A highly compatible colour smart bulb.
TP-Link’s latest multicolour Tapo bulb takes all the strengths of earlier models and adds extra brightness, along with Matter control. While the Tapo ecosystem still isn’t quite as extensive and flexible as Philips Hue, it’s a credible alternative, particularly if you just want a device or two. This is quite a bright and colourful bulb, and the Tapo app makes it easy to get the best from it – whether you just want to change colours manually, or integrate it into a more comprehensive smart home setup.
A moderately bright bulb with strong colours
Excellent smart home integration
Great value
Tapo ecosystem not as comprehensive as Hue
Key Features
Trusted Reviews IconReview Price: £11
Colour-changing smart bulbThis moderately bright bulb can display white light, or an almost limitless palette of colours. You can control it via the Tapo app, Matter-compatible controllers, or via smart home systems including Google Home and Alexa.
Introduction
The Tapo L535 is the latest update to TP-Link’s mainstream colour-changing smart bulb. Externally it’s virtually unchanged from earlier models, but it now supports Matter – giving you a new way to integrate it with other compatible devices. This bulb also gets a power upgrade. At 1,055 lumens, it’s roughly equivalent to a 75 Watt conventional bulb – although I can’t think when I last saw one of those.
This bulb comes in two versions. I’m testing the L535E, with an E27 Edison screw fitting. You can also buy the L535B, which has a bayonet fitting – the two are otherwise identical, and they’re identically priced. Tapo bulbs don’t require a hub, instead connecting directly to Wi-Fi, so you can start using the system with just a single bulb. Note that you do need a hub for some other Tapo devices and sensors, though – worth bearing in mind if you’re planning a more elaborate setup.
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Design and Features
Frosted, colour-changing smart bulb
Compatible with Alexa, Google Assistant, Matter, and others
Excellent app
The TP-Link Tapo L535 is the same size as any regular energy-saving bulb. It’s covered by frosted plastic, so you can’t see individual LEDs or a filament within it – just diffuse light. This version simply screws into a standard E27 fitting, after which you can turn the power on and it’ll flash three times to let you know it’s ready to be set up.
Image of the light bulb against a white background
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)
This happens in the Tapo app, for which you’ll need a smartphone or tablet with Bluetooth connectivity. That’s only for the initial setup, after which the bulb uses 2.4GHz Wi-Fi. As I mentioned, the TP-Link Tapo L535 works without a proprietary hub, which is an advantage if you’re just buying one or two and want to keep your setup costs down. It’s a cheap bulb anyway, costing only around £11. At the time of my review that was around a third of the price of the Philips Hue equivalent.
It’s easy to add Tapo products in the app by tapping the plus sign, which discovered my bulb without issues. The app prompts for Wi-Fi details, after which it’ll apply any necessary firmware updates. With that done, you can turn the bulb on and off, control its brightness and change its colour via a simple page, which also summarises how long you’ve used the light and how much energy it’s consumed. This works from anywhere you have a data connection on your phone – not just from your own network.
Android screenshot collage showing the device being installed, updated, and finally available for use
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)
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Poke around in the app and you’ll discover an away mode, which turns the light on and off randomly to help give the impression that someone’s home. There’s also comprehensive scheduling, letting you automate on/off, brightness or colour changes, and define a fade time of up to 30 minutes between settings. Changes can be triggered by time, or by sunset or sunrise – you can set events to happen a fixed time before or after either. There’s a more simple timer mode to turn the bulb on or off after a set period, plus configurable Party and Relax themes which flash or fade between colours.
If you’ve got more than one Tapo bulb in the same area or room, you can group them in the app to help you turn them all on or off at once. There’s also support for geofencing, so you can automate lighting changes as you leave or return home. All in all it’s a fully featured app, so it’s a relief that it’s also very easy to use.
Android screenshot collage showing timer, away and scheduling modes
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)
However, you needn’t use the Tapo app at all. Link your Tapo account with Google Home or Amazon Alexa and you can use the TP-Link Tapo L535 with your other smart devices, control it by voice, or incorporate it into more ambitious smart automations. TP-Link has added IFTTT support to Tapo products since I reviewed the Tapo L530E a few years ago. The Tapo L535 is also compatible with SmartThings and HomeKit. Alternatively, you can use one or more Matter-compatible devices to control it. That’s a huge range of features and flexibility for a relatively cheap smart bulb.
If you’re considering other Tapo products, it’s worth knowing that you’ll need a hub to support some devices in the range. Battery-powered Tapo sensors and switches use TP-Link’s proprietary ‘Sub-G’ low power protocol, for which a Tapo hub is necessary. Fortunately, the TP-Link Tapo H100 Smart Hub with Chime costs less than £20. The H200 hub costs little more, or it’s included with the Tapo Video Doorbell Camera D235.
I should also mention that, at present, few other Tapo devices support Matter. TP-Link is adding it to its latest products, so the situation should change fairly quickly. However, the brand’s UK representatives explained that it can’t roll Matter out to previous devices via firmware updates, as the earlier hardware isn’t compatible.
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Performance
Fairly bright, with a wide range of colours
Low power consumption
Easy to integrate with other smart home systems
I wanted to compare the TP-Link Tapo L535 with the Tapo L530E, which I’ve been using daily for a few years. It’s subtly brighter, as you can see on the left in this comparison photo. Here, both bulbs were at full power, and set to provide white light with a warm 2,700K colour temperature. This bulb is moderately bright, then, but its 1,055-lumen output isn’t a match for the 1,600-lumen maximum that’s available in the Hue range. It’s ideal for side lights, but you might still need more than one if you want bright illumination in larger rooms.
Two lamps in ceiling shades, with the left lamp glowing slightly brighter
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)
The TP-Link Tapo L535’s extra light when compared with its predecessor comes with increased efficiency. This bulb consumed just 7.6 watts at the above setting – exactly the same as I measured from the L530E, despite the brighter result. When switched off in the app, consumption fell below my power meter’s 0.5W minimum, so you shouldn’t find yourself running up a big electricity bill when it’s not operating.
I primarily tested the Tapo L535 in a table lamp, situated in a weak spot for Wi-Fi reception. Despite this it was always responsive, changing its state near-instantly whenever I sent commands through the app. I’ve tested a couple of Tapo devices lately that didn’t support channels 12 or 13 in 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, as UK-spec devices should, but this bulb had no problem with either.
Light bulb in a lamp shade glowing white
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)
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TP-Link has tweaked the way colour selection works in the Tapo app, now offering a horizontal bar for instant changes, and a colour wheel when you’re editing presets. Both seem to produce more saturated colours than before, with the Tapo L535 producing rich hues across the board.
I also connected this bulb to the Flic Twist controller using Matter. This integration supports simple push/hold commands to turn the bulb on or off, or to toggle its state. It also allows twist control that supports dimming, or separately, changing the colour temperature of white light. All of this worked smoothly, but I couldn’t get the controller to change the bulb’s actual colour, which is supposedly a further option. I couldn’t determine whether this was a Flic or Tapo issue, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see it fixed with future software releases.
Finally, it was easy to integrate the TP-Link Tapo L535 into the routines I’ve previously configured in Google Home and Amazon Alexa. I tend to favour these for more complex scene changes, such as when you want multiple smart products from different brands to turn off at night, or when you go out. If you prefer you can set up similar routines in the Tapo app, which will control devices from both of TP-Link’s smart home brands: Tapo and Kasa. My only criticism here is that the user interface does tend to get a bit cluttered with shortcuts if you overdo it; you can remove individual ones from the app home screen if needed.
Should you buy it?
You should buy if you want a great-value colour-changing bulb
It’s easy to control this moderately bright, colour-changing light. If you’re building something more complex, it also works well with a wide range of other smart home systems. It’s great value, too.
You shouldn’t buy if you want the best ecosystem
While the TP-Link Tapo ecosystem is comprehensive, it’s not quite a match for Philips Hue. It’s worth checking what’s available before you commit to either.
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Final Thoughts
The TP-Link Tapo L535 cost about £11 at the time of my review. That’s great value for such a versatile bulb, particularly as it doesn’t need a hub, and makes it an excellent choice if, for example, you just want to add some fun to a kid’s bedroom. The one thing to remember is that, while fairly bright, a single one of these bulbs won’t be enough to fully light up bigger rooms.
The L535 is also a good fit as part of a wider move to smart devices, although here it’s worth doing a bit more research to check the Tapo range includes all the gadgets you’ll need. Even if not, however, remember that you can link Tapo devices to other compatible products through smart home systems like Alexa. With that in mind, the TP-Link Tapo L535 is hard to fault.
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every smart light we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main smart light for the review period
Tested for at least a week
We measure the light output from bulbs at different colour temperatures and colours so we can compare light output
We test compatibility with the main smart systems (HomeKit, Alexa, Google Assistant, SmartThings, IFTTT and more) to see how easy each light is to automate
FAQs
Is Tapo Matter compatible?
Some Tapo devices are now Matter compatible, and TP-Link appears to be adding it to all new products. We couldn’t confirm whether it will be rolled out to earlier devices, though.
What is the lifespan of a Tapo smart bulb?
TP-Link states that the Tapo L535 smart bulb will last 25,000 hours, which is only about three years of constant use. That said, we’ve run multiple TP-Link Kasa and Tapo products for longer than that, and haven’t yet had a failure.
Test Data
|TP-Link Tapo L535 Review|
Full Specs
|TP-Link Tapo L535 Review|
|---|---|
|Manufacturer|TP-Link|
|Quiet Mark Accredited|No|
|Size (Dimensions)|60 x 60 x 115 MM|
|Weight|62 G|
|Release Date|2025|
|First Reviewed Date|05/03/2025|
|Model Number|Tapo L535|