX firmware updates to your whole home easily in the LIFX app. It'll run in the background and all you have to do to start it is hit 'update all devices'.

You can find this by going to the settings cog from your dashboard, and choosing 'update firmware'. 


If you have static IP addresses configured (you'll know if you do), please note:

Static IP addresses will need to be reconfigured/updated in your router settings with this update. This unfortunately can't be avoided and is due to a limitation of the ESP32 and Amazon WSS onboarding in new products.

For products running v3.90 (and beyond), the MAC address reported to the router will be MAC+1, where MAC is the MAC address printed on the product. In all other instances, i.e., in the App, communication with third-party devices, etc. the MAC address used is still the one printed on the product (no +1 needed!) 

Which products are included in the update?

Since our firmware improvements match up to the chipset in your LIFX product, we've put together a quick overview. 

2.90 (LCM2 chipset*)
  • LIFX Lightstrip 
  • LIFX Beam 
  • LIFX Downlights 
  • LIFX Bulbs
3.90 (LCM3 chipset*)
  • LIFX Lightstrip  
  • LIFX Bulbs
  • LIFX Candle Color
  • LIFX Candle White to Warm 
  • LIFX Beam
  • LIFX Downlights


Already updated: 

  • LIFX Switch

    Not included in the update:

    • LIFX Tile 
    • Legacy Product Range (pre LCM2 chipset).
      Firmware updates no longer supported.       

    * To find what firmware version your product is running, check the settings of the device within the LIFX App.

    Some of my whites look different after updating. Why?

    With this update we've created a 'truer' white tone profile for our lights. How does this work? White light is most often measured in Kelvins, but there is also a less common measurement called DUV (Delta UV). While Kelvins will measure the warmth or 'coolness' of light, DUV looks at whether the light casts towards green or magenta. You can have two lights of the exact same Kelvin rating, but they can look completely different to the eye because of DUV.

    Historically, we've had a DUV calibration that often sat on the pinker side. Given almost all of our products also have color blending capability, we think a white range lighting experience should be designed to feel as close to the sun as possible. This means cleaner, truer whites that sit right in the middle between green-cast and magenta-cast. We tested our new calibration with our Beta community and the feedback provided on the cross-product consistency and general performance was very positive. 

    We also wanted new and existing hardware to be able to be calibrated to match perfectly. So we did this by setting standards for how they should plot on a graph that considers more detail than just the required Kelvins. We also tuned our Kelvins to a much higher accuracy than the 'acceptable range' to match them closer to how they appear when measuring natural light.

    For a long time we've had the largest range of Kelvins in the biz, and now we also have a unified definition of how that light will look to eye to make our whole ecosystem more finely tuned, natural feeling and consistent. Huzzah!

    Missing a particularly icy blue or pinkish-white? We get it, after all, color is a subjective experience. You still have a trusty color wheel to grab any tasty pastel shades you like and save them for later. Just spin to your color range on the wheel, slide the circle down towards the white center to mix your tone. Now hit the '...' in the top right and you can save it to your color palette or add it as a scene (which you definitely should try - because scenes are the stuff of smart light dreams.) 

    For more information about how awesome scenes are for pre-saving lighting (think: a snapshot of your perfect lighting you can call on any time with a click from it's own little dashboard) check out this article. 

    Release Notes 

    Both 2.90 and 3.90:

    • Various bug fixes 
    • Security vulnerability fixes
      • Frag Attack:
        • CVE-2020-24586, CVE-2020-24587, CVE-2020-24588, CVE-2020-26147 
    • Fixed HomeKit scenes not being applied correctly
    • Improved Color handling
      • Improved white temperature accuracy in terms of Duv tolerance. 
      • Improved color accuracy in terms of expected wavelength range. 
      • Increased color consistency between LIFX product ranges 
      • Improved low brightness levels across colors and whites 
      • Fixed flickering at low brightness levels 
    • Lightstrips and Beam 
      • Improved performance of effects 
      • Default temperature updated to 3200K
    2.90 Specific:
      • Minor improvements to connectivity and onboarding reliability 
      3.90 Specific:
        • Significant improvements to connectivity 
        • Upgraded version of HomeKit ADK 

      Reported Issues

      Updated: 11/16/2022

      The following issues have been reported since this release and replicated by LIFX QA and Engineering. These issues were not identified during Alpha and Beta testing. Each issue will be prioritised for a fix in upcoming firmware and/or app releases.

      1.   Low level brightness has increased lumen output

      Some users have reported that the lower brightness levels (1%-5%) are now too bright to be used as night lighting. This issue has been replicated and a fix is being worked on.

      2.   Beams not lighting up immediately after firmware update

      Some users have reported that their Beams have not lit up once the firmware was update. This issue has been replicated and the immediate workaround is to Reset the Beam. A permanent fix is being worked on for the next firmware release.