Philips Hue Releases App Version 3.0
itunes.apple.com/us/app/philips-hue/id1055281...Posted May 29, 2018, 10:01 AM UTC
27192
itunes.apple.com
I have to use the hue app. HomeKit has never worked even slightly reliably for me.
16
Agreed, when I set scenes the icon doesn’t even light up for me. Impossible to know if a scene is running or not.
4
That’s weird. I’ve always used the home app using control center or Siri and never the Phillips app cuz it’s horrible.
5
I was more so saying the home app isn’t reliable for me, I want to control everything via the home app or Siri but the issue in the home app with the scenes not lighting up still persists. Even Apple support couldn’t help me. With that being said, my lights don’t respond ALL THE TIME and I end up having to use the hue app a lot.
3
Oh okay. I use it in the most simple way possible so maybe that’s why. I have two bulbs in my bedroom that I’d either want to turn off/or on without getting up so siri/control center is perfect for me, but I see why for your situation it might be different.
1
odd- I had the opposite experience. the hue app was so shitty and home always just worked with all my junk at once, and well. it has always seemed more responsive than native apps with my nanoleaf and hue.
1
What are the changes? It doesn’t say anything in the change log...
13
New UI, new way to set colors, new cloud connect features. Those are the big ones that I've seen
5
[deleted]
2
In German it just says " - New app release. "
8
In the app, under Explore, there was a little video with the changes in it.
0
The one feature I want is a default light colour and brightness, so if there is a powercut we won’t be illuminating the whole village when it comes back on. Phillips said it was coming later this year and I got very excited when I saw the update, oh well, maybe soon....
12
We have them in our night stand lamps in our bedroom. This is especially fun with those middle of the night power surges.
5
I remember coming home from work one night and every single fucking light was on. I was very confused until I saw the clock on the stove wasn’t displaying the right time and realized there must have been a power outage.
4
Update looks very good.
11
Yeah, this UI update was sorely needed. Nice looking.
2
The only question I care about - does it support control of lights on multiple bridges without having to switch between them?
6
Still can’t have lights turn on at sundown and turn off at a specific time. Only sunset and sunrise.
4
This function is available through the "Phillips Hue Labs" under the "explore" portion of the app. Select the "sunset to sunrise formula" and set fade on for sunset and fade out at given time.
13
Thank you. But that seemed like it should be built into the regular app not something I have to download.
2
This is possible. Set the lights to turn on at sunset and not turn off. Then schedule the same lights to turn off at X:XX time. Works for me.
2
You can do this with HomeKit.
1
I’ve got mine to do that. You need two routines
- Other routine: turn on at sunset
- Go to sleep: custom time
0
Uhhh yes you can , I programmed mine to do that when I first bought them ages ago. On at sunset fade to off from 11-11:15 works great
0
App is constantly crashing while doing various things, for example when clicking on ‚set up Motion Sensor in HomeKit‘ when configuring a motion sensor. And some other random crashes — really bugs me.
3
still not possible to have notifications for routines right? e.g. i walk out my apartment and I'll know 100% my lights have been turned off.
2
I think, I'm not 100% sure, but I think there's a setting to automatically turn your lights off if their not already off. Like setting a second routine after the first routine to double make sure I suppose.
1
Why use the Hue app? I only use the Home app and open Hue when I have to update the firmware. Any benefits over the Home one?
2
The Home app is weirdly unreliable for me. A good portion of the time it'll say my devices aren't responding if I try changing one in the app or via Siri, but if I immediately switch to the Hue app the lights will respond without a problem.
8
[removed]
1
This app has some usability issues. The interaction design on the Home screen leaves much to be desired.
2
[removed]
1
I got a lifx light 2 days ago. The app can't find my lightbulb but homekit can. and Homekit doesn't have enough customizability for me. How can I fix that? I know this isn't the same company, but is it better off just getting a hue instead of lifx?
1
I would say the same. My LIFX has recently stopped tinting with different colors. I like to have a little yellow in my light at night or morning, but that broke with the 2.75 update.
I might
1
But lifx has a better light strand 😢
1
And the LIFX app still isn’t updated to my color changing needs? Oh.
1
I’m gonna say it, am I the only one who really hates those lights? The led colors look cheap no matter what not to mention tacky. There I did phew
-90
I got some Hue lights because they let me adjust brightness and, well, hue. It helps rest my eyes.
I don't mind the light they produce at all, and they're much better than older led lights.
51
If you use the colour changing feature to adjust the warmth, that's great and you're right it's good for the eyes.
But there's very little reason to have green, red, purple, etc...
3†
I think Phillips knows this. The price difference between the color bulbs and the white ambience bulbs is pretty minor, to the point where it can justified despite rarely being used.
Edit: typo
5
They seem fine to me. To each their own I suppose.
4
Yeah I don't have the colour changing lights, just the ones that let you set them to a warmer or cooler white.
2
Dunno man, I really like the Spring Blossom shade. It’s not really necessary, but I can’t help but like it.
2
We have red setup in the bedroom because if one person is still up they can be set to red and dimmed so you can still see while still letting the other person easily get to sleep. Also useful if one of us is going to sleep and the other is reading for a bit before they fall asleep.
I also have 2 setup behind the TV which sync with my media PC to light the wall behind the TV to match the image being displayed.
1
Agreed and do you know what my solution was? A $10 string lights that comes shipped with remote that adjust the luminous in 10 increments not to mention the ability to use my Apple TV remote for them as well. You can’t get smarter than that lol.
-18
So what's your problem then? How can you hate them if you like some of the settings? Just don't use the ones you don't need.
3
Read my original statement
-10
Which ones are that? It sounds potentially sweet.
1
It’s on amazon. Just google string lights.
1
Yeah but those have terrible CRI. Once you get some high CRI lights it’s hard to go back.
1
It's absolutely weird to hate a light.
It's a light. It should not upset you.
25
Reminds me of the IKEA commercial.
“Many of you feel bad for the lamp. That is because you crazy it has no feelings.”
0
I dunno man, I kinda like having my neighbours think I live in a brothel
19
I literally have a setup for this, It's green + purple + red, I'm pretty sure they do think I run a brothel or something.
0
You can hate them. The good thing about hating them is that you don't have to buy them! CFLs and LED bulbs are still on store shelves.
6
I’m not asking people not to buy so it is a good thing, stating personal opinions also is a good thing since we all have them and can share them with no scrutiny.
2
A red light with brightness near all the way down is great when I am trying to sleep but my wife who goes to bed later needs to go in the room and do her nighttime routine without bothering me.
We keep our kitchen light on the "salmon" color for the dog while we are away, or while watching TV in the living room (open concept). Provides a good amount of light but doesn't reflect on our television that much.
5
Weird, I do the exact same things for the same reasons.
1
We do the same thing. We have lightstrip behind the bed that reflects off the wall and a orb table lamp on my side. Red mode gets used when she reads and I’m going to bed and if she’s going to sleep first she sets the same scene then turns off the behind the bed light leaving my side on at something like 10%.
Also setup 2 behind our TV that are synced with my media PC which is a really nice looking effect.
1
Thy aren’t “led colors”, they are colors. Do colors look cheap? All light has a color.
2
Look up CRI. Color accuracy is measurable.
1
With the frosting they do. I don’t really need to explain my opinion at this point. You want them go get em and enjoy your colors you don’t live in my house so why would I care what you think?
0
I've been surprised how good they look. Disagree.
1
I’m considering buying some but I want to stick to the white lights. I’ll never, ever use colored lights in any circumstance.
I really want to start with LED strips in my kitchen but the Hue strips are unfortunately a bit expensive. Also unfortunately they have multi color options... a total waste IMO.
-1†
I’m not sure why different color lights is hot right now. I have the hue lights and I just use the regular light. Sometimes I’ll switch from an yellow/orange glow to white light. I have it for the convenience to turn the lights on from my phone or Alexa. The switch is placed behind a door and a hassle to turn on. I used the lights more in the past year than the last 20 years because they never turned on. I would just buy single color hue light bulbs. They are great and you’ll never have to change the light bulbs again. They are expensive but worth the convenience.
8
That’s basically what I want to do. I have a light behind my sectional that is kind of a pain to get to. It’s not hard but it’s more effort than it should be. If I could use my phone and/or an echo dot to control it I feel like I’d use it a lot more.
My guess is the color aspect is just marketing. Most people probably think “oooh neat I can use all these different colors,” buy it, turn the lights green once, and the realize it’s stupid and promptly never use it again. I guess there might be some value in creating a soft white color.
3
The color marketing is so weird like companies will promote their computers with full RGB color lighting keyboard and I’m like who gives a damn. You don’t look at the keyboard when you are playing or having a red color is hard to look at in a dark setting. A white light is more noticeable. I find multiple colors extremely cheesy and wish the trend would die.
1
Red lights are really nice when you need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, or as lamps in the bedroom when your SO is sleeping but you’re still up reading on the phone or w/e
1
Just curious, why would you "never" use colored lights? I have a few accent lights I set to a soft complimentary color, like blue, and it creates a really nice effect.
5
I just don’t see myself using the colors. I have a small fish tank that can change light colors. I initially thought it might be neat to set it to a color that blends in well. I tried it and it was kind of ugly and trashy looking so now I just use white light. Blue might be better light color but my kitchen has red accents so the blue light might look a bit off.
0†
Sounds like the Hue Ambient lights might be more for you then - they can only change warmth, they don't have full RBG color, but they're also about half the price. You could probably create a nice effect with ambient bulbs as the main lights with a couple of strips or RBG lights carefully placed for accents.
I will admit the RBG lights are more of a novelty than anything, but I do enjoy them. They're really fun when used when watching movies or playing games - there are apps that let you sync the lights to what's on the screen, so it makes the experience much more immersive.
2
Be careful people here have a hive mind when it comes to voting apparently. What a die hard fans here
-6
Get gen 2 instead of gen 3, which is what I have. It’s a bit cheaper and still does just about everything you need. Color ranges from 22K or 67K, which is very warm to very white, almost a blue.
2
Color ranges from 22K or 67K,
Hardly, since that would be invisible. 2200 and 6700 perhaps.
1
You’re not wrong, I work in the lighting industry and that’s how it’s discussed.
1
Exactly, like why would I want my place to look like a frat house on a weekend? I do find some led strips that looks cool but again, do we really want a color show? The only implement that I thought Led lights were the rage is the lightberry configurations for your tv and even that start to diminish with the introduction of OLED TVs since they were the trick to enhance contrast that LCD lacks.
The only way I would see those actually useful is to change the luminous of it to suite the mood instead of changing hues. In which a simple (valve?) can do the trick. If I’m gonna waste money on a new gadget then I will go nest route since that thing is actually useful and there isn’t any smart alternative in the actual meaning of the word.
-6
TIL my 4y/o sons room is a frat house
6
Check under the bed. I’m sure you gonna find some empty bottles, beer bottles.
-2
The Hue system does some strange things. For example it connects to ecdinterface.philips.com and keeps regular connection to it for...something?
And if you block the website, it really tries hard to restablish the connection, up to twice a minute, after a while it gives up and tries once an hour.
I’m guessing it’s to do with software updates...but it’s not clear why it needs to check once an hour, sometimes twice a minute?
I don’t even log in to the Hue system via the app; I just use an AppleTV w/HomeKit to control the lights. If Apple introduced Night Shift for HomeKit I wouldn’t even need for the Hue app...
EDC interface is what Philips uses for off-network control--i.e., being able to shut off your lights from your phone after you've already left the house and forgot to turn them off.
If you're bothered by it or if it's breaking something, a quick google search will pull up a few different results with instructions on how to turn it off.
Thanks for the advice! I had another look and yes the bridge is logged out, and automatic updates are disabled...
I also found out that if you have a HomeKit hub like an AppleTV or an iPad, you don't even need the bridge logged in, nor the Hue app to remote control the lights from outside the house.
I followed the instructions on this link to do the block. It still keeps wanting to connect once an hour...but I don't have the skill to figure out what traffic is being sent there. One great big mystery!
Yup, my Apple TV acts as my remote control hub, so I just piholed the domains the bridge phones home to.
Yup. My Hue Hub is straight up blocked from accessing the internet except when I check for firmware. All control is done through HomeKit and I only use the app for adding devices and running updates.
Yeah that makes the most sense. I've used that feature to mess with my girlfriend before and turn the house red. The lag time is pretty minimal. I would get "haha very funny" text fairly quickly.
I have pi-hole setup at home and I see tons and tons of traffic from my Hue Hub.
It's due to GDRP. They had to separate some shit out of the app (hence the Hue Hub whatever pop-up) and my case is it checks to see if you're logged in and sends a call home to see if you want to wakey wakey the lighty lights.