Philips Hue Begins Rolling Out Major 3.0 Update to All Users of iOS App

Tuesday May 29, 2018 4:46 AM PDT by Mitchel Broussard
After an announcement at CES in January and more details unveiled earlier in May, Philips Hue today is finally beginning to roll out a major 3.0 update to its iOS app for all users of the connected lighting platform. In the release notes, the developers call version 3.0 "the biggest update to the Hue app since the original release of the 2.0 version."


Major changes include improved user interface navigation with quicker access to favorite scenes and colors, brightness controls and light visualization for individual lights and not just grouped-together rooms, and new color pickers for better overview and grouping of lights in a room. Hue's lighting designers have also created 30 new picture scenes for pre-set lighting recipes, and a new picture-to-light algorithm can automatically build scenes using the user's own pictures.

Users will also find a few existing Hue features again in version 3.0, including lighting routines to automatically dim lights at night and gradually turn them on in the morning, and the location awareness feature so lights can be set to turn on when the owner arrives at home or turn off when they leave. Meanwhile, the timer function activates lights after a specified time by triggering a scene or simply flashing the lights.


In the release notes, the Philips Hue team discussed the app's changes and thanked its users:
"The 3.0 app update is the biggest update to the Hue app since the original release of the 2.0 version. We’ve tried to make it more intuitive and enjoyable for everyday use. Some changes you might hardly notice, while others are hard to miss."
Later in July, Philips Hue will also debut a line of Hue lights for outdoors, so that users can connect and control their lighting on a patio, balcony, or other environment outside. The new lights include the Philips Hue Lily, which can be used to highlight key features in a garden, and the Philips Hue Calla, which can be placed in the ground and light pathways through outdoor spaces.

For the app update, version 3.0 is available to download today from the iOS App Store for free [Direct Link].

Tag: Philips Hue
24 comments


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Swampthing
17 months ago

How is the icon still that terrible 3 versions in :(


That didn’t take long. Some people here always find something to complain about with everything.
Rating: 7 Votes
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allenvanhellen
17 months ago
I want the lights to be able to go back to their previous or scheduled state when I turn the wall switch back on from the off position.
Rating: 3 Votes
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thisisnotmyname
17 months ago
The app is fine, fix the firmware so it doesn't turn on every light after a power outage!
[doublepost=1527601077][/doublepost]

As far as I know this is a wanted/mandatory feature.
If there is an emergency and ambulance or firefighters need to enter a room, the first thing is to turn the lights on. They might try it one or two times if nothing happens ... by having them coming up at full strenght when the power was off, the chance to find a person lying on the floor is higher.

This was discussed in the hue forums quite some time ago and it was made clear that this will not change.


First responders deal with emergencies in power outages all the time, they carry flashlights. Some of us don't have old style switches in our homes so this whole concept is just ridiculous. It's a longstanding complaint from a big portion of their user base and they refuse to fix the issue.
Rating: 3 Votes
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thecatman001
17 months ago
The biggest complaint about the Hue system - per me amd their help line - is that when the power goes off, all the lights come on full strength. I was told this would be fixed in this release yet there is no mention of it. The rest of the update is just fluff for me as I never change my setups.

It's great that I can turn the lights off again remotely, but if I'm out of town, checking Hue every 5 minutes isn't part of the plan.

It would be nice if they can't figure out how to fix it, if they just sent out an alert to my phone that the power went off.
Rating: 2 Votes
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Babygotfont
17 months ago

Can you use the bulbs without a hub yet? I’ve been waiting for that along with the price to come down over the years.


i made the determination when researching and investing into my smart home ... decision #1 ... no devices that require their own or an additional hub. period. no exceptions.
Rating: 2 Votes
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dan9700
17 months ago
its really nice, all i wish was some animated sences like moving ones
Rating: 1 Votes
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Koxi
17 months ago

Yeah that's interesting. I think they work like that so that you can have "backward compatibility" with normal switches. If you walk into a dark room with wall switch controlled lights you could flick the switch off and back on and your Hue lights would turn on like a regular bulb would. I do use them that way sometimes when my phone is out of reach. That said, I've also been woken up in the middle of the night by bright lights because the power flickered during a storm. Maybe making that a configurable option would be nice.


As far as I know this is a wanted/mandatory feature.
If there is an emergency and ambulance or firefighters need to enter a room, the first thing is to turn the lights on. They might try it one or two times if nothing happens ... by having them coming up at full strenght when the power was off, the chance to find a person lying on the floor is higher.

This was discussed in the hue forums quite some time ago and it was made clear that this will not change.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
slineaudi
17 months ago

...when the power goes off, all the lights come on full strength...


Yeah that's interesting. I think they work like that so that you can have "backward compatibility" with normal switches. If you walk into a dark room with wall switch controlled lights you could flick the switch off and back on and your Hue lights would turn on like a regular bulb would. I do use them that way sometimes when my phone is out of reach. That said, I've also been woken up in the middle of the night by bright lights because the power flickered during a storm. Maybe making that a configurable option would be nice.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
az431
17 months ago

As far as I know this is a wanted/mandatory feature.
If there is an emergency and ambulance or firefighters need to enter a room, the first thing is to turn the lights on. They might try it one or two times if nothing happens ... by having them coming up at full strenght when the power was off, the chance to find a person lying on the floor is higher.

This was discussed in the hue forums quite some time ago and it was made clear that this will not change.


Because emergency responders never enter dark rooms and aren’t prepared for that scenario?
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
bluespark
17 months ago

i made the determination when researching and investing into my smart home ... decision #1 ... no devices that require their own or an additional hub. period. no exceptions.


Why? I have several hubs plugged into an Ethernet switcher and they work beautifully. What advantage do you see to a no-device-with-hub approach?
Rating: 1 Votes
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