FabianThe Hue Secure cameras were launched just over a year ago. A lot has happened since then, there have been numerous updates and Philips Hue has also lowered the prices of the various cameras. Until now, however, the Hue Secure cameras were trapped in the Hue app – this is now changing with the latest update to the application. The cameras can now be paired with Amazon Alexa, Google Home or Samsung SmartThings.
I would like to explain exactly how this works in detail in this article. Of course, a device with the screen of the desired voice assistant is required; in the case of Amazon Alexa, this could be an Echo Show or Fire TV, for example. To use Alexa, the Hue skill must be activated for the Hue Bridge to which the Hue Secure camera is linked.
After updating to Philips Hue App 5.32, the camera is not yet automatically linked to the external smart home system. You must open the “Smart Home” section in the Hue app settings and select the desired service there (and link it first if necessary). In the following menu you will then find an item “Security” with Early Access to camera access. You must grant access here.
Philips Hue states that the integration is currently a beta function and that there may still be problems. In addition, the camera image is no longer encrypted when accessed via an external service, as is usually the case in the Hue app.
Only Apple Home is not compatible with the Hue Secure cameras
In my test with an Echo Show, the connection with the Hue Secure camera worked without any problems and the sound was also transmitted in an appropriate quality. If the camera is not found immediately, you may need to search for new devices on the respective smart home platform.
Unsurprisingly, there is bad news for the Apple universe. Philips Hue had already announced that it would not support the Apple Home platform via HomeKit. Instead, they want to wait until a camera option has been integrated into the Matter standard. However, this is still not the case today, even two years after the launch of Matter. It is likely to be at least another six months before anything happens – and that is an extremely optimistic estimate.
Philips Hue Secure Camera
from $149.99 / €149.99 / £129.99
Let Philips Hue keep an eye on your home for you! Get a crisp, clear 1080p HD live stream, turn on the lights or send an alert to your mobile device when motion is detected, or even trigger a sound alarm with a tap in the Hue app. This wired home security camera is easy to mount and install in any home.
Hi, interesting.
1 question, can we set an automation whenever the Hue camera detect a motion, it automatically display live feed on Echo Show ?
Has anyone successfully accessed a camera via Google Home?
My Home App can see my Hue Bridge and the light part of my Secure floodlight camera but not the camera part …
Had another try and it is now working! Asked the voice Assistant on my Nest Hub, Gen 2 to “stream garden camera” and it was displayed on the 7″ screen along with sound.
The earlier failure may have been related to a “Weak” WiFi signal from the camera which was fixed by adding an access point nearer to the camera. The WiFi signal is now “Good”. I had to reboot the camera to persuade it to switch its WiFi connection from my router to the access point. Don’t know if that is expected behaviour? A wired camera might not be expected to make use of WiFi roaming …
Note that from within Google Home on my mobile “This video stream can’t be viewed here. If you have a smart display or Chromecast, you can ask the Assistant to stream it there”. Not a big issue as it can be streamed in the Hue App.
I hope there will be other mechanisms to access the live stream, ideally encrypted. The ten word pass phrase should be sufficient to maintain security! Maybe there would be issues revoking access to third party clients? Although “Philips Hue Secure – E2E Encryption – Whitepaper” gives a good overview it doesn’t appear to provide sufficient details to derive the keys.
Hi,
I wonder if u can also use the camera as a motion detector to illuminate a light?
Hi, I haven’t myself use this, but as per my understanding, and i’m sure it can, it acts as security camera where you can set when it’s triggered as an alarm, you can set which hue light will react.
This appears to be possible from the Hue App:
“Settings->Security->Alarm when Armed: Away” has an option to “Add lights”. It’s available for “Alarm when Armed: Home”, too.
Looking at the “Hue CLIP API documentation version v2” (https://developers.meethue.com/develop/hue-api-v2/api-reference) the REST API has resource options for camera_motion and light_level. However, I have been unable to access them for either of my wired or battery camera. Neither of the cameras appear in the devices returned by a ResourceGet request …
It would be useful to have the option of only triggering the floodlight when it is dark outside.
Raised the issue of cameras not being visible in the output of a ResourceGet request with the Philips Hue Developer program. Their reply was:
“Cameras can work without a bridge. However if you want them to control the lights, you have to link them to the bridge, and then camera_motion and light_level will show up on the V2 API of the bridge. Settings → cameras → select camera → trigger lights”.
It appears that adding a Hue Secure camera to the Hue App doesn’t automatically add it to the Hue Bridge. Using “Settings → cameras → select camera → trigger lights” appears to add the camera to the Hue Bridge (even if the list of lights is empty). The camera then becomes available in the output of a ResourceGet request. The attributes “camera_motion” and “light_level” are also available.
Linked the camera and floodlight of my Hue Secure Floodlight Camera and confirmed that motion detection turns on the floodlight.
Once the cameras are known to the Hue Bridge they can also be accessed using the Home Assistant Hue integration.
This was done using the Android version of the Philips Hue App (Version 5.34.0 (19276)).