How to control christmas lights with smartphone?

<p>As jr.flynn said, just turning the lights on and off is pretty easy. I did it using a GE Smart Plug connected to my <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">SmartThings Hub. Now I can set the lights to turn on and off on a schedule or tie it to other sensors around my home. For instance, I can have the lights come on at dark or when I come home (through geo-fencing). I can control the lights using my phone's SmartThings app, and because I've connected SmartThings to Alexa and Cortana, I can use either of those to control the lights easily.</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">Beyond that, you'll need a dedicated smart LED light string and probably a dedicated app to control it. I see one on Amazon called Light Rhapsody that looks pretty neat, but it's expensive…about $55 for a string of 24 lights. And it looks like you can only use up to 3 strands together. It looks like it supports Alexa out of the box, but I'm not sure whether it requires a dedicated hub or its own app.</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">I try to be really careful about this kind of Home Automation sprawl. I've worked hard to get everything in my home tied into SmartThings. It's a bit limiting, as some of the other platforms offer more bells and whistles, but I like the idea of controlling everything in one app without the need for multiple hubs, apps, and complex IFTTT-type macros. Those things become way more difficult to manage the more devices you start trying to connect.</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">One other consideration is whether you really like the look of LED lights on your tree. I bought a (non-smart) set of LED lights a few years ago, and they did not have a high WAF (wife approval factor), due to the cold, blue color and the harsh "laser strobe" (her words) quality. We've since bought another tree that came pre-lit with more natural, yellow LEDs.</span></p>