IKEA MYGGSPRAY Review: Occupancy and Light Level in Apple Home
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The IKEA MYGGSPRAY runs Matter over Thread and presents in Apple Home as two separate accessories: an occupancy sensor and a light sensor. The occupancy half is unremarkable and works fine. The light sensor is the reason to buy it, because it lets an automation say 'turn the lights on when someone walks in and the room is below 10 lux' instead of firing at noon in full sun. Adding it to Matter took no effort.
Buy a cheap motion sensor and you get one thing: something moved. The IKEA MYGGSPRAY gives you two, and the second one is what makes the automations usable.
In Apple Home it shows up as two separate accessories. Living Room Occupancy Sensor. Living Room Light Sensor.
Why two accessories matter
The standard motion automation is bad. Someone walks into the room, the lights come on. At two in the afternoon, in full sun, the lights come on. You disable the automation within a week.
The fix is a condition on brightness, and that requires a sensor that reports lux. Build the automation on the occupancy sensor, then gate it on the light sensor dropping below a threshold, and the lights only come on when the room is genuinely dark.
Apple Home exposes the light sensor as a first-class trigger. Pick the accessory, choose Rises Above or Drops Below, and set a level from 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 or 200 lux. Mine sits at Drops Below 10 lux, which in this room means dusk or curtains closed.
IKEA sells it as a motion sensor and the hardware is a PIR detector, but HomeKit exposes it as an occupancy sensor, offering Detects Occupancy and Stops Detecting Occupancy. That distinction is worth having. Motion is an instant, so an automation built on it fires once and forgets. Occupancy holds state, so you can act on the room becoming empty as well as on someone arriving.
Adding it
Nothing to report, which is the correct outcome. It joined the Matter network without drama and showed up in Apple Home ready to use. IKEA of Sweden, Matter vendor ID 4476, product ID 12288, firmware 1.1.4.
It needs no IKEA hub, no app and no account. You scan the code and it appears.
Hands-on notes
Running in my living room. The sensor is basic and it works, which after a decade of smart home gear is a sentence I’m happy to write about a cheap accessory.
Both halves report reliably. The room view in Apple Home shows Occupancy Detected and a live lux figure, currently 0 with the room dark. I have a Desk Lights automation firing on Living Room occupancy, and the light sensor is what stops it being irritating.
The physical device is unremarkable. Small, white, battery-powered, IKEA. It does not feel premium and does not need to.
It runs Matter over Thread, like the rest of IKEA’s 2026 sensor range, so it needs a Thread border router on the network. Mine has an Apple TV 4K wired to Ethernet and two HomePod minis doing that job. Battery is two AAA cells, sold separately.
What to pair it with
The sensor triggers. Something has to receive. Mine drives Linkind Matter bulbs that also handle Adaptive Lighting, so the room gets warm light in the evening and the motion automation only fires when the lux reading says it should.
Because it’s Thread, it needs a border router Apple Home will actually use, which means an Apple TV or HomePod. The Thread radio in your Wi-Fi router does not count, and neither does IKEA’s own DIRIGERA hub if your accessories live in Apple Home.
Who should skip it
Anyone who wants presence detection rather than occupancy. This is a passive sensor. It knows the room changed, not that you are sitting still in it reading. mmWave presence sensors solve a different problem at several times the price.
Anyone outside IKEA’s shipping footprint, since the value here is heavily tied to what it costs.
Verdict
The occupancy sensor is ordinary. The light sensor is the reason to buy it, because most cheap motion sensors cannot gate on brightness, and without that gate the automation gets switched off within a couple of weeks. Getting it at IKEA prices is the whole appeal.
Common questions
Does the IKEA MYGGSPRAY work with Apple Home?
Yes. It runs Matter over Thread and appears in Apple Home as two accessories from one device, an occupancy sensor and a light sensor. IKEA of Sweden reports Matter vendor ID 4476 and product ID 12288.
Can the MYGGSPRAY trigger automations based on room brightness?
Yes. Apple Home exposes its light sensor as an automation trigger with Rises Above and Drops Below options at 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 lux. That lets you gate a motion automation so it only fires when the room is actually dark.
Is the MYGGSPRAY a motion sensor or an occupancy sensor?
Both. The hardware is a PIR motion detector and IKEA sells it as a motion sensor, but HomeKit exposes it as an occupancy sensor with Detects Occupancy and Stops Detecting Occupancy triggers. Occupancy holds state, so you can trigger on the room emptying as well as on arrival.
Does the IKEA MYGGSPRAY need a Thread border router?
Yes. It is Matter over Thread, not Wi-Fi, so it needs a Thread border router on the network. For Apple Home that means an Apple TV 4K with a Thread radio or a HomePod. IKEA's DIRIGERA hub is a border router too, but it serves IKEA's own network rather than Apple Home.
Where to buy, tested picks
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