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.
If you have downloaded the popular iConnectHue application to your iPhone or iPad, you can now look forward to a nice extra. The developer Stefan Göhler has released an animation package for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, with which you can light up your Philips Hue lamps in a particularly impressive way.
The year 2024 is drawing to a close. In the past 12 months, Philips Hue has launched a number of new products on the market. In this article, I’d like to take a look back and share my five hardware highlights of the year with you. Feel free to write in the comments which of the new releases you liked best.
Since the launch of the Philips Hue Perifo track system, I’ve been using a small installation in the kitchen, which has been a real problem solver for me. I have now fitted out another room so that I can test a few more Perifo products there – including the Hue Perifo T connector.
The 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.
Late yesterday afternoon, Philips Hue released another update for its app. Version 5.32 is now available to download from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The update includes numerous new features, only one of which is not really new. In the update description, Philips Hue once again announces multi-bridge support – but this has been available since version 5.31.
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.
Black Friday is only just over and the next offers are already starting. The festive sale has started today in the Philips Hue online store, here you can go directly to the promotion page in your country. The rules of the promotion are quickly explained: you can choose from almost 70 products and must add at least two of them to your shopping cart to receive a 15% discount at the checkout.
The software development of Philips Hue continues to progress. A new firmware for the Hue Bridge is currently being rolled out, software version 1968096020 has been on its way to you since Thursday. In addition to the usual bug fixes, the new version also delivers some real improvements. For example, the brightness for sleep automations is said to have been improved.
If you’re not satisfied with the options offered by the official Hue app, I’d like to introduce you to another candidate today: Hue Essentials. The application can be found in both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. What’s particularly exciting is that Hue Essentials not only runs on iPhone and iPad, but also on Mac.
Fabian