
Poplight sconce review: A wireless, rechargeable light that's a big win for renters
For me, lighting is a major part of my apartment's overall feel, but I'm not much of a table lamp person, especially in my bedroom. So when Poplight sent me a sample of their popular smart sconce, I was instantly intrigued. The light looks and works like a typical sconce, but it doesn't require any drilling or nails, and you can turn it on and off via a free app.
Below, I share everything about my experience using Poplight's sconce and what you should know before buying one.
What is Poplight?
The Poplight sconce, often simply called the Poplight, is a USB-C rechargeable smart sconce that doesn't require any drilling or nails to install, making it ideal for renters and those who don't want to make permanent or semi-permanent renovations to their space. Instead, to install it to your wall, you'll use adhesive strips, a twist-to-lock base and built-in leveler. You can adjust the light's temperature and dim it through the brand's free app.
The light comes with a battery pack that you'll have to charge for up to four hours (for a full charge that lasts between five and nine hours). The the light can last up to 30 days if you use it in intervals of 20 minutes or less, according to Poplight. (You can also buy a second battery pack as a replacement, which the brand recommends).
Every Poplight has a metal arm, polycarbonate shade and a 300-lumen (3-watt) LED instead of a traditional bulb. The brand is an LGBTQ+ and women-owned business founded in 2023. The bulb is slightly larger than a softball and the base is around the size of a round coaster.
My experience with the Poplight
Installation
After receiving my sample, I spent a couple days in my space thinking about the best place to try it. I thought it could be a good addition to my bathroom, but ultimately decided to install it in my bedroom directly above my bedside table, which is adjacent to my door frame — it's a New York City apartment after all, so space is limited.
Before installing it, it was helpful to lay out everything on my bed to see. It includes a base with a built in leveler and two double-sided adhesive strips, similar to a Command strip. I attached the strips to the back of the base while using the leveler simultaneously to make sure it was completely straight. The brand also recommends wiping the surface of the wall with isopropyl alcohol to dry it and make the base adhere to it more securely. After doing so, I pressed the base (without any bulb) firmly on the painted wall for about one minute.
Something to pay attention to: You have to allow the base to adhere to the wall for at least a few hours (the brand recommends at least one hour) before adding on the light to ensure it's stable. I left it on for a full day before adding on the light to be safe. I initially tried to install the light sans bulb, without letting it sit for long enough and it fell almost immediately, so this step definitely makes a difference.
The following day, I watched the helpful video tutorial on Instagram and read the list of directions. The brand also has a photo and gif tutorial on how to install it, which made it a lot easier for me. All you have to do is twist the light onto the base to lock it into place, depending on whether you want the shade to face up or down. To this day, almost two months later, the base hasn't fallen once.
The base of the light has a small spot on it that allows you to manually turn the light on and off and you only have to press it briefly to do it. You can also do so via the app.
Smart app features
To use the Poplight's smart features, you have to download the companion app and connect to it via Bluetooth. The process is simple and fast — I had to be within 10 feet of it and have Bluetooth turned on to do so. After pairing the Poplight with your phone, you can operate the phone from up to 30 feet, according to the brand. I used the app to adjust the light's temperature and dim the LED between three options, all of which are relatively warm and great for those who love low light. You can also set it on a timer, which is great for my sleep schedule.
Why I love the Poplight
Easy to install
As mentioned, the brand has helpful and accessible tutorials that make installation simple. Before installing I charged the included battery pack for four hours and then added it to the base of the light. The light doesn't require any drills, nails or work from an electrician — just two adhesive strips that I attached to the back of the base.The built-in leveler also ensured I installed it straight the first time. It's also quite lightweight (2 pounds) so I haven't worried about it on my wall.
Energy efficient
The Poplight uses a 300-lumen LED light instead of a traditional incandescent light bulb. LEDs are much more energy efficient, according to the United States Department of Energy (DOE), since they emit less heat than an incandescent one, which releases most of its energy as heat. This helps LEDs last much longer in comparison — an LED can last up to 30 times longer than an incandescent light, according to the DOE.
Adjustable temperature and smart features
While I mainly use the Poplight when I'm in bed, usually around dusk and on, the light has (so far) had a consistent glow without dims or flickers. And since it's an LED light, I expect it to last me quite a long time. I've only kept the light lowly lit for about 30 minutes to an hour before bed, but I've had it for about a month and used it on average for four days a week and I haven't had to recharge it at all. If you do plan on using it long term and/or at maximum brightness, then you'll have to recharge the battery pack. Plus, the brand sells spare battery packs that you can swap in when one dies.
The companion app for the Poplight makes it very easy to operate. I can adjust the warmth (you can choose between cool glow, neutral glow and warm glow) and brightness of the light and set it on a timer of 30 minutes, one hour or a custom amount of time. You can also use multiple Poplights throughout your home and assign them different names in the app to make them easier to control. Other options require you to use a small remote.
What to consider
Price
The Poplight is $99 and works with a free app. While you can turn the light on and off without the app you won't be able to adjust the temperature. If you're looking for a cheaper option that doesn't require an app, you could try Brightown's Battery-Operated Wall Sconces Set ($69.99) or the Wallchiere's Rechargeable Wall Lights Sconce Set ($91.99), both of which are highly rated and come with two sconces (as compared to a single Poplight). That said, installation requires tools like a screw and wrench, though neither of them require electrical work or special wiring.
The bottom line
The Poplight is best for renters who want the sophisticated look of a sconce in their bedroom, walkway, or wherever without having to use a nail, power drill or other tools (or have wires hanging down). It's especially good for people who want task lighting (like for reading, doing a crossword, etc.) and don't want to use their overhead light. College students can use it to add personality to their dorm, too. If you don't love the brown, beige and gray aesthetic that's popular right now, you may also find this to be a great option since it's available in bright colors and doesn't look like a carbon-copy appliance.
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NBC News
09-06-2025
- NBC News
Poplight sconce review: A wireless, rechargeable light that's a big win for renters
Renting as a New Yorker definitely has its benefits, but with them, come some inevitable drawbacks — including not being able to make permanent renovations. While there are things I'd love to add to my apartment, like new flooring, I've learned how to compromise. Over the years, I've implemented renter-friendly upgrades, like putting up adhesive towel holders and key hooks, and installing a faucet aerators, which have helped make my apartment feel more special. For me, lighting is a major part of my apartment's overall feel, but I'm not much of a table lamp person, especially in my bedroom. So when Poplight sent me a sample of their popular smart sconce, I was instantly intrigued. The light looks and works like a typical sconce, but it doesn't require any drilling or nails, and you can turn it on and off via a free app. Below, I share everything about my experience using Poplight's sconce and what you should know before buying one. What is Poplight? The Poplight sconce, often simply called the Poplight, is a USB-C rechargeable smart sconce that doesn't require any drilling or nails to install, making it ideal for renters and those who don't want to make permanent or semi-permanent renovations to their space. Instead, to install it to your wall, you'll use adhesive strips, a twist-to-lock base and built-in leveler. You can adjust the light's temperature and dim it through the brand's free app. The light comes with a battery pack that you'll have to charge for up to four hours (for a full charge that lasts between five and nine hours). The the light can last up to 30 days if you use it in intervals of 20 minutes or less, according to Poplight. (You can also buy a second battery pack as a replacement, which the brand recommends). Every Poplight has a metal arm, polycarbonate shade and a 300-lumen (3-watt) LED instead of a traditional bulb. The brand is an LGBTQ+ and women-owned business founded in 2023. The bulb is slightly larger than a softball and the base is around the size of a round coaster. My experience with the Poplight Installation After receiving my sample, I spent a couple days in my space thinking about the best place to try it. I thought it could be a good addition to my bathroom, but ultimately decided to install it in my bedroom directly above my bedside table, which is adjacent to my door frame — it's a New York City apartment after all, so space is limited. Before installing it, it was helpful to lay out everything on my bed to see. It includes a base with a built in leveler and two double-sided adhesive strips, similar to a Command strip. I attached the strips to the back of the base while using the leveler simultaneously to make sure it was completely straight. The brand also recommends wiping the surface of the wall with isopropyl alcohol to dry it and make the base adhere to it more securely. After doing so, I pressed the base (without any bulb) firmly on the painted wall for about one minute. Something to pay attention to: You have to allow the base to adhere to the wall for at least a few hours (the brand recommends at least one hour) before adding on the light to ensure it's stable. I left it on for a full day before adding on the light to be safe. I initially tried to install the light sans bulb, without letting it sit for long enough and it fell almost immediately, so this step definitely makes a difference. The following day, I watched the helpful video tutorial on Instagram and read the list of directions. The brand also has a photo and gif tutorial on how to install it, which made it a lot easier for me. All you have to do is twist the light onto the base to lock it into place, depending on whether you want the shade to face up or down. To this day, almost two months later, the base hasn't fallen once. The base of the light has a small spot on it that allows you to manually turn the light on and off and you only have to press it briefly to do it. You can also do so via the app. Smart app features To use the Poplight's smart features, you have to download the companion app and connect to it via Bluetooth. The process is simple and fast — I had to be within 10 feet of it and have Bluetooth turned on to do so. After pairing the Poplight with your phone, you can operate the phone from up to 30 feet, according to the brand. I used the app to adjust the light's temperature and dim the LED between three options, all of which are relatively warm and great for those who love low light. You can also set it on a timer, which is great for my sleep schedule. Why I love the Poplight Easy to install As mentioned, the brand has helpful and accessible tutorials that make installation simple. Before installing I charged the included battery pack for four hours and then added it to the base of the light. The light doesn't require any drills, nails or work from an electrician — just two adhesive strips that I attached to the back of the built-in leveler also ensured I installed it straight the first time. It's also quite lightweight (2 pounds) so I haven't worried about it on my wall. Energy efficient The Poplight uses a 300-lumen LED light instead of a traditional incandescent light bulb. LEDs are much more energy efficient, according to the United States Department of Energy (DOE), since they emit less heat than an incandescent one, which releases most of its energy as heat. This helps LEDs last much longer in comparison — an LED can last up to 30 times longer than an incandescent light, according to the DOE. Adjustable temperature and smart features While I mainly use the Poplight when I'm in bed, usually around dusk and on, the light has (so far) had a consistent glow without dims or flickers. And since it's an LED light, I expect it to last me quite a long time. I've only kept the light lowly lit for about 30 minutes to an hour before bed, but I've had it for about a month and used it on average for four days a week and I haven't had to recharge it at all. If you do plan on using it long term and/or at maximum brightness, then you'll have to recharge the battery pack. Plus, the brand sells spare battery packs that you can swap in when one dies. The companion app for the Poplight makes it very easy to operate. I can adjust the warmth (you can choose between cool glow, neutral glow and warm glow) and brightness of the light and set it on a timer of 30 minutes, one hour or a custom amount of time. You can also use multiple Poplights throughout your home and assign them different names in the app to make them easier to control. Other options require you to use a small remote. What to consider Price The Poplight is $99 and works with a free app. While you can turn the light on and off without the app you won't be able to adjust the temperature. If you're looking for a cheaper option that doesn't require an app, you could try Brightown's Battery-Operated Wall Sconces Set ($69.99) or the Wallchiere's Rechargeable Wall Lights Sconce Set ($91.99), both of which are highly rated and come with two sconces (as compared to a single Poplight). That said, installation requires tools like a screw and wrench, though neither of them require electrical work or special wiring. The bottom line The Poplight is best for renters who want the sophisticated look of a sconce in their bedroom, walkway, or wherever without having to use a nail, power drill or other tools (or have wires hanging down). It's especially good for people who want task lighting (like for reading, doing a crossword, etc.) and don't want to use their overhead light. College students can use it to add personality to their dorm, too. If you don't love the brown, beige and gray aesthetic that's popular right now, you may also find this to be a great option since it's available in bright colors and doesn't look like a carbon-copy appliance. Why trust NBC Select?


Time Out
24-04-2025
- Time Out
This awesome free tool will alert you when a new rent-stabilized apartment is available in NYC
Rent hikes got you spiraling into StreetEasy doom scrolls at 2am? Same. That's exactly what pushed software dev Adam Sebti and his friend Ilias Miraoui to build —a brand-new, totally free tool that notifies you the moment a rent-stabilized apartment goes live on StreetEasy. The duo, deep in the New York City rental trenches, was fed up with sky-high increases and the nearly impossible task of finding reasonably priced housing. So, like any good New Yorker armed with tech skills and a sense of rage, they decided to build a solution. 'We got the idea for this because we got frustrated with our rents increasing so much every year and wanted to find rent-stabilized apartments, but really struggled to do so,' Sebti, 30, says to Time Out. 'We both have backgrounds in tech—Ilias as a founder and I as a freelance software developer—so we decided to use our skills to build this tool.' RentReboot cross-references active StreetEasy listings with the city's publicly available list of rent-stabilized buildings (yep, the one that's more than 600 pages long) and pings you when a match shows up. It's not perfect—just because a building can have rent-stabilized units doesn't mean a given apartment is—but Sebti notes that you can check a rental's price history to make an educated guess. It's clearly more helpful than endlessly scrolling through the Internet. Currently focused on StreetEasy listings in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens, the team plans to expand to crawl other listing sites and eventually include additional alert types, such as no-fee finds or below-market deals. No bots, no gimmicks—just a couple of renters who got fed up and decided to share their fix. And yes, the tool is completely free to use.


The Guardian
23-11-2024
- The Guardian
Ronan Farrow on surveillance spyware: ‘It threatens democracy and freedom'
In 2017, while reporting a story on Harvey Weinstein that would, along with a New York Times report, kick off the #MeToo movement, the investigative journalist Ronan Farrow found himself the target of covert surveillance. The efforts to suppress investigations into Weinstein's history of sexual abuse, for which the Hollywood mogul paid the Israeli private intelligence firm Black Cube, were mostly old-school: front companies and false identities, hired subcontractors staking out buildings or tailing targets, gumshoes eavesdropping on meetings. Black Cube was able to obtain some of Farrow's geolocation data from his phone, thus tracking his movements, but the majority of its operations were contained to the analog world of traditional surveillance. Farrow later reported on these tactics for the New Yorker in the first of several pieces delving into the shadowy world of surveillance and, in particular, the private companies selling insidiously powerful spyware technology. Surveillance has always been an exercise of intimidation – 'it is emotionally devastating and intrusive and it makes you feel unsafe,' Farrow told the Guardian – but the new commercial spyware tools are, as laid out in a new documentary, 'a whole other game, a whole other level of sophistication'. Surveilled, now on HBO, is, on one level, a visual accompaniment to Farrow's bombshell April 2022 report on how governments – western democracies, autocratic regimes and many in between – secretly use commercial spyware to snoop on their citizens. The hour-long documentary, directed by Matthew O'Neill and Perri Peltz, records the emotional toll, scope and threat potential of a technology most people are neither aware of nor understand. It also serves as an argument for urgent journalistic and civic oversight of commercial spyware – its deliberately obscure manufacturers, its abuse by state clients and its silent erosion of privacy. The film, like Farrow's 2022 article and much of his subsequent reporting, primarily concerns a proprietary spyware technology called Pegasus that is produced by the Israeli company NSO Group. Pegasus, as the film chillingly demonstrates, can infiltrate a private device through one of its many third-party apps, sometimes with one click – via a spam or phishing link – or, for certain models, without any help of the device's owner at all. Once activated, Pegasus can control your phone, turn on your microphone, use the camera, record voice or video, and disgorge any of its data – your texts, photos, location. It is very possible, and now documented, to be hacked by Pegasus and not even know it. Surveilled follows Farrow on his globe-trotting efforts to trace the invisible, international scope of Pegasus: to Tel Aviv, the center of the commercial spyware industry, where NSO executives toe the party line that the group only sells to governments for law enforcement purposes and has no knowledge of its abuses. To Silicon Valley, where the giant tech companies such as WhatsApp are in a game of cat and mouse with Pegasus and others infiltrating its services. To Canada, where the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab leads efforts for transparency on who has Pegasus, and what they are doing with it. And to Barcelona, where Citizen Lab representatives detect Pegasus hacks, suspected from and later confirmed by the Spanish government, on pro-Catalan independence politicians, journalists and their families. Throughout the film, NSO claims to vet potential clients (though they have not disclosed what said vetting process entails), to have no knowledge of abuses – such as the Spanish government's surveillance of Catalan separatists, or the ruler of Dubai spying on his ex-wife in London, or the Greek prime minister listening to rivals' calls – and to discontinue business when such abuses arise. But Farrow's reporting suggests otherwise. 'The data activists and watchdog groups that monitor this see the data as moving through the company's infrastructure in a way where it would be pretty hard to have no knowledge [of misuse],' he said. This week, legal documents in ongoing US litigation between NSO and WhatsApp revealed that it is the company, not its clients, that actually 'installs and extracts' information from targeted mobile phones. Such targets are at the client's discretion, including regimes with abysmal human rights records that are instrumental to NSO's business. A former NSO salesperson who meets with Farrow anonymously in the film explains how NSO sold the same Pegasus technology to western European democracies for a fraction of the price it sold to repressive regimes in the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia – the logic being that western democracies are better representatives for the company. The same former NSO salesperson quit the company after investigations linked Pegasus to the 2018 murder of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi officials. (The company has denied any involvement.) NSO's tentacles in surveillance beyond the scope of counter-terrorism, not to mention Israel's longstanding use of Palestine as a laboratory for surveillance, evinces the need for more transparency. 'These companies need to be subject to the same kind of international regulation and legal infrastructure that arms dealers are,' said Farrow. 'That's just the reality. It's dangerous tech. It threatens democracy and freedom. It leads to violence. The data tells us this now. That doesn't mean that there are no law enforcement applications for it, which also makes it very similar to weapons of mass destruction.' Also like weapons of mass destruction – and generative AI, another nascent technology whose implications far outpace regulations – 'we can't be naive,' Farrow added. 'You can't put the genie back in the bottle. But we need restraints.' The United States government has not yet, to public knowledge, used Pegasus on private citizens. The FBI bought the technology under the Trump administration purportedly to test it, though a New York Times investigation later found that the department was keen to operationalize it. In 2022, the Biden administration passed an executive order limiting the US government's ability to purchase private spyware that has been abused elsewhere – though, as with any legal measure, there are loopholes. 'It is an encouraging statement of principle,' said Farrow, as is the move to put NSO and other spyware companies on a blacklist that prevents them from doing business with US companies. 'But these are pretty halting, limited measures.' And the incoming administration of Donald Trump appears to have little interest in even that. Trump has appointed as his national security adviser Michael Waltz, who as a congressman advocated for the expansion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in an effort to deport illegal immigrants. In a piece for the New Yorker released the same day as the film, Farrow reported on the Department of Homeland Security's new $2m contract with an Israeli firm called Paragon for their Graphite spyware, which can breach encrypted messaging services such as Signal or Telegram. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), an agency within DHS, will almost certainly use the technology for Trump's stated plans to deport illegal immigrants en masse. Farrow characterized the purchase as an impending 'digital panopticon' for not just the 3.7 million people awaiting immigration hearings, nor the millions more who have so far evaded immigration enforcement, but the US population at large. 'There's not transparency. There's not accountability,' he said. 'And it is very possible that with even thin types of law enforcement rationales, this could start to be deployed against people the administration just doesn't like, as we've seen in a lot of these other democracies. 'All of the privacy law experts that I'm talking to are very, very afraid right now,' he added. 'This tech is just increasingly everywhere, and I think we have to contend with the inevitability that this is not just going to be this path of private companies selling to governments.' Though in part a film of journalistic process, Surveilled also advocates for a regulatory framework on commercial spyware and surveillance, as well as awareness – even if you are not a journalist, a dissident, an activist, you could be surveilled, with privacy writ large at stake. The new digital surveillance tools are 'so cheap, and so accessible, and the legal protections are so porous', said Farrow. 'We all need to be invested in whether the space for political diversity of opinion, resistance, dissent, journalists getting information, shrinks or remains alive. 'This is not some side issue. This underpins all of the issues we care about,' he added. 'This is one of the bellwethers of and catalysts of crackdowns and authoritarian tendencies.' Surveilled is available on Max in the US