In contrast to many other smart home systems, Philips Hue has a decisive advantage: after connecting the bridge to the router at home, you can use the entire system, at least locally, without registering. No account needs to be created. “That’s the good thing about Hue, you don’t need to register for local use.
Just before Christmas, Philips Hue introduced a new scene: Natural Light. It automatically switches between individual scenes over a 24-hour period to give you the most appropriate light for the time of day. Philips Hue writes: “Start with bright, cool tones to energise you in the morning, and end the day with a warmer, golden hue to help you relax in the evening.”
Here on the Hueblog, not only proven experts are reading, but also people who are just taking their first steps with Philips Hue. For this reason, too, I would like to address a concern today that Hueblog reader Rolf has shared with our community. For days I have been trying to create a new scene in Hue.
Philips Hue has once again released a new update in the App Store. Version 4.35 of the official application for the smart lighting system is now available for download. Included is one small change in particular, which can prove to be quite practical. In the room and zone view, you can now create your own groups for scenes.
In my article “Philips Hue is working on member management” I already announced this feature, now Philips Hue seems to be pretty close to launch. After logging in with the web browser to account.meethue.com, you will already find a section called “My Homes” in the “My Philips Hue System” section, which shows the number of Hue Bridge and the number of members.
I already had to announce it, but now the time has come: Philips Hue has increased the prices of almost all outdoor products and numerous ceiling lights. It will probably take a few more weeks until the changes reach the market. However, the new prices are already active in the official Philips Hue online shop.
In the smart lighting market, Philips Hue is an absolute premium product. The manufacturer also underlines this with the next price increase, which will affect almost all outdoor products and ceiling lights from February. I don’t necessarily have a problem with high prices – but then the quality should be right down to the last detail.
I already announced it last December, now I finally have more details: Numerous Philips Hue products will become significantly more expensive from 1 February. Most affected are ceiling lights and outdoor products. The biggest price increase will be for ceiling lights. Here, the increases amount to up to 40 euros. The list price of the large Hue Enrave, for example, will rise from 259.99 to 299.99 euros.
Back in February 2020, I wrote an article about how Philips Hue desperately needed multi-user support. But even three years later, there is still no way to limit the rights of individuals. The basic framework of Philips Hue has always made it so that control is only from one “account”.
More than a year after the original announcement, Philips Hue unlocked the new Natural Light feature yesterday. A 24-hour scene that provides the optimal white light throughout the different times of the day. Cool, activating white tones in the morning and relaxed warm white in the evening. The first big problem: Natural Light can so far only be activated manually in the app.
Fabian