Helpful tips and tricks about Philips Hue make life easier with your own smart home. Whether it’s switches, apps or bridge settings, you can often get even more out of Philips Hue with a few little tricks.
Philips Hue’s basic idea for the Hue Secure cameras was pretty simple: they started with a closed system to only transmit camera recordings in encrypted form and thus offer a high level of data protection. Things are now a little different. Since December 2024, it has also been possible to access the live feed of a Hue Secure camera via the three platforms Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Samsung SmartThings – but then explicitly without encryption from device to device.
It’s a question that keeps coming back to me in various ways. It’s about ceiling lighting that still has a dimmer on the switch. What is a great thing for classic halogen or LED lamps and increases convenience is absolute poison for Philips Hue. One of the letters comes from Hueblog reader Frank.
A few years ago, there wasn’t much choice when it came to smart Christmas lights, but this year, things look very different. Nowadays, you have a wide selection from several well-known manufacturers. Philips Hue is, of course, part of the mix, offering various versions of the Festavia string lights this year.
With Twilight, Philips Hue has now launched the first lamp on the market that allows you to freely assign scenes and functions to the buttons in the Hue app. With the Philips Hue Go, on the other hand, the operation is predefined. But did you know that you can also set a color of your choice for the popular Hue Go table lamp?
I have quite a few Philips Hue products in my home, I think around 80 lights and at least 25 accessories. I’ve split the entire installation between two bridges and the whole thing has always been very stable over the past six years. Until a few days ago. Suddenly the lights in some rooms no longer switched on properly when I pressed the light switch.
It was one of the big topics when the Philips Hue wall switch module was introduced in spring 2021: The integrated battery. Many users would have preferred a fixed connection to the mains, but Philips Hue opted for a button cell. With the CR2450, the power supply should be guaranteed for 5 years.
Without a major app update, Philips Hue activated a long-awaited function on the server side on Monday. You can now find the “Do not disturb my scene” function previously known from Hue Labs directly in the Hue app. It can be used with the Philips Hue motion detector, with the Outdoor Sensor and also with the motion detection of the Hue Secure cameras.
This week, a rather interesting question came up in our small Hue community. Just this much in advance: unfortunately, I don’t have a positive answer again. But, somewhere out there, there is light on the horizon. Something might actually happen soon, even if it doesn’t come from Eindhoven. But here’s the question first: I would like to save a few sockets and was wondering whether it is possible to operate several Hue Lightstrips with one plug?
At the weekend, a question came up in our small Hueblog community that I am asked from time to time. I would therefore like to take the opportunity to provide a detailed answer here. Let’s start with the question, which is as follows. The Philips Hue Go table lamp has a switch on the lampshade.
With the latest update to version 5.21, Philips Hue has not only introduced some scenes, but also new functions. I have already explained how you can start sleep automation at the touch of a button. Another new feature is the option to hide rooms and zones on the start page.
Fabian