ZestSync

Twinkly Squares

The Twinkly Squares is more than just a light. Depending on how you set it up, it's a piece of animated pixel wall art, a scrolling LED sign, or a mesmerizing light installation. You'll love finding or making your own animated GIFs to create custom effects. 16M+ colors in each of the 64 LEDs per panel create a stunning piece of eye candy. And while the Twinkly app is presently lacking granular scheduling options, you won't want to turn this off anyway.

• Brand: Twinkly
• Dimensions: 6.3 x 6.3 inches (16 x 16cm) per square
• LEDs: 8x8 (64) RGB multicolor LEDs per panel
• Panels: 5 + 1 (modular, max. 15 sub-panels per master)
• Connectivity: WiFi for operation, Bluetooth for setup
• Integrations: Apple HomeKit, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Razer Chrome RGB
• Power Supply: USB-C cable and wall plug
• Mounting: Wall-mounted via hang holes on panel backside

• Modular with up to 16 panels total
• Multicolor LED lights with 16M+ colors
• Upload animated GIFs to create custom effects
• Gorgeous preset effects and new effects added regularly
• Music synchronization (selected effects only) and effects playlist

• Limited scheduling and automations
• Finicky panel mapping during setup
• Difficult to draw custom effects

Many LED lights can brighten up your home and your mood, but none do it like the Twinkly Squares. 64 RGB LEDs per (square) panel come together to bring you gorgeous animated pixel effects. And you can even upload your own animated GIFs to create custom effects.

But is this the light you've been waiting for? We've reviewed the latest generation of the Twinkly Squares to help you decide whether it would make a great addition to your home.

What's in the Box

The Twinkly Squares Generation II 5 + 1 starter kit comes with a total of six panels, of which one is a master panel. To connect the six panels, our kit included six connection cables, 18 large clamps, and 30 small clamps. The light derives power through USB-C, and the kit includes the cable and a USB-C wall plug.

The manual contains basic instructions and a separate paper template to help you drill the holes you'll need to hang your Twinkly Squares configuration. Finally, you'll find a postcard with a message from Ledworks CEO Andrea Tellatin, which we thought was a nice touch.

How to Set Up Your Twinkly Squares

The Twinkly Squares setup has two main stages: physically connecting the panels, and configuring them in the app. Optionally, you can also mount your lights on the wall.

Connect the Panels

Before you lay out our panels in your desired configuration, identify the master panel; it has a USB-C charging port and a blue button on one side. You'll want it on one end of your chosen design and closest to the nearest power outlet.

Once you've found your preferred arrangement, daisy chain the panels together using the connection cables. To create a stable connection, snap in the clamps; along the sides of each panel, you'll find four snap-in locations per side. We used the large clamps to secure the point where the cable crossed over and the small clamps in all other locations.

With the panels connected, you could go ahead and mount them right away. We'd recommend setting up the app first, as you might want to change your design once you see them in action.

Set Up the App and Map Your Panels

After downloading the Twinkly app (Android, iOS) and logging in, enable your phone's Bluetooth (used during setup only), and put your Twinkly Squares in pairing mode by long-pressing the blue button on the master panel. You'll know your panels are ready when they switch to a blue pairing animation, as seen in the photo above.

To pair a new device with the app, head to the Devices tab in the far right, tap the + icon in the top left, and follow the on-screen instructions.

The app will guide you through pairing the device, connecting to Wi-Fi, and mapping your panels.

To map the panels, you'll have to let the app scan them using your phone's camera. This is a tricky step, as reflections, glaring lights, or an unsteady hand can cause the mapping to fail. It took us a few attempts to get it right. Note that you can't rotate the mapped design, meaning you need to keep your phone upright (vertical) during scanning or rotate the panels accordingly.

While the app does allow you to flip a design, as seen in the rightmost screenshot above, note that this only mirrors the design. What's more, it will delete all your downloaded or custom effects and playlists.

Mount Your Twinkly Squares

Unlike competing products, such as the Nanoleaf Shapes or the Govee Glide Hexa Pro, the Twinkly Squares panels don't use double-sided tape for mounting. Rather, you'll have to drill holes and hang the light like a picture. To make this as easy as possible, the starter kit comes with a drill template.

We opted not to mount the panels and set them up on our credenza instead.

Colors and Effects

Twinkly Squares uses addressable RGB LEDs with over 16 million colors. Each panel has 8x8 LEDs. You can daisy-chain up to 16 panels to display impressive pixel art with beautiful light effects. The more panels you combine, the higher your "resolution", and the more stunning your effects will be.

The Twinkly app contains a Gallery that holds a range of effects, sorted by category. For our 6-panel setup, we had access to Art, 8x8, 16x16, 24x24, 32-32, and Ambiance effects. You can download additional (free) effects from the Twinkly Store, which regularly adds new collections. If you're unhappy with the default selection, you can create your own effects.

Create Your Own Effects

A magic wand icon in the app's top right corner leads you to the FX Wizard, where you can design your own effects. You can either select and customize a pattern, draw a design with your fingers, or upload an animated GIF. The latter is ideal for applying scrolling slogans.

Hand-drawing designs is a fool's errand because you can't zoom into your layout to precisely select individual pixels or squares, nor can you specify a motion, such as scrolling from right to left, meaning your design will be static. Once you've saved a design, you can not edit it, but you can, of course, delete it.

We tried uploading a few GIFs, such as the Rainbow (Nyan) Cat one seen in the leftmost screenshot above. Although the preview would always work, not all GIF effects would save successfully, which we could only tell once the effect was nowhere to be found after saving, i.e. there was no error message.

Create Effects Playlists

Hidden in the top left corner of the effects gallery is a playlist button that has nothing to do with music (we'll get to that). Instead, this will let you create effects playlists.

After entering the playlist, tap Edit in the bottom left, then tap Add effect, select your effect, and set its duration. Repeat until you're happy with your playlist, then tap Apply. Finally, tap Play/Stop in the bottom right to activate or terminate your playlist. You can't save multiple different playlists, but you can edit this one as much as you want.

Sync Your Effects to Music

Some effects can sync to music using the Twinkly app and your phone's microphone. You'll know an effect syncs to music when it has a musical note icon next to its name, as seen in the rightmost screenshot under the Colors and Effects header above. To activate the feature, tap the musical note, allow the app to record audio if needed, and make sure the icon's background went from black to white.

For this feature to work, your phone's microphone needs to be next to the music source, and you need to keep the Twinkly app in the foreground. It's a nice gimmick, but due to these limitations probably not something you'll use often.

Controls, Automation, and Smart Integrations

The Twinkly app comes with a basic timer, that lets you set an on and off time. Unfortunately, IFTTT does not support Twinkly. However, Twinkly Squares integrates with Apple HomeKit, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa.

After connecting Twinkly with the smart home assistant of your choice, you can use it to turn the lights on or off, adjust the brightness, or change the dominant color.

Gamers will appreciate that Twinkly supports Razer Chrome RGB, which adds reactive lighting. Though if you're looking for a background light for gaming, the Twinkly Flex might be a better choice.

Should You Buy the Twinkly Squares

The Twinkly Squares is more than just a light. It's a piece of art, an animated light installation, or an LED sign, depending on how you choose to set it up. While it does support reactive lighting, using it for illumination and basic light effects alone would be selling it short.

We loved the default effects and the ability to turn animated GIFs into custom scenes. Where the Twinkly Squares fell short was using the app to draw or edit effects. Even though you can edit some preset effects, you can't edit your own creations. If you're eager to apply your own designs, you'll need to bring some patience.

The app also lacks a proper scheduling tool. Other 3D light panels, such as Govee and Nanoleaf, offer comprehensive timers that support multiple different schedules for specific days of the week, and, in the case of Nanoleaf, specific scenes. What's more, both Govee and Nanoleaf integrate with IFTTT, which extends your automation options to things like turning the light on at sunset. With Twinkly, your automation options are seriously limited.

What sets Twinkly Squares apart are its granular designs and gorgeous effects. If you'd like to showcase more detailed designs, however, like the Marilyn Monroe or Starry Night preset effects, you will need to invest in 3-6 additional panels ($99 per set of 3) to achieve a satisfying resolution. Obviously, the more panels you add, the more stunning those effects will be.

If you're looking for a unique piece of modular, customizable, and animated pixel wall art, no other light panel can hold a candle to the latest generation of Twinkly Squares.

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