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Philips Hue 3.0 App Update Brings Overhauled Interface, Picture-to-Light Feature, and 30 New Scenes
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sounds like you didn't want them to work for you...
I think like all technology, you have to want the gadget for it to be any good (for you)
I mean why would you set automations to do stuff that you didn't want it to do? not getting at you, its up to anyone their opinions or actions, but then it almost sounds like you set them to do the things you didn't want them to do and then were unhappy when they did what they were told.
for me, I wanted them, wife had an open mind. now she loves them and wishes we'd got them years ago.
for us, the benefits are different in each room. we have sensors in the areas where you don't spend long (why would you have a sensor where you eat dinner????) so hall lights and bathroom lights on short timers, kitchen on slightly longer ones. for the spare room I have a sensor for normal use when no one is staying, and a dimmer switch on the wall for anyone staying over.
we have white ambient for the bathrooms, spare room, kitchen...places where the colour isn't important. but for the open plan dining and lounge area we have colour, plus a hue go on the table. wife loves setting the colours, but we have a dimmer switch on the wall in case we don't want to shout at google home or pick up our phones to set them.
and when we go out on the balcony, the hue go gets picked up and you get a few hours of battery life to enjoy a glass of wine or too.
just wish I could fix my wifi problems in the main bathroom, as those are the last bastions of old fashioned lights, and when I walk into them or into a hotel room I do pause for a second waiting for the lights to come on then realise...
So basically it’s only true in a technical sense and not a practical one. If you’re going to turn the lights off at the switch, you can no longer control them from your phone or by voice, which completely defeats a smart light’s purpose.
The thing a lot of people seem to be missing with Hue and any other type of smart bulbs is that every room and every light has a different set of use cases. For me I have a bunch of GU10 white ambience bulbs in outdoor light fittings around the outside of my house which come on at sunset and go off at sunrise, never need to switch them on/off via wall switches or the app. Inside in the hallway, landing and kitchen I have motion sensors which just turn the lights on in that room when motion is detected and then off again after X mins when there's no motion, great for not leaving hallway lights on for example as you only need them for a short time as you pass through that area. TV room I have a dimmer switch just stuck on the door to turn on the lights like a normal light switch. Bedroom I use Alexa to turn the lights on/off. So different solutions for each room depending on how you use that room. That's the beauty of smart lighting once you embrace it and forget about the light switches.
It’s an easy problem to solve though.
I bi-passed our switches... so our lights are permanently on. In some places I removed the existing switch and screwed in a Philips hue dimmer switch over the hole. Looks and works great.
Our house is so old a lot of lights didn’t have a light switch on the wall, they had a chain on the lamp itself... so adding the dimmer switch on the wall was easy.
About the switch thing, I remember that there used to be clap-controlled light switches at some houses 20 years ago. Are there any modern smart switches that can be programmed to switch off if you clap loud two times?
I just bought a 4-pack for $40 USD from Amazon. I see a 2-pack on Amazon.co.uk for £25
But then you can't turn them back on with Siri/Alexa/etc. They do make switch-replacements, though.
For my wedding, I got a set of 3 Philips Hue (white) bulbs.
I use them everyday at home.
First I set up a routine on my Amazon Alexa to turn on the light at 6:30AM.
You can also use Apple Watch to ask Siri to turn off/on lights.
Not to mention, using the shortcut in the Control Center makes it super easy.
I don't even use the Hue app because it was so broken and messy.
I use them everyday at home.
First I set up a routine on my Amazon Alexa to turn on the light at 6:30AM.
You can also use Apple Watch to ask Siri to turn off/on lights.
Not to mention, using the shortcut in the Control Center makes it super easy.
I don't even use the Hue app because it was so broken and messy.
no its also partly true in a practical sense.
situation one. you want to quickly turn lights on, you can just flick the switch twice to get them on.
situation two. you have your parents staying over. if they don't want to use the hue stuff they can just switch the lights on and off using the switch the whole time. when they leave you can then go back to using hue.
I have about a dozen Hues, and though they work well for coming on and off at certain times, we have power outages a couple times a year during the middle of the night, and when the power comes back on at 3AM, ALL of the lights come on, very bright. Annoying.
I'd suggest with those wanting to control many white bulbs with a switch, look at the Leviton switches with Home support. There's a dimmer version if you have regular dimmable bulbs, or a basic switch. If the power comes back on in the middle of the night, the lights remain off until I either hit the switch, or use siri/watch/home/leviton app to turn the switch on remotely.
I'd suggest with those wanting to control many white bulbs with a switch, look at the Leviton switches with Home support. There's a dimmer version if you have regular dimmable bulbs, or a basic switch. If the power comes back on in the middle of the night, the lights remain off until I either hit the switch, or use siri/watch/home/leviton app to turn the switch on remotely.
The hue tap is pretty awesome if you want to use a physical switch. I have one in my kitchen and can set different scenes to each button. It goes under the light switch that I never use anymore.
You can group lights together and give a command to turn off all lights when you want, Or turn off kitchen lights, Living room lights etc...
The problem I see is a lot of seating it up is complicated. If you get an alexa you have additional scenes you can set also use HomeKit. But setting things up I see a lot of people being confused how to do it with their setup.
The way you are describing your situation I would of gone about it differently. It’s easier if you have an alexa to trigger things like when you walk into a kitchen saying Turn on kitchen lights. I never set things up for times as I control everything with voice. Either through my phone. Apple Watch or Alexa.
It’s really not a gimmick once you get things set the way you want. It’s much more convenient.
You can still use light switches with these if you want also.
Flip the switch off, then on again and the bulb comes on. It’s an extra flip, but switches still work
Thank you for pointing out that you can still use your light switches if you want, I do not understand where people got the idea that you cannot.
My whole house is Hue Color lights and I personally do not use the light switches, I mostly use Siri and when I do not use Siri I use the Home App. The only reason to even have the Philips Hue app installed on your devices (in my opinion) is for the the software updates for the bridge and lights.
This new app looks pretty good, and I always like more scenes and features so I might actually use the Philips Hue app now for more than the software updates.
I think a lot of people giving up on their setups is because they think its too complicated or cant work with what they want. There are hue taps and hue wall switches you can instal in place of normal switches if youd like and like that physical button for the kitchen or wherever you want it.
Its not a gimmick how well these work and how fast you can change the whole feel of your place with just a few words or pressing a button.
Originally I thought it wasnt that great back a few years ago maybe five years. The older bulbs that couldn't do greens and blues well but the new bulbs and switches make these a big deal for home lighting at any place you live in. They are expensive though.
also anybody thats tried the hue light strips should know if you plan on using these close to a wall the effect will be bad IMO.
Ive been making led lights for my place and tried using this strip close to the ceiling and in the led lights and both times the spacing on the led's ruins the look. I ended up going with lifx for the led strips as they are very close together and give no gaps in lighting if you have them close to a wall. I have the hue behind the tv and dont have that same issue of gaps in light though(further away from the wall).
Its not a gimmick how well these work and how fast you can change the whole feel of your place with just a few words or pressing a button.
Originally I thought it wasnt that great back a few years ago maybe five years. The older bulbs that couldn't do greens and blues well but the new bulbs and switches make these a big deal for home lighting at any place you live in. They are expensive though.
also anybody thats tried the hue light strips should know if you plan on using these close to a wall the effect will be bad IMO.
Ive been making led lights for my place and tried using this strip close to the ceiling and in the led lights and both times the spacing on the led's ruins the look. I ended up going with lifx for the led strips as they are very close together and give no gaps in lighting if you have them close to a wall. I have the hue behind the tv and dont have that same issue of gaps in light though(further away from the wall).
I wouldn't say that the Hue app is broken, but it's not well-designed, either. We have a dozen or so Hue lights and control them mostly either through the Control Center (SUPER convenient for bulbs and outlets) or through Alexa devices (have three - the Dot is a bargain). The bottom line is that I never need to use the Hue app.
I would definitely say that the Hue app WAS broken (before this update).
But thanks for repeating my original post.
Sorry if it’s been mentioned, I didn’t read the whole thread. I just picked the most essential locations and bought the hue dimmer switches. Put the switches right next to the regular ones. Put covers over the standard switches so people (my wife) don’t keep turning them off.
The month is almost over. When is Phillips going to let it loose on the App Store!?
Well, after yesterday’s small update now there is actually a login screen for account.meethue.com, but the actual “login” button does nothing. All the other buttons appear to do what they’re supposed to. So still can’t login.
Is it really that hard to have login capability in 2018? Sheesh.
Is it really that hard to have login capability in 2018? Sheesh.