HomeKit Adaptive Lighting Feature Appears for German Beta Testers

[MacRumors]

HomeKit's new Adaptive Lighting feature has appeared for Philips Hue beta testers in Germany, according to iphone-ticker.

At WWDC earlier this year, Apple announced a new HomeKit feature called Adaptive Lighting, which allows smart lighting to dynamically adapt according to the time of day, with warm hues fading in around sunset, and cooler hues fading in around midday.

At any given time of day, the color of smart lights with Adaptive Lighting would be slightly different and change as time passes, similar to Apple's Night Shift feature on iOS, iPad OS, and macOS. Although this behavior was theoretically possible before, albeit not as effectively, via complex automations, the Adaptive Lighting feature offers a single button to turn the feature on or off.

Adaptive Lighting was not present in any of the iOS 14 betas before its public release, and was instead promised to arrive later in the year as smart lighting manufacturers such as Philips Hue implement it. Adaptive Lighting will only be available where manufacturers actively support the feature via a firmware update, so its absence in the iOS 14 betas does not seem to be due to a delay at Apple's end.

Philips Hue has now reportedly rolled out a bridge firmware update to support Adaptive Lighting to its own beta testers in Germany. Only White and Color Ambiance bulbs support the feature at this time, according to Philips Hue.

Not much has been known about how Adaptive Lighting will work in practice until now, and it seems that users simply need to tap and hold on the specified light in the Home app, and in the color picker, one of the six saved colors has been replaced by an icon to activate Adaptive Lighting.

A number of other HomeKit features were announced alongside Adaptive Lighting, such as activity zones and face recognition for cameras, doorbell announcements, and camera feeds on Apple TV.

It is unclear when Adaptive Lighting will be publicly released for Philips Hue users, but the news of a firmware update for beta testers in Germany suggests that the company is on track to deliver the feature as planned.

Article Link: HomeKit Adaptive Lighting Feature Appears for German Beta Testers

 

[Kylo83]

I’m so waiting for this for my hue system hope it comes to the uk soon

 

[klasma]

That feature could finally get me interested in HomeKit.

 

[gsmornot]

When it makes it here I'll try it but I really dont love the more blue light during the day. I have been using it as the "wake up color" for a couple of years, its supposed to be an energizer but I really dont know. I have it set to warm tones in the evening. If this automates that then yea, maybe I will keep it on.

 

[vipergts2207]

I did this with my Hue lights using automations. At 6am everyday the lights would turn on for 1 minute to reset the color to a cooler temperature. Then half an hour before sunset the lights would come on at a warmer temperature and every 15 minutes they would increase in color temperature until half an hour after sunset. This new feature will be much more elegant though.

 

[RoboCop001]

I wish they'd implement fade automations. Like setting up lights to fade from one colour to another and/or brightness to another over a certain period of time. Seems like a no-brainer feature to have. I know some 3rd party apps do it but .... I want HomeKit to do it. I don't want to connect my lights to some 3rd party cloud just to do that, or use one of those bridge things.

 

[Jarman74]

Any glimmer of light - er, hope - for the fabled HomeKit routers? The latest WiFi 6 eero lineup doesn't mention it - and HK references have even been removed.

 

[xpxp2002]

And in 2024, LIFX releases new firmware update for gen 3 bulbs adding Adaptive Lighting...

 

[CJ Dorschel]

Any glimmer of light - er, hope - for the fabled HomeKit routers? The latest WiFi 6 eero lineup doesn't mention it - and HK references have even been removed.

I’m still waiting on my Linksys Velops to get the firmware update announced (again) for HomeKit. linksys just released another iOS app update with a focus on adding more HomeKit features in the update but my Velops that are included in the firmware update rollout haven’t been updated. I know linksys said it would be a slow rollout but this is ridiculous. I’ve never had an issue with Linksys since moving to their tri-band Velops and now WiFi 6 systems but this is disappointing

 

[justperry]

And in 2024, LIFX releases new firmware update for gen 3 bulbs adding Adaptive Lighting...

I find both Hue and LIFX have one major drawback, you can't use the bulb with *regular wall switches.
There are far better Protocols which do, like for instance Z-Wave which has feedback and can use all kinds of other branded bulbs.
Actually, with Hue you can but see below.

*The ones I already have do not have a Zigbee option, other brands have (well kind of a hack) but it's way to expensive to do just that, close or over €100 for the switch itself, then you need an adapter and the faceplate, just ridiculous.

 

[nortofthe13th]

I wish they'd implement fade automations. Like setting up lights to fade from one colour to another and/or brightness to another over a certain period of time. Seems like a no-brainer feature to have. I know some 3rd party apps do it but .... I want HomeKit to do it. I don't want to connect my lights to some 3rd party cloud just to do that, or use one of those bridge things.

This is exactly what I’ve been hoping for!!! I’ve set up some Siri Shortcuts with LIFX connected to a HomeKit scene to fade out the lights a bedtime. I know you can use Shortcuts with Hue too... But it’s all WAY more complicated and convoluted that it would be if there were native fade settings. The possibilities are endless, “Hey Siri, Fade to Movie Time over 10 minutes”. I’d also love to see better support for multi colored scenes.

 

[itsmilo]

Am i the only one too stupid for the Home App? That’s one App from Apple I do not understand how to set up at all. I still use the Hue App to control my lights. Every time I open the app it tells me the names have changed and if I want to update them and I am like NO leave it be (Alexa also uses the names) or I see my lightbulbs twice

 

[onlyvisiting]

Any glimmer of light - er, hope - for the fabled HomeKit routers? The latest WiFi 6 eero lineup doesn't mention it - and HK references have even been removed.

even current eero do not mention HK support but they have it. And I know a person who has a beta eero 6 device and says HK is working there.

 

[CarlJ]

HomeKit's new Adaptive Lighting feature has appeared for Philips Hue beta testers in Germany, according to iphone-ticker
...
Adaptive Lighting was not present in any of the iOS 14 betas before its public release, and was instead promised to arrive later in the year as smart lighting manufacturers such as Philips Hue implement it. Adaptive Lighting will only be available where manufacturers actively support the feature via a firmware update, so its absence in the iOS 14 betas does not seem to be due to a delay at Apple's end.

Why is the name “Hue” not in the article title anywhere? The title makes it sound like Apple is beta testing this in Germany (since its a new feature of Apple’s recent OS release), while the article makes it pretty clear that Apple shipped the feature (well, the API) and Hue is beta testing this in Germany.

 

[CarlJ]

Am i the only one too stupid for the Home App? That’s one App from Apple I do not understand how to set up at all. I still use the Hue App to control my lights. Every time I open the app it tells me the names have changed and if I want to update them and I am like NO leave it be (Alexa also uses the names) or I see my lightbulbs twice

I’m the other way around, I only use the Hue app to update the firmware or reprogram my Dimmer Switches (HomeKit can’t do the trick with multiple presses cycling scenes). I do everything else in Apple’s Home app. Yes, the first time you open Home after making changes in the Hue app, things get thrown around a bit, but that’s a one-time thing - for me it’s mostly some things getting put in the default room, that I have to move back to the right rooms. But the Home app is so much better, because you can build scenes that make use of lights in multiple rooms and make use of Hue and non-Hue devices, as well as building automations.

These days, though, I rarely open either app - I just tell Siri what scene to set, or what light to change.

 

[xpxp2002]

I find both Hue and LIFX have one major drawback, you can't use the bulb with *regular wall switches.
There are far better Protocols which do, like for instance Z-Wave which has feedback and can use all kinds of other branded bulbs.
Actually, with Hue you can but see below.

*The ones I already have do not have a Zigbee option, other brands have (well kind of a hack) but it's way to expensive to do just that, close or over €100 for the switch itself, then you need an adapter and the faceplate, just ridiculous.

I've emulated the behavior by using automations. I have a Leviton Decora wall switch that controls an outlet in the corner of my living room. I used to have a lamp plugged into it, but since replacing that light with a LIFX bulb, I just keep the lamp plugged into an always-on receptacle and have an automation that turns the bulb on/off whenever the switch for the split receptacle is turned on/off.

 

[CarlJ]

I find both Hue and LIFX have one major drawback, you can't use the bulb with *regular wall switches.

It should be intuitively obvious, though, that if you cut the power going to a bulb, it can’t do anything smart until power is restored. Using Hue lights involves rethinking the way you use lights. I have a few Hue Dimmer Switches, but most of the time, I just ask Siri to set various scenes. It’s so much nicer than walking around the room turning on 4 different lights.

 

[RoboCop001]

This is exactly what I’ve been hoping for!!! I’ve set up some Siri Shortcuts with LIFX connected to a HomeKit scene to fade out the lights a bedtime. I know you can use Shortcuts with Hue too... But it’s all WAY more complicated and convoluted that it would be if there were native fade settings. The possibilities are endless, “Hey Siri, Fade to Movie Time over 10 minutes”. I’d also love to see better support for multi colored scenes.

Yeah I use LIFX too. I never want to use their app though lol. I find it a bit ridiculous that they require you to connect to their cloud, so I don't use those features just because of that. I just have some regular HomeKit scenes.

Also, my light groupings within the app somehow got all messed up into separate "homes" and the only way to fix it was to connect the lights to their cloud, add them all into one "home" and then disconnect from their cloud.

Have you had an issue where you set a scene, but it would only change the light dimness, and a second tap would then do the colour? I don't know when it started, but it used to do both at once.

 

[adrianlondon]

I turned Night Shift off on my phone and laptop, and turned on whatever True Tone is instead. I prefer it.

I have some Hue bulbs but they're all the cheapest white ones, so no colour / ambient possibilities.

 

[itsmilo]

I’m the other way around, I only use the Hue app to update the firmware or reprogram my Dimmer Switches (HomeKit can’t do the trick with multiple presses cycling scenes). I do everything else in Apple’s Home app. Yes, the first time you open Home after making changes in the Hue app, things get thrown around a bit, but that’s a one-time thing - for me it’s mostly some things getting put in the default room, that I have to move back to the right rooms. But the Home app is so much better, because you can build scenes that make use of lights in multiple rooms and make use of Hue and non-Hue devices, as well as building automations.

These days, though, I rarely open either app - I just tell Siri what scene to set, or what light to change.

I just invested some time (nothing to do at work lol) and I actually got quite some stuff done. One question though, is it possible to get a "room" in control center instead of separate lights? for instance, I would like to have a button in control center "living room" and if I press it, it turns on and off all the lights in that room instead of having wasted two spaces in control center for "dining table light and couch light"

 

[QuarterSwede]

It should be intuitively obvious, though, that if you cut the power going to a bulb, it can’t do anything smart until power is restored. Using Hue lights involves rethinking the way you use lights. I have a few Hue Dimmer Switches, but most of the time, I just ask Siri to set various scenes. It’s so much nicer than walking around the room turning on 4 different lights.

I just automate it to turn certain lights on at sunset and off at 9p. Totally zero input from me or the family. Wife went from thinking smart home devices were useless to wanting more.

 

[SDJim]

I just invested some time (nothing to do at work lol) and I actually got quite some stuff done. One question though, is it possible to get a "room" in control center instead of separate lights? for instance, I would like to have a button in control center "living room" and if I press it, it turns on and off all the lights in that room instead of having wasted two spaces in control center for "dining table light and couch light"

You could just create a scene that does exactly that and it will appear alongside other scenes (where it appears depends partly on whether you toggle to include it in Favorites).

 

[justperry]

It should be intuitively obvious, though, that if you cut the power going to a bulb, it can’t do anything smart until power is restored. Using Hue lights involves rethinking the way you use lights. I have a few Hue Dimmer Switches, but most of the time, I just ask Siri to set various scenes. It’s so much nicer than walking around the room turning on 4 different lights.

I have Shelly's behind my switches now with custom Homekit support Firmware, works like a charm, switches work and Homekit works.
The thing is, Homekit only doesn't really work if you have visitors, in my Appt even visitors or Dummies can switch the Bulbs On/Off.

 

[x-evil-x]

Not too sure id like this as my whole place is hue lights and strips so completely Changing to color to mored red/orange or blues with totslly change the interior space that has normal color bulbs for the main lights (2700-3000k) and whatever accent light color that isn’t too bright.
why would I want my whole place looking and feeling like one color? Kind of like using the hues built in relax scenes or right scene. Those all the same color look makes the place look bad.

 

[ignatius345]

This is literally the first "smart home" thing that has sounded remotely worthwhile to me. And still, having Night Shift (or F.lux, to give proper credit) for my interior lighting would probably set me back quite a few bucks. Also, all the smart bulbs I've seen seem to max out at something like 800 lumens which is just sad and dim.

I'll probably just stick with my current setup, which is to use Philips 1800 lumen dimmable LEDs that skew warmer as you dim them and whiter when you crank them up. That so far is working quite nicely and provides ample light.