FabianPhilips Hue has just released version 5.66.0 of its official app, introducing the SpatialAware feature—announced in January—for the Hue Bridge Pro. The update also includes improvements for the Hue Secure video doorbell. The update is now available in the Google Play Store for Android devices and in the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad. I’ll tell you exactly what’s changed.
As explained in detail a few days ago, you’ll need a Hue Bridge Pro for the new SpatialAware. Using your smartphone, you can then create a SpatialMap for each room by gradually scanning all the lights with the camera. This captures the exact position of the lights, after which an optimized version of the Hue scenes can be applied. About half of the scenes from the Hue Light Scenes Gallery are already optimized for SpatialAware; in the preview, you can compare the optimized and classic versions of the scene.
I’ll be putting together a step-by-step guide for SpatialAware for you in the coming days, but you really can’t go too far wrong with it anyway. I’m already curious to see how the difference will make itself felt in everyday life.
Video calls for the Hue Secure video doorbell
With this update, Philips Hue also delivers two interesting improvements for the Hue Secure video doorbell. As an alternative to regular push notifications, you can now also enable video calls. These are harder to miss and can be easily answered so you can see who’s at the door and communicate with the visitor.
If you can’t make it to the door, you can now automatically play pre-recorded responses in the Hue app. I’ll also explain in detail how this feature works.
