If you’ve seen my Apple Intelligence reaction video from WWDC24, you’ll remember me being upset about both my latest Apple product purchases— the iPhone 15 and Vision Pro— not supporting Apple Intelligence. While they certainly still aren’t getting any of those features, it’s hard to disagree that one of the best parts of the Apple Intelligence experience are the animations sprinkled in everywhere.
Inspired by the Apple 5th Avenue Store’s Apple Intelligence glow, I decided I would add this glow to my own desk setup with some Neopixel WS2812B addressable light strips— to make up for the lack of these colors on my iPhone and Vision Pro.
So, I’ve had RGB lights on my desk for a while now (see image below), and they’re high density diffused WS2812B light strips I got from amazon, which are controlled by an Arduino Uno. Now if you’re trying to replicate this for yourself, you’ll require such parts too.
Quite frankly the parts I have chosen are slightly overkill, you could get by just fine with a simpler Arduino model or a slightly less dense (but still diffused) LED strip, and be just fine— I had a few extra Arduino Unos (does that make it Arduino Cuatro?) lying around, so I decided to put them to use. Anyways, here’s a list of everything you need.
Arduino Board (You may use any one which can output 5V over one of the GPIO pins)
WS2812B LED Strips
Male to Male Wires
A cable to connect your computer to your Arduino board
Arduino IDE on your computer
First, I went to Apple’s website on the Apple Intelligence page, and found this text which had fairly saturated versions of the Apple Intelligence colors, perfect for what we needed.
I used a Color Picker tool to extract these colors, but I had to crank up the saturation even further for the LED strips to actually come close to the color I saw in the above image.
So here are the actual colors I ended up choosing. (Original -> Modified)
rgb(245, 54, 108) -> rgb(255, 30, 80) // Red
rgb(255, 129, 33) -> rgb(255, 101, 0) // Orange
rgb(58, 141, 250) -> rgb(54, 128, 255) // Blue
Here’s the code I’m using for this— I lost the files for my RBG strip program I wrote a couple of years ago, so this time I just asked ChatGPT to write this simple program for me!
You can get it from here -> https://github.com/OmChachad/Neopixel_Apple_Intelligence
Now, let’s get our code set up and running! If you’re familiar with Arduino, you know what to do, if not, here’s a step-by-step guide!
Step 1: Install Arduino IDE
Download Arduino IDE:
Go to the Arduino Software page.
Download and Install the version suitable for your operating system (Windows, macOS, Linux)— I’m guessing if you’re here, you’re likely on a Mac.
Step 2: Install Adafruit NeoPixel Library
Open Arduino IDE
Install the Library:
Go to Sketch > Include Library > Manage Libraries.
In the Library Manager, search for Adafruit NeoPixel.
Click on the Adafruit NeoPixel library by Adafruit and then click Install.
Step 3: Connect the LED Strip to the Arduino
Connect the LED Strip:
Connect the Power (5V) wire of the LED strip to the 5V pin on the Arduino.
Connect the Ground (GND) wire of the LED strip to the GND pin on the Arduino.
Connect the Data (DIN) wire of the LED strip to pin 6 on the Arduino (as defined by LED_PIN in the program).
Step 4: Upload the Program
Select the Board and Port:
Go to Tools > Board and select Arduino/Genuino Uno. (Or the board you have chosen)
Go to Tools > Port and select the appropriate COM port that your Arduino is connected to.
Upload the Code:
Click the Upload button (right arrow) in the Arduino IDE.
Wait for the upload process to complete. The LEDs on the Arduino will blink during the upload. And that’s it!
Here’s how the final result turned out. I’m quite happy with how it looks! It looks very similar to the colors in the 5th Avenue Store, and also comes very close to the LED strips they used during their press event last week for the M4 lineup of Mac computers! I’m always excited about switching up things in my workspace, and I really love this addition to my studio! If you end up implementing this in your own workspace, I encourage you to PLEASE tweet out a photo and tag @TheOriginaliTE, I would love to see your set ups!
Comments