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.
In December 2022, Philips Hue launched its first automatically running scene: Natural Light. This scene uses different shades of warm to cool white light that are automatically adjusted throughout the day. “Start with bright, cool shades to energize you in the morning and end the day with a warmer, golden hue to help you relax in the evening,” Philips Hue writes about the Natural Light scene.
At the beginning of October, Philips Hue made its Hue Secure cameras cheaper and lowered the recommended retail price. And not too close, the prices were reduced by more than 30 percent in some cases. But that was not the end of the story. After a sale started a few weeks ago in the USA, there is now an additional 20 percent discount on Philips Hue smart cameras in Germany and Europe.
Philips Hue has been offering its Hue Secure cameras for just over a year. In the meantime, the story has really taken off, with numerous improvements via software updates in recent months. Support for Amazon Alexa and Google Home was also announced at the beginning of September. Now I can finally give you a concrete time frame.
At the beginning of September, Philips Hue announced that the Tento series, which was only launched in the first half of the year, would also be available in a square shape. After the round models have been available for several months, the square versions are now also available. And they are at least as interesting.
This afternoon, Philips Hue released another update for its app, version 5.29 is now available to download from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Unfortunately, this is still without the previously announced multi-bridge support that so many of us are waiting for. There are still two months to go, as the function is still due to arrive in 2024 – at least that’s what the manufacturer announced at the beginning of September.
This week, Philips Hue has released another software update for the Hue Bridge. Version 1967054020 has been rolling out since October 22nd and, as always, will be distributed over several days. It is therefore quite possible that your Bridge will only be ready in the next few days. The minor update, previously version 1967054010 was in use, only fixes a bug relating to the smart Friends of Hue switches.
A Reddit post drew my attention to a detail that I was previously unaware of. I’m all the more excited to hear your feedback, especially if you’ve recently bought a new Philips Hue dimmer switch. Apparently, the manufacturer has slightly revised the housing of the popular accessory, but not the bracket supplied.
AI has become an integral part of the technology world and artificial intelligence now has a hand in many things. Perhaps soon in Philips Hue too? This is indeed conceivable, at least in part. Philips Hue has been testing an AI Playground for some time now, which is designed to create a suitable light scene with a simple text command.
Last week, Philips Hue began distributing software version 1.122.2 for almost all of its lights. By now, you should all have received the new firmware – as the manufacturer released an update for the official Philips Hue app yesterday evening. Version 5.28 contains extensive new features, which I would like to introduce to you in this article.
Fabian