IKEA’s latest outside lamp doubles as a Bluetooth speaker

IKEA is the most well-known furniture maker going. The Swedish giant has begun dabbling in smart home tech over the past few years, releasing Bluetooth speakers inside picture frames. With the furniture maker’s latest product, they’re bringing this speaker tech out the door… literally.

If you were to pick up a Vappeby (as catchy a name as always) and pop it in your bright yellow bag, you’d likely mistake it for a bog-standard outdoor lamp. How wrong you’d be. IKEA’s shiny new out door lamp actually doubles as a Bluetooth speaker. It’s both illuminating and entertaining.

So, what does IKEA’s Vappeby do?

The newest addition to IKEA’s Bluetooth speaker range is an LED outdoor lamp with the speakers built-in. You can charge up the Vappeby via USB-C to power both the speaker and light. It’s handy as you won’t have to faff around with changing the bulb. It also means that if you’re outdoors and running low on the juice, you’ll be able to connect it to a power bank. Though IKEA promises 12 hours of battery life, so battery life shouldn’t be a huge concern.

As far as the LED goes, there are two different modes you can use – one brighter than the other. IKEA promises 360 degree sound from the built-in speakers too, so you can put the lamp anywhere. The Vappeby comes with IP65 water and dust resistance, so it’s safe for most outdoor environments (except maybe the desert), and in light rain. As with most outdoor lamps, you’ll find a grip-friendly handle on top, to carry or hang the lamp.

IKEA has even partnered with Spotify for the Vappeby. The speaker lamp includes Spotify Tap, which lets you resume music from your connected device with the power button. You can even press the button again to change the music to something Spotify selects based on your preferences. Pretty handy, right? Of course, you can still use the Bluetooth speaker to play music from any streaming service on your device.

Should you want to pick up a Vappeby, you can do so straight from IKEA for €59 (about £49 or $65). Currently, the device is only listed on IKEA’s Portuguese site, but will be more widely available in April. Keep an eye out! Those in the US must bear in mind that the Vappeby range is actually known as Eneby, so you need to tweak your search.

Stuff says: If you’re looking for your next camping accessory, this might just be it. An outdoor lantern that doubles as a Bluetooth speaker is the perfect addition to any campfire or tenting set-up. IKEA’s other speaker products typically sound pretty good, but they’re nothing to write home about. Vappeby a highly functional and convenient product, which IKEA seems to focus on with its speakers. It’s definitely worth picking up next time you’re lost in the IKEA aisles if you’re the outdoorsy type.