Philips Hue 3.0 App Update Brings Overhauled Interface, Picture-to-Light Feature, and 30 New Scenes

Now all we need is a higher capacity bridge. 50 lights isn’t enough anymore especially when the landscape lights arrive.

Absolutely love my Hue lights, but the software currently is so-so. This update actually looks very promising, can't wait!

I don't get it. Might be cool in a new house with smart switches, but in an existing house, it's just a pain. We removed our Hue lights because it's so annoying that you can't use the switches anymore (as you would turn off the smart lights). We even tried working with Eve Sensors, but it was still a hassle. Smart switches make much more sense than smart lights.

We set them to only switch on when there's movement after dark, but then we wouldn't have enough lighting on darker days, or when we set the lights to always come on when there's someone, then the lights would often be on unnecessary.

Even turning the lights off was far too complicated. HomeKit does allow a timeout to dimm lights when there's no movement, but that just resulted in us waving our hands during dinner. Automations also don't bring a solution. For instance, turning all lights of after midnight resulted in people sitting in the dark sometimes. Or lights burning while there was no-one around. Currently HomeKit is far too limited and not at all smart. Nothing beats a simple wall switch. At the moment, smart lights are a gimmick.

Hi all,
been reading Macrumors for ages, but this is my first message. Please excuse any mistake, I'm not English (Italian, actually).

I believe that every bit of automation inside our living spaces should disappear quickly after installation and become transparent, or something is wrong. This is precisely why I choose HUE over other products: because I could substitute my old bulbs and not change the normal everyday behaviour of my family.

Other might have different needs, but for me HUE bulbs were purchased to be able to lower the power usage and be able to give a bit of color to my rooms in particular moments. When you watch a movie, for instance, or when the kid goes to sleep. But for the majority of the time I was seeking the behaviour of a “normal bulb”. One that I switch on and gives me a natural white light, and that I can switch off as I’ve been doing for all my life, without the need to access an app adding a layer of complexity to this simple task. HUE does exactly that, if you want: it can work as a normal light because 90% of the time I don’t need fancy colors/scenes or to pick the phone/tablet or talk to Siri/etc. When I’m just passing by at night to go to the kitchen/bathroom, what I need is to switch the light on. In other cases (I have some bulbs outside in the backyard), I keep everything on and program “lights on 100% at dusk”, then “20% warmer light at midnight” and finally a complete switch off at sunrise. Other bulbs, for instance, seem to remember the last setting used, and then you might have to use the app more often to get what you need, that would be terrible for me.

But apart from the first days, when you have a new toy to explore and you spend hours in the app and testing things, these smart things as I said earlier should disappear and should not ask any management by the user, other than to activate some specific scenes when needed. As my Netatmo thermostat did: I put it on, I’ve been playing with it a lot for some days, but now it manages itself, and that should be the whole point of automation. I remember it’s there when the system sends me the monthly energy balance and if and when the sensor in the living room measure an increased level of CO2.

But that’s my usage, other needs may vary, of course, and I can see that people with bigger houses might find useful to be able to control everything from an app, or a set of smart switches. I have a couple of dimmer switches and a Tap myself configured with the scenes we use the most. But I wouldn’t say the need to give up physical light switches is necessarily a showstopper, in my case it was the opposite, actually.

Ugh, If only I didn't have to give up my physical light switches.

I don't get it. Might be cool in a new house with smart switches, but in an existing house, it's just a pain. We removed our Hue lights because it's so annoying that you can't use the switches anymore (as you would turn off the smart lights). We even tried working with Eve Sensors, but it was still a hassle. Smart switches make much more sense than smart lights.

We set them to only switch on when there's movement after dark, but then we wouldn't have enough lighting on darker days, or when we set the lights to always come on when there's someone, then the lights would often be on unnecessary.

Even turning the lights off was far too complicated. HomeKit does allow a timeout to dimm lights when there's no movement, but that just resulted in us waving our hands during dinner. Automations also don't bring a solution. For instance, turning all lights of after midnight resulted in people sitting in the dark sometimes. Or lights burning while there was no-one around. Currently HomeKit is far too limited and not at all smart. Nothing beats a simple wall switch. At the moment, smart lights are a gimmick.

They must be a gimmick for you, but for me and my single level, 3 bed, 2 bath house, and garage, it's perfect. Replaced 90% of all the light fixtures with smart lights (mostly hue, a couple other brands). The only lights we haven't changed is one kitchen light and the garage light cause they use those long tube lights. The most heavily used areas, we installed the quick touch switches. The HomePod is amazing. Have it in the living room. One of our scenes is "I'm Home" and it turns on the hallway lights, living room lights, and the kitchen lights. "Going to Bed" turns all lights to dim, and the master lights on. "Hey Siri, Goodnight" works perfect cause I lay down in bed, I can see getting into bed, and then when I'm ready, the lights go off.

You definitely have to think about the set up and have it work for you. The HomePod really makes it a lot more convenient, especially for my boyfriend who uses android, cause now he can use all the scenes too.

Let's clear up a couple of points. You can still use your physical switches to switch Hue lights on & off. The only thing is that if you physically switch the lights off, you can't remotely switch them back on (there's no power going to them!).

As for the updates to the App, some of the functionality is already in the current (2.19.1 version) of the App for Android. I already have my bedside light set up so it gradually switches on at 5:55am, reaching my requested "full" brightness 20mins later, and if I wanted to I can already set the reverse action in the evening. I can also set a home location and allow it to switch on the lights in the living room when I've been out and get home, or switch off the lights when I leave the house.

I don't get it. Might be cool in a new house with smart switches, but in an existing house, it's just a pain. We removed our Hue lights because it's so annoying that you can't use the switches anymore (as you would turn off the smart lights). We even tried working with Eve Sensors, but it was still a hassle. Smart switches make much more sense than smart lights.

We set them to only switch on when there's movement after dark, but then we wouldn't have enough lighting on darker days, or when we set the lights to always come on when there's someone, then the lights would often be on unnecessary.

Even turning the lights off was far too complicated. HomeKit does allow a timeout to dimm lights when there's no movement, but that just resulted in us waving our hands during dinner. Automations also don't bring a solution. For instance, turning all lights of after midnight resulted in people sitting in the dark sometimes. Or lights burning while there was no-one around. Currently HomeKit is far too limited and not at all smart. Nothing beats a simple wall switch. At the moment, smart lights are a gimmick.

You could have used the Phillips hue dimmer switches

fake news hue said its not coming out for a few weeks now

My whole house is kitted with hue bulbs now and the awful software has been my biggest gripe. It is / was awful and painfully limited.

Hopefully now it's quality will start to reflect the high cost of the hardware.

The light switch thing is funny - a guy I was talking to the other day moaned about how his Hue bulbs stopped working when he turned lights off at the switch. I asked him what exactly he expected to happen? When you cut off the electrical feed to an electronic device, there usually is only one result...

We use echo dots and motion sensors as we roam the house now, light switches practically feel like manual labour!