It’s truly remarkable how much effort Philips Hue is putting into developing the new Hue Bridge Pro. Since its launch in September, there has been at least one software update every month. June, which has just begun, is no exception, as Philips Hue is already rolling out a new software version today.
In Europe, Philips Hue raised the price of the Hue Bridge Pro—which was only launched last September—a few weeks ago. In Germany and other countries, the price went from €89.99 to €99.99. Not exactly great news, but ultimately still a moderate price increase. The situation is quite different in the US.
It’s time for a few updates again. The next version of the Philips Hue app, this time likely without any major new features, is expected to be released later this week. Updates for the Hue Bridge Pro and the standard Hue Bridge are already being rolled out. In addition, information is finally available regarding the update for numerous Hue lights.
In early January, Philips Hue announced a new feature: SpatialAware. This feature uses a smartphone to scan the lights in a room, recording their exact positions. Based on this data, selected lighting scenes can be perfectly tailored to the room. Above all, this ensures that ceiling lights no longer emit a hodgepodge of colors but instead focus on the white spectrum.
I’ve received a few more emails from you over the past few days. There’s yet another new software update for the Philips Hue hub. Since March 12, version 2071258020 has been rolling out for the Hue Bridge Pro and version 1976081000 for the “old” Hue Bridge. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you exactly what’s changed in the new version.
The somewhat strange events surrounding Philips Hue are entering the next round. After it was noticed yesterday that Philips Hue had removed the Apple Home announcement from January from its website, there is now another “interesting” change. In the eurozone, the price of the Hue Bridge Pro has been increased to €99.99.
It’s time for updates in the Hue world again. Several updates are currently pending, as Philips Hue is releasing a new software version for the Hue Bridge and Hue Bridge Pro, among other things. The official Philips Hue app has also received another update. However, there don’t seem to be many new features in any of the three cases.
Philips Hue continues to tweak its software. Version 5.60 of the Hue app could be released in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store as early as this week. Before that happens, however, there will first be a firmware update for the two Philips Hue control centres. Since 29 January, Philips Hue has been distributing software version 2071209010 for the Hue Bridge Pro (previously 2071193000) and software version 1975134020 for the Hue Bridge (previously 1975104000).
As expected, things have quietened down somewhat at Philips Hue over the New Year period in terms of the regularity of software updates. For example, there have been no updates for the official Hue app since mid-December. Now, a new software version for the Hue Bridge and Hue Bridge Pro has been rolling out for several days.
I used my little weekly review on Sunday to draw attention to a small bottleneck that many users are experiencing after migrating their second or third bridge to the new Hue Bridge Pro. The rules, which are button assignments or actions of switches and sensors, quickly reach the unchanged limit of 250 available rules.
Fabian