Its free form is capable enough, but to really unlock the apps potential, you’ll need to shell out for the alarms, widgets, NFC tag, and Tasker/Locale/Llama support through an in-app purchase. With the ability to assign specific colour palates to individual bulbs within the user-defined groups, Lampshade allows you to micromanage what every bulb is doing at all times as well as design complex custom lighting animations. LampShade.io for Philips Hue (Free, Android)įor users that want to absolute control over their lighting system, LampShade.io is a solid freemium choice. Goldee, however, brings new dimensions to your home’s lighting by allowing for dynamic lighting scenes that constantly, subtly change over time. And what you get is just a simple, static pattern. The Hue system is capable of recreating virtually any colour of the rainbow (save for greys, blacks, and browns) but manually designing complementary colour patterns using the stock control app is both time-consuming and labour intensive. Whether you’re pairing your new smart lights with your Google Assistant or setting up your smart home device for the very first time, Seamless setup allows you to. Speedy Hue also offers scheduling functions, and even the ability to write to NFC tags - assuming your phone has an NFC chip - so you can turn the lights on and off, even without your phone. Setting up smart lights is easy but it’s even easier with Seamless Setup when you set up your Philips Hue Bluetooth-enabled lights in the Google Home app. This app’s user-programmable widget gives you instant access to a specific set of Hue lights directly from the home screen.
If you just have a few rooms with Hue lights or you tend to use a few sets far more frequently than the others, check out Speedy Hue for Android. What’s more, iConnect Hue also features a sleep timer and alarm function that will slowly raise and lower your lights as you nod off or wake up. Once youve got the basics of smart lighting sorted putting your lights on a timer, turning them on and off with your phone, adding them to smart home rou. You can also dictate that it do this only at certain times of the day or only when the sun has already set. Auch mit der Applikation Hue Party kann man seine Lampen passend zur Musik leuchten lassen. As soon as your mobile device connects to your home Wi-Fi network, this feature-laden app will automatically boot up the Hue lights throughout your home. Like Alexa, you can then ask Siri to turn the lights on or off, dim them or set them to a colour like red or Halloween.The iConnect Hue from Crossfire Designs doesn’t even need to come out of your pocket to turn on the lights when you get home. If you didn’t pair with Siri when setting up your Hue bridge, go to the app’s ‘settings’ menu, then ‘Homekit & Siri”, followed by “Lights”. Setting up Siri is (naturally) a bit more involved.
Once added, you can then give each light a nickname to avoid wake phrases like “Hey Google, turn on Hue ambience lamp 1”. The app will then import your scenes, letting you sing out phrases like “Alexa, turn on relax in the bedroom”.įor Google Home, go the main menu in the top left corner in the Home app, followed by ‘Home control’, then press ‘+’ to add devices. To connect your Hue lights to the former, enable the Hue skill in the Alexa app, then go to discover devices. Naturally, this strangely satisfying trick works best when you have a hub like an Echo Dot or Google Home. Luckily, you live in an age of voice-controlled lights, thanks to Hue’s close relationships with Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant. Disaster! You’ve just sat down on the sofa after a long day and forgot to hit the light switch on the way in.