I've been building a Hue control app for iPhone and iPad, and I wanted to share it here before it's out, mostly to see if this solves a problem other people actually have too.

The idea started from something that always bugged me about the stock Hue app and Apple Home. Every time I add a light, a scene, or a group, the buttons shift around. I never remember where anything is, so I end up scanning the screen every single time.

So I'm building something closer to a physical control panel. You set up a grid of panels once (toggles, sliders, buttons for lights, scenes, groups), and they stay exactly where you put them. Muscle memory instead of hunting.

My own setup is an iPad mounted on the fridge, always on, showing the dashboard (first photo). Second photo is edit mode, where you tap empty spaces to add panels and drag existing ones around.

It's not out yet, I'm still polishing things up, but I wanted to check in with actual Hue users before I finish it. A few things I'm curious about:

• Does this fixed layout idea actually solve a problem for you, or do you not mind the shifting buttons in the stock app?
• If you had a permanent panel like this in your home, what's the one thing you'd want it to show or control that isn't lights? Weather, a clock, photos, something else entirely?
• What would make you actually switch away from the app you use now?

Happy to answer questions about how it works. Feedback, even harsh, is very welcome.

Launched a year and a half ago as an April Fools' Day prank, the Hue Go XXL could be unveiled as a product as early as this September. This is shown by a new leak of images.

https://www.smartlights.de/news/kein-scherz-philips-hue-go-xxl-loungetisch-offenbar-geplant/ (translate to eng.)

To the wall dimmer switches require that the bulbs also be Phillips?

We've had some turaco outside lights fitted by an electrician who threw away the boxes, and we cannot for the life of us find where the QR code is hidden inside the light to get them connected to the bluetooth. Does anybody have a picture of where it is? Or can draw a diagram/describe it? I can't find any photos of where it's supposed to be.

We found 'a' 6 digit code inside on a silver label but it doesn't work so cannot be correct.

Right now our front door light is permanently stuck on until we can figure out how to connect it to the motion sensor :')

Been tinkering with this for a while and finally cleaned it up enough to share. The normal Hue API only lets you push about 10 commands a second across all your lights, so anything animated just turns to mush. This streams at around 50fps over the Entertainment API instead, so you actually get smooth fades, faders you can drag, strobes that hit on the beat.

You set a show up once (each light gets a pattern, a colour range, a rate in beats) and recall it whenever. Python, MIT licensed.

Code and a demo gif: https://github.com/SMZ70/mirrorball

Keen to hear what you think, or what breaks.

Hello!

short text here, looking the buy the box, wanted to buy the 4k version as its cheaper but it seems like it wont do tv led, only player led

for context I have an external player that supports tv led, and Im wondering if the 8k version can play tv led and its not limited to player led(lldv)

thanks

I bought it at a local hardware store. It paired perfectly and has all functions working flawless. But the qualiy is very bad, crumbling glue and scratches all over it. Should I return it? Or is this common?

Hey ho,

does anyone happen to have a NAND dump of the Hue Bridge 2.1?

Unfortunately, I corrupted the memory before backing it up because I shorted the NAND to ground during the recovery process (instead of during normal boot).

Is Philips Hue copying its competitor Govee? It appears that a camera for Hue Sync is in the works. The Hueblog has the first details. What do you think about this device?

Hey everyone, in need of some help.

I have two light strips and a bridge. The setup is over a year old and unchanged, no changes to networks either.

About a week ago one of the outdoor light strips started turning on, on its own. This would show as “on” in the hue app too. It was running on an evening automation as normal otherwise.

Today the light is unreachable. The other light is totally fine. I have tried scanning the QR code to reconnect, no luck. I have deleted the light and tried to re-add it by both QR Code and serial number. I’ve also changed the zigbee channel.

I’ve checked the socket, tried turning the light off for 10 seconds, turning them off and on three times - the light will not turn on.

Does anyone know what’s happened here? Am I missing a troubleshooting step? TIA!

Hey this a python program I created that let's you control hue lights from a computer. It's a bit technical and you need to know how to run Python programs but nothing else is needed.

https://github.com/Glyphack/hue-control

The biggest use of this for me is that I have my light turn on and off on a specific times. In the app you have to turn on the alarms every day. With this program you can tell your computer to enable the alarms on startup and it will set it up every day.

There's also a blogpost on how it works under the hood: https://glyphack.com/huec/

Similar to this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeKit/comments/pd4v8b/hue_buttons_dont_respond_on_first_press/

My Hue button won't work on the first press. Sometimes it'll take 2 or even 3 presses for it to work. The first press, It'll just flash Green, Yellow, Red, but do nothing.

Initially it was hooked up to my hue bridge directly, but now I have it hooked up to my own ZigBee Coordinator, but the behavior is the same.

There doesn't seem to be any firmware updates available for it either.

Anyone know of a solution?

I’ve been back and forth between updating my lighting from WiZ to Hue and today while my son and I were at Home Depot I noticed this on a bottom shelf. Its listed price was $119 but when I checked the model number and looked the item up on their site it listed at $199. I realize it’s the older bridge but (4) 1100 lumen bulbs for $120 is still a good deal.

Hello all

Today is the day of questioning for me. I own an Ultrawide monitor 21:9 34“ issue issss my country does not sell the play lightstrips in that size and AI says i should use the 55“ strips but i have no clue how well that would work.

Do any of you have any experience in that issue or solutions.

Ps: How do the flex and Pmni Glows interact with the pc app? Can they also like the plays select zones or would they default to singular colours?

Hello all. I have an rather odd question.

I like to sit in the living room and listen to music via Apple TV. As of right now i need to choose between music and tv. Music tho sometimes has completely different colours then tv wich is sad cuss apple tv has some nice gradients playing a lot of the time.

Is it possible to set it up that music also just uses the colours shown on the tv?

Hi Guys,

I recently made kitchen downlight using Philips Omniglow and here is my findings. Hope it will help someone.

This post is purely for informational purposes—sharing is caring, I guess. 😅 Obviously, attempting this will void the warranty.

1. You can cut and reconnect the strip, but don’t rely on the black line underneath as a cutting guide. In my case, the correct joining point was approximately 5 mm away from the black line.

1. Here is I cut and joined it using cat 6 ethernet cable just to practice, I simply used pairs for each connection.

1. My kitchen has a 90-degree turn, so I found these L-shaped corner connectors on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B096RYK49Q

They worked like a charm.

I don’t have much soldering experience, but after practicing a few times, I managed to make it work. I recommend preparing the wires in advance and keeping them as short as possible—just long enough to form one loop. I used solder iron ts101 from Aliexpress.

1. The cable at the beginning of the strip can be trimmed, stripped and extended. I simply bought an extension cable and connected it.

1. The adhesive on the strip is surprisingly strong. After about two months, it is still firmly attached. Just make sure to prepare the surface properly and degrease it thoroughly before installation.

Finally, here is the finished result! I hope this post answers some questions and helps my fellow DIYers.

Hi. Total beginner here. I have a very specific use case and I don’t know if a Hue system is even appropriate. I searched the subreddit and couldn’t find an answer.

I’m hosting a record listening party in my backyard at night. The artist wants to set a 45-minute long gradual fade-up for four 80 watt LED spots.

His idea is that the album starts in darkness, then gets imperceptively brighter over the course of the album, until near the end of the last song, everything is at maximum brightness, then all goes dark on the last note of the album.

I’m perfectly happy doing the sudden darkness by yanking a plug. But I haven’t found a way to do a 45 minute fade up. I already have non-Phillips lights and would like to use them. Can I do this with the app and a smart plug?

Thanks!

Hi! I use a Projektor, that's hooked up to my AVR. Everything else is connected to that AVR.

Can i buy a Syncbox 8K and just put between the Projektor and AVR?

The other day my echo 3rd gen stopped communicating with my Philips hue lights and just displayed "device unresponsive" for each of them.

I've done everything I can think of to get them working again. I’ve also attempted every solution for this problem I could find online.

I updated and reset the bulbs, I updated the Alexa software, I deleted the bulbs from the Alexa app, I updated my Hue app and Alexa apps, I paired all lights from the hue app and then tried to make them discoverable with the hue app voice assistant (even though it just told me to say the discover command). I factory reset the echo dot. I even factory reset the bulbs and tried connecting to Alexa with the serial code without connecting it to Hue first, since I saw a few people say that worked for them. Nothing has solved it

I don't have a hue bridge, but I hadn’t needed it in the several years I’ve used this setup.

Does anyone have a possible fix? I’m losing my mind

Just installed 3 recently purchased Flux outdoor strips and all 3 have green segments when set to white.

Just watched Spain score in ET. HUE immediately updates the score in app but absolutely no light effects.

I spent the whole game making sure the game time and hue sync time were accurate and zip. Hecking rip.

What do people do in terms of the wiring for outdoor pedestal lights? Are the cords not a tripping hazard? Appreciate any insight people might have.

Hi all!
Using the Hue app automation “Go to sleep”, I'm trying to create an automation that let the lights in the bedroom dim until they turn off, but - unlike I was able to do with Hue Labs (now discontinued) - I have no way to choose my favorite “starting scene”, but only a default color for the lights, a warm white.

Is there a way to choose a “starting scene” for this automation, as I used to do with Hue Labs?

Thanks 😊