The Philips Hue App Features a New Home Dashboard, Personalized Widgets and More
Philips has just released a new version of the companion app for its popular Hue lighting system.
Rooms, routines, and scenes
With the revamped scenes feature, you can create your own personalized lighting scene.
The previous edition was in desperate need of an overhaul, and Philips has done a great job providing a modern design and a number of new features.
Users will notice the significant changes immediately after opening up the app. The UI looks spectacular and is easy to navigate.
Probably the nicest addition is quick way to control lights in different rooms or areas of your house. During setup, you can manually assign lights to specific rooms or import the information from existing Apple HomeKit data.
The new routines feature allows users to set the Hue lights around their daily schedules.
While the previous app supported a scenes feature, the new version has taken a big leap forward. It can extract a color palette from any picture you select and then chose the five best colors to create a specific mood. Some of the new preset scenes include colorful options like spring blossom, savanna sunset, arctic aurora, and tropical twilight.
Any fan of Notification Center widgets should also enjoy the new feature that allows up to 10 different widgets that combine numerous rooms and scenes.
Finally, the app now also offers a nice home security feature. Users can have their Hue lights automatically turn on and off when they are away from home. Using location settings, you can even have the lights automatically turn off when you leave and on when you arrive.
Wrap-up
The system is a great start to creating a smart home.
The new Philips Hue gen 2 app is designed for the iPhone/iPod touch and all iPad models and can be downloaded now on the App Store for free.
Just to note, you’ll need to download this new app to take advantage of all the improvements. The previous Hue app has been renamed Philips Hue gen 1 and features a gray icon.
You can pick up a Hue starter kit now for $179.98. It includes three color changing A19 bulbs and the Hue bridge that can plug into your router.
While the smart home market is still in its infancy, the Philips Hue system is a great way to jump in head first. Along with being fully compatible with Apple’s HomeKit and Siri control, the system works great with the Amazon’s Echo smart speaker.