UPDATE! -The Nanoleaf Canvas, A Truly Frustrating Experience

UPDATE April 2023

So I wanted to give a little update here. I recently upgraded the wifi system in our home after 5 years of using Eero Pros. We switched to a set of Orbi 860 (review sometime in the future). I figured I’d give the Canvas one more try, and sure enough, they connected first try and have been working perfectly for a week now. So even though it’s been wildly frustrating over the lifetime of this product, it may have been something to do with the Eero mesh wi-fi, and if that’s the case I wish I would have figured that out sooner. Now with that in mind, yes I am still frustrated with them because of all the past headaches … but I’m happy they work now and so is my kiddo!

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I try to avoid products that cause me or my family frustration, but that’s not always possible. Enter the Nanoleaf Canvas lights. These, based on reviews on many other sites, are a fun addition to any space. So a few years back, we picked up the starter pack as a black Friday sale. Thinking they would be a fantastic addition to the kiddo’s playroom, and let me say this, my kiddo still thinks they are fantastic.

So What Are The Nanoleaf Canvas Lights?

The Nanoleaf Canvas lights are panels that you can arrange however you would like on a wall (or really any flat surface). They are wi-fi enabled so you can do some really awesome things with them via their app (seen below).

You can download light themes, scenes, playlists, and even play games with it (think the old Simon game). One of our favorite features is the sound-activated lighting. You can play music in the room, shout, scream, clap, you name the sound, and based on what it picks up, the lights will put on a bit of a show.

What I Like About The Nanoleaf Canvas

Let me start by saying that when these work, they are absolutely fantastic! I enjoy that they are app-run, they connect to my Apple Homekit setup, and they look pretty good even when not turned on. The starter kit came with nine panels which we found to be plenty; that said, if I loved these like I hoped I would have, I’d probably would have purchased the expansion pack.

What I Don’t Like About The Nanoleaf Canvas

The reason for this post is what I don’t like about these lights. So first off, we got maybe six months of them functioning correctly. All of a sudden, they were no longer connecting to our wi-fi. We didn’t change the wi-fi; nothing had changed. So I did what I would normally do, troubleshoot.

I went through all of the steps to reset, both a soft and full factory reset, with no luck. So…we unplugged them and they turned into blank white squares on the wall. Every so often, we would plug them back in and just let them do their “demo cycle” of the lights, and that was fine. But when you spend over $100 on something with wonderful reviews all over the place, you expect more.

I recently decided to give it another go and see if I can make them work. Did a full factory reset, removed the app, reset our wi-fi, the whole nine yards… NOTHING. I even set our wi-fi router to only 2.4ghz to make sure they would connect. If you didn’t know, wi-fi-enabled smart devices really hate anything other than 2.4ghz. Nothing worked, I tried turning on “Thread” to hope for a better connection, but NOTHING.

Now I’m stuck in a loop on their app; it thinks the lights are added (I can’t see them in the app or within my Home app), so even with a reset, I can no longer try to add them (screenshots below).

Besides the fact that I can’t really use them for their features any longer, another point that I dislike is the plug. The power supply is rather large, I understand that it is what houses the wi-fi controller, but because of the size, it easily gets knocked and unplugs.

I may try a few additional things; it’s not in my nature to give up on my tech. However, for the time being, I’m frustrated.

My Final Thoughts

Like I just said, I haven’t totally given up on them. If my kiddo didn’t love plugging them in just to have some fun lights in her playroom at night while she plays, I would probably take them down.

I know many people have enjoyed them and think they are wonderful (or else I wouldn’t have purchased them). I think Nanoleaf makes a pretty solid product and they are worth looking at if you want some smart and fun lighting in your house. However for normal smart lighting I’d go with Philips Hue 100% of the time.

With anything though, you should take a look for yourself. I hope my little ranty review above gives you something to think about, even with a 4.5 star review on other sites there is a chance they won’t be what you hoped for. But who am I kidding, there is a chance of that with any product in this world.

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