Hueblog: The new Hue app: Signify still needs to work on these points

The new Hue app: Signify still needs to work on these points

Hopefully our criticism will be noticed

Last week, I asked you how satisfied you were with the new Philips Hue app. After all, the big update to version 4.0 was rolled out almost two weeks ago. The result is more than clear from my point of view: Only just under 11 percent of users say that they like the app already since well.

Just under 50 percent of users see promising potential, and a good 30 percent of readers would like to see the old app back. There is still a lot to do for Signify – I want to focus on some important points again in this article.

I have already reported on the widgets, here there are unfortunately not many options for Signify, especially on iPhone and iPad. Unfortunately, with the upcoming iOS 15, Apple will probably also not offer homescreen widgets that allow actions without launching the app.

The timers are a different story. Personally, I have never used this feature and honestly did not expect so many of you to complain about its absence. No question: this feature needs to return to the Philips Hue app as soon as possible.

A much bigger construction site is likely to be the detailed view of the individual rooms and zones. I can put up with the horizontal arrangement of the scenes in two rows, but the tile view of the lamps is a big mess, and not just for me. Especially in rooms with more than four lamps, which is really nothing unusual, the handling is simply bad.

In addition, the small width of the tiles ensures that the names of the lamps are no longer completely displayed and cut off for many users. Depending on the device, there are even essential labels in other parts of the app that are not displayed correctly. There really needs to be a lot of improvement here.

What I personally don't understand: For some recurring actions, one more step is now necessary. If you wanted to change the brightness of a lamp in the old app, you could do it directly in the room view. Now, you have to tap on the lamp in the room first and then you can adjust the brightness in the lamp view.

In conclusion, I can personally say that it can happen that not everything fits right away with such a large update – and that even a large development team sometimes sees things differently than a large part of the community. However, it is all the more important to respond to the feedback of the paying customers and provide suitable solutions.

In den letzten Jahren habe ich mich zu einem echten Experten in Sachen Hue & HomeKit entwickelt. Mittlerweile habe ich über 50 Lampen und zahlreiche Schalter im Einsatz. In meinem kleinen Blog teile ich meine Erfahrungen gerne mit euch.

Comments 2 replies

  1. I use the timer when going to bed. Just set a timer then go up. I don’t have any tech in the bedroom, kind of detox, so now I have to go up in the dark!

    Can’t believe that a major upgrade drops features but that’s now the way of the world.

    Get lock in so you can’t swap then do what you want when you like. I’m disappointed with Philips because they have never acted like the big bad tech firms before.

    I hope they bring this feature back

  2. I bought a hue setup for a hard if hearing friend specifically because they could use the timers. Now they can’t and I have been trying to find a workaround for them.

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