Can permanent lights be controlled without internet?

Yes. Starise permanent lighting can still be controlled locally through Bluetooth mode in the My Home Lighting app, even when your home's internet connection is down. Your phone talks directly to the lighting controller — no router, no Wi-Fi network, and no internet service required.

An internet outage is one of the most common "what if" questions we get on quotes, and the answer is genuinely boring in the best way: your lights don't care. The controller holds its settings on the device itself, the lights keep doing what they were doing, and if you want to change something while the internet is out, Bluetooth gets you in.

Wi-Fi control vs. Bluetooth control: what's the difference?

The My Home Lighting app (free on iOS and Android) can reach your lighting controller two ways:

• Wi-Fi / internet control. The controller sits on your home network, and the app reaches it through that connection. This is the everyday mode — it's what lets you adjust your lights from anywhere, whether you're on the couch or out of town.
• Bluetooth / local control. Your phone connects directly to the controller, device to device. Nothing else needs to be working — not your router, not your internet provider. It's the fallback that keeps you in control when the network isn't cooperating.

One honest caveat: Bluetooth mode is a local connection, so features that depend on the internet — like controlling your lights from across the city — naturally need the internet to come back. For day-to-day control at home (on, off, colours, effects), the local path has you covered.

The scenarios homeowners actually ask about

"Our Wi-Fi went down"

Open the My Home Lighting app, connect over Bluetooth, and control the lights directly. Colours, effects, on and off — all from your phone, standing in or around your home. When the Wi-Fi comes back, the app goes back to working over the network like nothing happened.

"Our internet provider has an outage"

Same answer. The controller isn't dependent on your provider to keep running — it holds its settings on the device. The lights keep doing what they were last told to do, and Bluetooth gives you local control in the meantime. The outage affects the convenience layer, not the lighting.

"We replaced our router"

A new router means the controller needs to be introduced to the new network — a quick process in the app (our step-by-step tutorials walk through it). While that's pending, Bluetooth mode works as the local-control path, so you're never locked out of your own lights just because your network changed.

"Does Bluetooth mode need cellular data?"

No. Bluetooth is a direct connection between your phone and the controller — it doesn't route through the internet at all, so it doesn't consume mobile data and works even with no cellular signal.

"How close do I need to be?"

Bluetooth control requires your phone to be within practical Bluetooth range of the controller — think "at home," controlling the lights from inside or around the house, rather than from down the street. Exact reach depends on your phone, where the controller is mounted, and what's between them.

What about schedules and automations?

Your lights don't shut off just because the internet does. The controller keeps its settings on the device itself — that's the same reason the system automatically resumes its last setting after a full power outage, with nothing to reconfigure. Sunset routines and scheduled scenes are configured in the app; if anything needs adjusting while your network is down, Bluetooth mode gives you direct control in the meantime.

Why this matters when comparing systems

App-controlled lighting is only as good as its worst connectivity day. When you're comparing permanent lighting quotes, ask each installer two questions: "Can I control it without internet?" and "What happens after a power outage?" For Starise, the answers are: yes — Bluetooth mode in My Home Lighting — and: it resumes its last setting on its own. The system also has physical buttons on the controller, so there's always a hands-on fallback, and there's no subscription that can lapse between you and your own lights.