FabianAfter a short Easter break, Philips Hue released its next update this week. Version 5.64.2 of the in-house app has been available for download on the Google Play Store since yesterday and on the Apple App Store since today. Aside from the usual under-the-hood improvements, the only new feature is a small function that allows you to remix the colors in previously saved scenes.
“You can now reshuffle the colors of previously saved scenes from the Scene Gallery”, reads the update description for the Philips Hue app. Here’s how it works: “Recall a scene from your room or zone, tap the pencil icon to edit, and select Shuffle colors to give your lights a fresh new vibe.”
There’s no new information yet regarding the previously announced Hue SpatialAware, which is still set to launch this spring. As I’ve since learned, the feature is already in beta testing. So we can expect an official launch in April or, hopefully, by May at the latest.
Is the new update causing problems on Android?
If you’re using an Android smartphone, there’s one detail you should be aware of. A reader in the Hueblog community reported that after updating to version 5.64.2, they could no longer add light bulbs—and this happened on two different devices. Neither scanning the code nor adding lights without a code works for him anymore.
Unfortunately, I can’t verify the issue myself, since I only use an iPhone—and I haven’t encountered any problems here after the update. If you use Android, feel free to check it out and let us know in the comments. Maybe we’ll be a little wiser then.
The issue with being unable to add bulbs using the latest version of the app on Android is happening for me as well. I can scan the QR code and get to the “this device will be added” confirmation, but then when I click Next, it says “No devices added.” Very frustrating. I hope they fix it soon!
From my understanding and it’s been awhile since I added a light bulb.
Hue bulbs that uses Bluetooth. I think there’s a maximum of 10. That’s tied specifically to an update that happened a month or two ago with Android that messed up the Bluetooth connectivity.
They’re supposed to fix it, but it keeps getting delayed. And they acknowledged. There’s a problem.
It’s basically affected anything that uses a Bluetooth to hand off the information. The exact same thing happened with the home hub application from home Depot like ceiling fans, light bulbs, Etc.
You can’t add them to a room because now they hand off from one Bluetooth to the other using your cell phone versus before you could just input the Wi-Fi information. The Bluetooth wasn’t needed.
Home hubs new system and Android broken Bluetooth broke everything.
Now you’re only capable of adding one. It stores the information on the Android’s end tries to connect with Bluetooth to do a handoff, but it doesn’t take anything. (Broken BT) Even scanning. And you can no longer enter it manually. This sounds identical towards happening with the hue bulbs.