I have had LIFX bulbs since around late 2016; however, I never was able to get smooth integration with a physical replacement switch or dimmer to replace the in-wall Decora switches that control the light fixtures.
Just thought I would ask since it is August 2020 and a lot of solutions have come and gone. I am specifically looking for a switch or dimmer that works like a normal switch or dimmer in the exact same position on the wall as the Leviton Decora paddle, and that is as responsive as the LIFX app on a mobile device connected to the same local network. (Wife acceptance factor.) I am trying to avoid running a custom Raspberry Pi server just for this purpose, and I am also trying to avoid forwarding commands through the cloud such as IFTTT, which contributes to excessive lag.
My home has Samsung SmartThings and Lutron Caseta Wireless (Smart Bridge Pro), but not Philips Hue. I am okay with getting the Philips Hue Dimmer Switch but only if it can work with something other than the Philips Hue Bridge.
I have found three technically acceptable solutions, and a slew of bad solutions.
The first solution that works is to use a Sylvania 73743 Lightify Smart Dimming Switch on top of the Decora rocker, connected via Zigbee to SmartThings. This integration manages to control the LIFX lights reliably, although there is a slight lag and only four functions/scenes can be programmed (short press and long press for the two buttons). I took the outer frame cover off so that if the LIFX bulbs drop off the network, I can just pull the battery-powered switch off of the wall and toggle the Decora switch.
The second workable solution is to get Brilliant Smart Home Controls for the wall boxes. Once everything is set up, these controls seem to work with all LIFX products with relatively little lag. This solution is very expensive, starting at $299 apiece.
The third workable solution is to mount an iPod Touch over the wall box using a mount such as the VidaMount On-Wall iPod Touch (5th/6th/7th Gen) Enclosure Mount. Basically this is just like the Brilliant Smart Home Control solution, except that it is cheaper and more powerful: $199 for the iPod Touch and $55 for the VidaMount. (I have not actually executed this, but it is obvious that it will work.)
Bad/unacceptable solutions have included: Flic, Samsung SmartThings Button, Logitech Pop (all too much lag and do not integrate with the native 1-gang box), and most recently, the Brilliant Smart Dimmer Switch (does not actually work more than 1% of the time).
Finally, there is the LIFX Switch, which promises to solve this gap in the market but is perpetually unavailable.
Are there any other reliable solutions?