FabianLast week, Stefan Göhler, the developer of iConnectHue, came forward: He has integrated the fireplace and the candle effect into his application. The two effects were already officially announced by Philips Hue in a press release in January. At that time they wrote:
In the first quarter of 2022, new effects will also be added to the Philips Hue app. The ‘Candle' and ‘Fireplace' options imitate the light of an elegant candle and a crackling fireplace to create the ideal mood for a romantic dinner or a relaxing evening on the sofa.
It is possible that this will already be the case with the coming update. In any case, I have received information that the two new effects are already being tested in version 4.12 of the Philips Hue app. It can be assumed that this version will be released in the App Store in the near future.
These Hue lamps are compatible with the new effects
While the dynamic scenes work with all Hue bulbs, even the first generation, things are a little different with fireplace and candle. Philips Hue itself states that newer hardware is needed to enable the effects. “They are therefore only compatible with Philips Hue products that support both Zigbee and Bluetooth.”
However, this is not entirely correct. In principle, all new products that have come onto the market since summer 2019 are also equipped with Bluetooth in addition to ZigBee. This also applies, for example, to the outdoor products, for which Bluetooth is not actively advertised due to the range problem.
One problematic case seems to be the Philips Hue Play Lightbar. Hue inventor George Yianni said last year that there would be a silent update with a Bluetooth chip, but I have not yet been able to verify this. I have therefore ordered a new Play Lightbar so that I can try out the story for myself with the coming update.
Another case is the Hue Go of the first generation, which is still equipped without Bluetooth. Here, however, a candle effect could already be activated at the touch of a button – and therefore the older portable lamp is also compatible with the new effects.
It is also important to know: The candle effect works on all Hue lamps, including a Hue White. For the fireplace effect, at least one White Ambiance lamp is required.
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“The candle effect works on all Hue lamps”
Do you mean bulbs, or specific devices?
It is all very confusing. It looks like the only way to be sure is try the effect when it arrives in the app, and see what it works on and what it doesn’t.
Does not work on the Hue Bloom newly bought in 2022, unfortunately. Hue website specifications are not clear on this either today, cannot find a single specification line distinguishing this between Hue Go and Hue Bloom. There seems to be no official model feature comparison. Unfortunate really, and unworthy of being a market leader. Otherwise quite happy with the Hue setup.
Today, the Hue app displayed an asterisk on the What’s New section. I went there and saw that the Candle and Fireplace effects had been added.
But to my surprise, it seems like I don’t have a single device compatible with these effects, even though all my ten Hue lights are less than six months old.
Signify wrote, “Candle and Fireplace effects […] work on all Philips Hue lights that are both Zigbee and Bluetooth compatible.” And I think that most (probably all) of my lights are both Zigbee and Bluetooth compatible.
Strange.
Don’t understand why certain bulbs are incompatible in the Hue app but have been able to do the effect for a long time in the Hue Labs part of the app?
So after quite a lot of searching, I found a list of Hue devices that support the effects in Hue app:
https://www.assets.signify.com/is/content/Signify/Assets/hue/united-states/20220124-effects-compatible-lights.pdf
I have the Centris 4 and interesting thing is only main lamp (not spots) initially supported the effects. In the app, when choosing spot, it said that updating firmware will enable the effects on spots – and did with version 1.93.7.
The way the update works (no possibility to force it “now”) is another topic. Took me a few hours to get it there.
Hue Bloom mentioned above is on supported list (product codes 929002376001 and 929002375901). Firmware update might help.
Philips claims that old devices do not support effects due to limited amount of onboard memory. I could run fireplace/candle effect on my old bulbs with external app though.