Hueblog: Community question of the week: Motion detector depending on presence

Community question of the week: Motion detector depending on presence

Activating different scenes

With full-blown smart home systems, such a setting is probably no problem, but in the Hue universe, on the other hand, you come up against your limits. It's about a question about the Philips Hue motion detector that Mike sent me by email:

I've been searching the net for a few days and can't find what I'm looking for. Can you tell me if it is possible to turn on Hue lamps brighter and cool white through a motion sensor when no one is home, and less bright and warm white when the movement is by family members, i.e. a known iPhone is nearby?

The iPhone is indeed the key to success here, at least if a HomeKit control centre such as an Apple TV or HomePod is present in the household at the same time. Then you can configure the motion detector via Apple's Home app.


This is how easy it is to create a HomeKit automation for the Hue Motion Sensor

To be more precise, you create one or more new automations. You can see exactly how this works in the following four screenshots.

Here is an overview of the steps:

  1. Create a new automation – When a sensor detects something
  2. Select the desired Hue sensor – look for the icon with the person
  3. In the Time and People section, make the desired selection
  4. Select scene or devices to activate – and select the desired time to deactivate.

Unfortunately, you can only access some details in HomeKit with third-party apps, such as brightness or motion detection intensity. However, if this is not absolutely necessary, the way described here via the Home app is certainly a good solution.

Philips Hue Motion Sensor

$44.99 / £39.99 / €44,99

Trigger your smart lights with movement. The battery-powered Hue motion sensor can be easily installed anywhere in your home.

Note: This article contains affiliate links. We receive a commission for purchases via these links, which we use to finance this blog. The purchase price remains unchanged for you.

Check your local Philips Hue Online Store for availability of Hue products in your country. There you will also find all the technical information and prices.



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 1 reply

  1. You could do this with home assistant using the phones and have full access to features?

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