Philips Hue: How to Get the Most Out of Smart Bulbs

Squeeze the app from Philips Hue bulbs

Philips smart bulbs are expensive . Or maybe not and what happens with them is that other brands have been able to lower prices a lot to compete. But without going into evaluating that, because surely everyone will have a different opinion, what is clear is that they are the best options due to maturity, variety of the ecosystem and the options offered by their application.

In addition, thanks to the use of the Zigbee standard, they are also a very interesting option for those looking for quality lights for main rooms and to complete the others with compatible solutions such as those from IKEA that are cheaper.

However, what we are interested in telling you about are the uses and little tricks that you will be able to perform with the Philips Hue application. Thus, if you have just started and still do not know very well everything it offers, we hope to help you get more out of it.

1. Individual or group management

Accessing the Philips Hue app and managing your bulbs independently is something everyone knows how to do, but it’s much more interesting to take advantage of group options .

Thanks to these groups, you can create a set made up of several bulbs and apply changes to all of them at the same time. So, for example, you can change the intensity and they will all change in unison. Of course, all the bulbs have to be of the same type for it to work.

This as we say is something very practical and convenient, because it does not really limit other types of options. What’s more, from the selector itself you can quickly switch between group or individual control.

In addition, it is important that from this screen you can group them for synchronized control or separate them. This is as simple as doing the following:

• To group bulbs, as long as they are of the same type (RGB or white), you just have to select one and drag it over another. When you release you will see that now the same icon appears but with a number that indicates the number of lights it has. You can add as many as you have
• To separate a group, tap on that icon and the bulbs will appear independently and you will be able to move each one of them to set the color you want

2. Automations by locations

At first it is possible that many do not see the utility of this, but being able to perform automated actions with your bulbs according to your location (or that of your smartphone rather) is something great. Because you can create an automation so that when you leave home and the app detects it thanks to the use of your phone’s GPS, the lights could all turn off.

If you are a somewhat clueless person, you can stop worrying because you will have the certainty that they turned off. You can also take advantage of this on the contrary, so that they turn on as soon as you arrive at your house. So when you walk in the door, everything configured will be on.

The only thing you should know is that if you live with more people at home, it is not a good idea. Or warn them that if it happens they know what it is due to. Do not be scared.

3. Scenes for repeating configurations

The moment you repeat a configuration for your smart lights with some frequency, you should consider the idea of creating a new scene. Thus, if you always set the light in the living room to a brightness and finished colors, and the same later with the rest, you will only have to do it once. From then on, go to the app, scenes section and choose the one you want.

These scenes are easily created and can give a lot of play for moments of cinema, video games, reading, etc. Surely you do not lack ideas to take advantage of them. To create a new scene :

1. Open the Hue app
2. Go to the Home option
3. Click on Create new scene
4. Assign name
5. Configure each light
6. Accept and voila, you have it

4. Scenes from your own photos

If you have browsed the Philips Hue application you will have seen that there is a section of scenes that replicate the colors of an image . Here, depending on the number of lights, everything will be much more faithful, but in general terms as soon as you have three lights the result is very attractive.

Well, the interesting thing is not so much to use these images already established as those of a photo that you have taken and have in the gallery of your phone. You just have to select it, the app analyzes it and represents it for you by selecting the room or group of lights that you want it to use for it.

5. Wake up to your Philips Hue

Without a doubt, the sound of the alarm clock can be very annoying. Therefore, when many users discover this option to wake up with light, it is as if they saw the open sky. You will only have to do the following so that every morning you wake up as if you were in the middle of the change and the dawn light was little by little getting you out of bed.

To create an awakening with light you just have to follow these steps:

1. Open the Hue app
2. Go to the Habits section
3. Now look for the Wake up option and select it
4. Then click Create routine
5. You will have to fill in some previous data such as the name for said alarm clock, time and days that it will be active
6. Select the Gradient up option so that the amount of light goes from less to more and sets the time it will take to go from minimum to maximum
7. Now select the lights and voila, you have it

Try this way of waking up for a few days and tell us what you think. We are convinced that there will be no going back from continuing to set the alarm clock on your mobile or other clock so that annoying beep tells you that it is time to get up every morning.

6. Relax with the descending gradient

Like waking up with the progressive increase in light in the room, being able to do the opposite process favors going to rest at night or simply achieving a more relaxed atmosphere .

To make use of this function that the Philips Hue application also allows, all you have to do is go to Habits and there click to create a new routine. Now create it at the time that interests you the most, set the level of the lights, temperature and voila. You will see how every day at that same time the lights will change automatically and both you and your little ones will realize that it is time to relax to rest.

7. Timers with light

Timers can be just as annoying as alarm clock alarms. Also, if you work with headphones on listening to music, you probably won’t find out more than once.

In order to find an alternative, you can try timers with light alerts . Thus, when a period of time set by you ends, instead of sounding something, one of your bulbs could light up in blue.

8. Hue Sync

As we said at the beginning, one of the main values of the Philips Hue is the integration with other third-party applications. In this case it is not like that, but it is from the brand itself, it is called Hue Sync and it allows things as interesting as synchronizing the content that runs on your computer (Windows or Mac) with your smart lights.

Thus, through a very simple interface, if you are playing music on Spotify the lights will blink to the rhythm of it. If you are watching a movie or series, then the same. And also if you are playing video games on your computer.

Here it is true that the more lights you have, the better, especially to display content and achieve a kind of ambilight experience. By the way, if you install HueDynamic on your Xbox, Android or iOS smartphone, you can also take advantage of this dynamic lights experience. you can also

A few bulbs with a great support

If you add to all this that you can control these bulbs both with Google Assistant and its Google Home app, with Alexa and its respective application of the same name or with Siri and the Home app of iOS, iPadOS or macOS, since they have practically everything .

Also, as we said, it can be combined with third-party accessories and make the experience grow even more.