Hue Lights

Advanced control for your Hue Personal Wireless Lighting System

Do you want the world at your fingertips? "Hue Lights" lights the way! Share your scenes with all of your iOS devices. Create multiple "On" and "Off" schedules per scene. Each scrolling list now has one-tap "On" and "Off" controls. Tap on the leftmost light image to turn on a light, scene, or group. Tap on the rightmost power button to turn them off. Tap in the middle to make changes.

Enjoy spectacular choreographed audio/visual background animations! Bring your Hue Lights to a whole new level with multi-track, synchronized and visually appealing light animations. The "Hue Lights" third-party app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch gives you fast, accurate and complete control of your Hue Personal Wireless Lighting System. Create personalized categories, scenes and favorites. Access frequently used lighting scenes with just one tap. Set up your favorite colors with precise control over all possible light attributes. Apply favorites to lights, scenes and groups for quick set-up and changes.

Questions about Hue Lights v1.5? Check out our Archive FAQ section. Questions about supported hardware?

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Frequently Asked Questions - v1.6

Did you know that your Philips Hue bridge and Hue Lights app work great with GE Link, OSRAM and dresden elektronik hardware? Please read our article, Brighten your life with Hue Lux and GE Link, for a comparison of the GE Link and Hue Lux bulbs.

Please direct questions, feedback and feature requests to s-u-p-p-o-r-t@huelights.com (Remove the '-' characters first). If your question is not answered in this FAQ, please contact support via email. The support account is checked frequently 7 days a week. Another great resource for general Philips Hue support is everyhue.com. This is a community forum with the largest Hue knowledge base on the Internet.

In-App Purchases

What does the "Unlock 100 Scenes" In-App purchase enable?

You only need this In-App purchase when you use up your 15 free "User Defined" scenes. The app comes with 35 pre-configured scenes (e.g., Relax, Movie, Panic) and allows you to create 15 of your own "User Defined" scenes. If you use these all up (i.e., you have 50 total scenes), you can purchase the "Expand Scenes" item to allow an additional 100 "User Defined" scenes. Note that the "User Defined" scenes are completely created by you. These are not pre-configured.

Purchasing the "Unlock 100 Scenes" In-App item now includes 10 hand-crafted scenes that work great with the animations. This purchase allows you to create 100 User Defined scenes in addition to the 10 pre-configured bonus scenes. It also includes 15 new Favorites. Be sure to try the "Colors" Scene with the "Demo" Animation. Experience a concert in your own house with the "Aperitif" Scene and "Concert" Animation. Mix and match Scenes and Animations. Create some cool new scenes with Ember Orange, Nebula Purple and Sunset Red. If you have already purchased the "Unlock 100 Scenes" In-App item, you can get the new bonus scenes and Favorites by tapping "Set Up" and then "Update Scenes."

I purchased the upgrades, but my lights are still locked. How do I unlock them?

If the purchase was successful, there is a record of your transaction stored on Apple's servers. To restore previous purchases follow these steps:

Tap the "Set Up" tab on the bottom right of the screen
Scroll down to the "Restore" button and tap it
If prompted for your Apple ID credentials, enter them
The purchased In-App items should now be available
Note that Apple will prevent duplicate transactions, so you can't be double charged on the same Apple ID

You can verify your In-App purchase status in the Set-Up, Bridge Information screen. If your In-App purchase still shows "No," confirm that you are using the same Apple ID that was used at the time of the original purchase. You can see your current Apple ID by launching Apple's Settings App and then tapping "iTunes & App Store." As a last resort, you can attempt to purchase the In-App item again. Apple will detect that you already made this purchase and prompt you with, "You've already purchased this. Would you like to get it again for free?"

How can I use the app on multiple devices?

If you purchase any In-App items, you can use these on all of your supported iOS devices as long as you use the same Apple ID. Follow these steps to restore purchases on another device:

On the new device tap the "Set Up" tab on the bottom right of the screen
Scroll down to the "Restore" button and tap it
If prompted for your Apple ID credentials, enter them
The purchased In-App items should now be available on your second device

Scenes, Groups and Shared Scenes

What is the difference between Scenes, Groups and Shared Scenes?

Scenes are stored locally within the app. Each scene can contain individual lights with different light attributes. For example, you could create a scene that turns on Light 1 with the color Yellow, turns off Light 2 and turns on Light 3 with the color Orange. Activating Scenes is slower that activating Groups or Shared Scenes, but you can have over 100 of them.

Groups are stored in the SmartBridge, so up to 16 of them can be shared with all of your devices on the same Wifi network. Groups apply the same light attributes to every light in the Group. You can have device-specific light attributes for all of the shared Groups. For example, if you have a group called "Kitchen" with 8 lights, you can have your iPhone set this Group to the "Concentrate" Favorte and your iPad set this Group to the "Relax" Favorite. If the device you are using isn't the one that created the Group, you will see "update" next to the Group in the Home, Groups tab. To set the Group to your preferred color and/or brightness, select the Groups tab, tap on the Group name and then tap, "Apply Favorite."

Shared Scenes are similar to Scenes, but they are cached on the SmartBridge and extremely fast. They can be seen by all of your devices on the same Wifi network. With one tap you can instantly have all lights in the Shared Scene respond to their configured colors, brightness levels and on/off status. The disadvantage of Shared Scenes is that they sometimes disappear. Since they are not persisted like Groups, the SmartBridge can purge them at any time to make room for other Shared Scenes that are also contending for space. This purge algorithm is not under control of the "Hue Lights" app. If your Shared Scene disappears, you should use the device that created the Shared Scene and select the "Scenes" tab. Scroll to the Scene you want to share, tap in the middle of the row and then tap "Share on Bridge."

How do I add lights to a Scene?

When you unlock all of the lights the App automatically adds your lights to every System Scene. The new lights will fit the System Scene using variations on a theme. Any previous customizations will be preserved. If you have previously unlocked all of the lights or you add new lights to your system, you can fill in any missing gaps with the new "Update Scenes" option in the "Set Up" tab.

If you haven't purchased "Unlock 48 Lights" you can only add lights 1 and 2 to your new scenes. Follow these steps to add lights to a scene:

Tap the "Scenes" tab on the bottom of the screen
Tap the scene to modify (e.g., "Dinner")
Tap the "Add Lights" button
Tap the lights you want to add
To make selection easier, you can tap the "Order Number" or "Order Name" buttons
Tap "Back" to save your scene changes

How do I create "User Defined" Groups?

To create a "User Defined" Group tap the '+' button on the top right of the screen. Up to 16 shared User Defined Groups can be created. These are stored on your SmartBridge and can be shared with other iOS devices on your WiFi network. When using these shared groups all of the lights change at the same time. Apply Favorites, Alerts, Effects and Transition Times to Scenes and Shared Groups.

In earlier versions of the SmartBridge firmware (e.g., version 01003542), there were problems creating, changing and deleting groups, so if you are having problems creating shared User Defined Groups, make sure your SmartBridge firmware has been updated. Here are the steps to create a new "Group" on your SmartBridge:

Tap the "Groups" tab on the bottom of the screen
Tap the "+" button on the top right of the screen
Tap the "Add Lights" button
Tap the lights you want to add
To make selection easier, you can tap the "Order Number" or "Order Name" buttons
Tap "Back" to save your group changes
To change the group name tap on the User Defined text field, type the name and tap "Return"

When I tap on a recently used scene from the "Home" screen nothing happens. Why?

If the lights in your scene are not turning on or changing colors as expected, try these steps:

Tap the "Scenes" tab on the bottom of the screen
Tap the scene that is not working (e.g., "Dinner")
Check that each light in the scene is set to "on"
The detail line should look similar to, "1, LCT001, on, ..."
Tap the power button on the right of the screen; note that all lights should go off
Tap the power button again; note that all lights in the "Dinner" scene should go on
Note that a blue power button means the scene is "On" while a gray power button means it is "Off"
Tap the "Home" tab on the bottom of the screen
Tap a couple of scenes to confirm correct operation

Can I change the order of Scenes, Categories and Favorites?

Yes. To change the order of Scenes, Categories and Favorites click the Edit button on the respective screen. You should see a red circle with a white horizontal line on the left and 3 horizontal bars on the right for each row. Hold your finger on the three horizontal bars for the row you want to move. Drag the row either up or down to your desired position. For example, if you want the "User Defined" category and all of its scenes to be at the top of the list when you tap the "Scenes" tab, follow these steps:

Tap the "Set Up" tab on the bottom of the screen
Tap the "Manage Categories" item
Tap the "Edit" button
Drag the "User Defined" category to the top by holding the right side of the row and sliding it up
Tap the "Done" button

Now whenever you tap on the "Scenes" tab you should see the "User Defined" category and its scenes at the top of the list. You can apply this same technique to move scenes within or between categories and also to move Favorites. Note that the Favorites can only be rearranged within their respective color mode (i.e., Hue and Saturation, Color Temperature and XY Point.

Where are my Groups?

If you have previously created groups on your bridge, but the app is showing an empty list on the Home tab or Groups tab, you usually just need to wait for the next heartbeat message. There are a few heartbeats each minute to synchronize the bridge with the app. Tapping the Groups tab before the initial heartbeat will sometimes result in an empty list. If this does not get auto-updated after a heartbeat, you can follow these steps:

Quit the app
Start the app and wait for a heartbeat
The Home screen should show "Bridge Status: Connected"
Tap on the Groups title or Groups tab
You should now see your Groups

If you still didn't see your Groups, try the above steps again, but also remove the app from memory. On an iPhone or iPad you can remove an app from memory by double tapping the button on the bottom of the device and swiping up with your finger. This doesn't delete the app, but cleans it out of the device's memory. It is a good idea to periodically do this with all of your apps.

Once you see your Groups and have them configured, consider using the Widget for future Group control. For regularly used Groups this is a quick way to control your lights.

How do I change the appearance of an existing Group?

If you have already created a Group and want to apply an existing Favorite to the Group, follow these steps:

Tap the "Groups" tab on the bottom of the screen
Tap the group you want to change
Tap "Apply Favorite"
Tap one of the existing Favorites from the list

You can also change an existing group's brightness, colorloop, or alert settings by tapping on the brightness button on the upper left of the Group screen.

Widget

How do I add the Widget to my Today Notification?

You must be running iOS version 8.0 or higher to enable the Hue Lights Widget. Before using the Widget you should launch the Hue Lights app and set up a few Scenes and Groups. Once you have some Scenes and Groups created follow these one-time steps to enable the Widget:

Unlock your device
Swipe down from the top middle of your device
Scroll to the bottom and tap the big Edit button
Tap the green circle with a plus sign next to the Hue Lights icon
Drag the Hue Lights Widget to the top using the rightmost icon
Tap the "Done" button in the upper right

How do I access the Widget?

To access the Widget simply swipe down from the top middle of your device. If you haven't set up any Scenes or Groups, you will just see the "All Off" button. You can set up Scenes and Groups for the Widget from the main Hue Lights app by tapping the "Set Up" tab on the bottom of the screen and then the "Widget & Watch" item.

How do I add Scenes and Groups to the Widget?

Depending on your device type you can add between 3-7 Scenes and 4-8 Groups to the Widget. There are already many pre-installed Scenes available, so you could select a few of these to get started. If you haven't created any Groups yet, you can set these up from the "Groups" tab on the bottom of the screen. To add Scenes to the Widget follow these steps:

Tap the "Set Up" tab on the bottom of the screen
Tap the "Widget & Watch" item
Tap the "Add Scenes to Widget" button
Tap each Scene you want in the Widget
When finished, go back by tapping "Back" at the top left
Repeat similar steps to add Groups to the Widget

Each time you tap on a Scene and see a checkbox appear, the app is setting things up in the background. Scenes with many lights can take longer to completely synchronize.

My Widget suddenly stopped working. Why?

The Widget is optimized for speed, so it uses cached data. If the IP address of your SmartBridge changes, the Widget can temporarily lose its communication ability. To resolve this problem, just launch the main Hue Lights app and wait for the main screen to display, "Bridge Status: Connected."

When I activate a Group the color is not what I expect

To change one of the Widget Group's colors follow these steps within the main app:

Tap the "Groups" tab on the bottom of the screen
Tap the Group that you want to change
Tap "Apply Favorite" to pick your color
Tap "Back" and then the "Set Up" tab on the bottom of the screen
Tap "Widget & Watch"
Tap "Add Groups to Widget"
Unselect the Group you want to change; this removes it from the Widget
Select the Group you want to change; this writes it to the Widget
Select "Back" and then try the Widget again

Widget is not working. What is the problem?

The very first time you create a Widget Scene from the main app there are many commands sent to the SmartBridge. If you have a lot of lights in your scene, this initial configuration can take more time. Once your Widget Scene is setup on the SmartBridge you should be able to turn it on or off in less than a second.

If your Widget Scenes are not working, go back to the main app and unselect all of your Widget Scenes. Once they are all unselected, tap on the Scenes you want in your Widget and then select "Back" to exit this screen. You should wait a minute or so before trying to access the Widget to give time for everything to synchronize. If you have a lot of lights in your scene or you are using an iPad with 8 scenes, then wait a few minutes before accessing the widget.

Apple Watch

How do I add scenes and groups to the Apple Watch?

You must be running iOS version 8.0 or higher and have an iPhone 5 or later to use Hue Lights with your Apple Watch. The Apple Watch uses the same scenes and groups you set up for the Hue Lights Widget. See How do I add Scenes and Groups to the Widget? for the detaied steps.

Lights

How do I turn Lights On or Off?

If you need to turn on a specific Light, tap the "Lights" tab, scroll to your desired light and tap the light image on the left. You should see the light illuminate physically and on the app. Also note that the detailed status associated with the light will change to "On." If you want to turn off a specific Light, follow the same steps as above, but tap the red power button image on the right.

How do I add new Lights?

To add a new Light to the SmartBridge, apply power to the bulb, tap the "Lights" tab and then tap the "+" button on the top-right of the screen. If the Light doesn't immediately appear in the scrolling list, try to tap the "Home" tab and then return to the "Lights" tab. You could also wait for the next heartbeat. Lights, Scenes and Schedules are read from the SmartBridge a few times per minute.

Some of the Favorites do not show up. Where are they?

When you are configuring an individual light you will only see Favorites that are relevant to the selected color mode of the light (i.e., Hue, Temp, or Point). To change the color mode tap on the Hue, Temp, or Point names in the middle of the screen. For example, to see "Hue" Favorites follow these steps:

Tap the "Lights" tab on the bottom of the screen
Tap the first light in the scrolling list
Tap the "Hue" button in the middle of the screen
Tap the "Edit" button on the top right of the screen
Tap the "Pick" button near the bottom of the screen
Pick your Favorite from the "Hue and Saturation" list

How do I delete a Favorite color that I will never use?

To delete a Favorite color follow these steps:

Tap the "Set Up" tab on the bottom of the screen
Tap "Manage Favorites"
Tap the "Edit" button on the top right of the screen
Tap the red circle next to the Favorite color that you want deleted
Confirm deletion by tapping the red "Delete" button
Tap "Done" on the top right of the screen

How do I add GE Link bulbs?

GE Link bulbs including A19, BR30 and PAR38 form factors are added the same way as Philips Hue bulbs. See How do I add new Lights? for the steps.

Schedules

How do I create a scene and schedule it?

You create a scene and all associated schedules related to this scene from the "Scenes" tab. If you want to schedule an existing scene, just tap the "Scenes" tab and then select your desired scene. If you need to create a new scene, please follow the steps in How do I add lights to a Scene?

Once you have your desired scene created, tap on the "Manage Schedules" button within the "Scenes" tab. Note that you create, modify and delete schedules within the "Scenes" tab. There is also a "Manage Schedules" menu item in the "Set Up" tab, but that is used to delete or disable any schedule on the SmartBridge regardless of origin.

For example, to make the "Wake Up" scene gradually fade on over a 5 minute period from 6:55 AM to 7:00 AM follow these steps:

Tap the "Scenes" tab on the bottom of the screen
Scroll to the "Wake Up" scene and tap it
Tap the "Manage Schedules" button
Tap "Add Recurring Schedule"
Change the schedule name from "New Schedule" to your desired name and tap return
Set the time to 6:55 AM
Set the "Transition Time" to 5 Minutes
Tap "Save"

You should see a summary screen that shows the scene and schedule creation progress. After a few seconds you should see, "Schedule Created" as a red title and the schedule number at the bottom of the screen. If you just see "Waiting...," see I tried to add a schedule, but the screen shows Waiting... FAQ item.

If you see "Schedule Created" and tap the "Back" button, but your new schedule is not listed, do not worry. It will show up on the next heartbeat. Schedules are synchronized from the SmartBridge.

Why does the progress bar slow down on some lights?

The app has robust retry mechanisms when saving the lights states associated with a Schedule. When you see a pause this indicates that the app has encountered one or more SmartBridge errors. Heuristics should attempt to work-around these errors, so most of the time the Scene will be saved in the expected state. Normally you should see two updates per second. If it looks like most of the lights are taking much longer than this, your SmartBridge is struggling to process requests. It is best to pause for a moment, stop any other apps that might be straining the SmartBridge and then try again.

Make sure the lights you want saved in a Scene and/or Schedule have power before saving the Scene to the SmartBridge. The light attributes for Scenes are store in the lights, so it is important to have them powered on and reachable when saving the Scene.

The schedule was triggered, but one of the lights didn't change

Another device may have updated the Shared Scene with a different set of lights and/or light attributes. You can update the Shared Scene with your desired lights and light attributes by following these steps:

Tap the "Scenes" tab on the bottom of the screen
Tap the Scene you want to change
Add, remove, or update any lights in the scene
Do not change the Scene Name
Tap "Manage Schedules"
Tap the desired Schedule
Tap "Save"

How many schedules can I create?

You can create up to 100 schedules. To see how many are in use tap Set Up, Bridge Information. You can also view, disable, or delete any schedule on the SmartBridge from the Set Up, Manage Schedules screen.

Connectivity

When I leave my local Wifi I am not able to control the lights. Why?

Once you leave the local Wifi the app can't talk to your bridge. Philips is supposed to release a developer Portal API that would allow remote access to the bridge, but so far this is not available to third-party developers. You can still create new scenes or make changes to scenes by using the app in offline mode (i.e., tap "Use without Bridge") when the connection is lost. These scene changes can be used once you reconnect to your local Wifi.

Why does the app lose connectivity with the bridge?

When the app loses connectivity with the bridge the Home screen Bridge Status line will change from "Connected" to "Cached." Most functions of the app will still work using cached data. Usually the heartbeat is automatically restored. If you know that something has changed with your network (e.g., rebooted your router), you can force the app to discover your bridge by tapping on the white bridge icon. This will bring up a menu of 5 options: Reconnect, Find new bridge, Enter Bridge IP, Use without Bridge and Cancel.

Most of the time you should pick "Find new bridge" to start a complete search on your local WiFi.

If your bridge is frequently in the "Cached" state, there may be a weak signal between your iOS device and the SmartBridge. Upgrading your SmartBridge firmware to the latest version is recommended since these upgrades often include feature enhancements and bug fixes. If all of the above do not resolve the issue, you should power down your SmartBridge, remove the app from memory and then power up the SmartBridge. This can clear out any unusual conditions in the SmartBridge.

If you have a lot of connectivity issues, you may want to reposition your SmartBridge. When Wifi signals travel through walls, TVs, furniture and other solid objects the signal strength is reduced. Placing the SmartBridge higher or in a more visible area can sometimes clear up connectivity issues. Also keep your SmartBridge firmware updated. There are often bug fixes and/or feature enhancements available from Philips. If the "Hue Lights" app detects an available update, it will prompt you to upgrade.

Does the app interfere with any other apps or portal services?

No. Before releasing any updates a series of regression tests are run including compatibility with the Philips Hue app. After installing and using the Hue Lights app you can continue to use the Philips app for local or remote control.

If you have trouble, please contact support for help resolving your specific issue. Power cycling your SmartBridge and/or router can sometimes fix odd behavior.

When I reboot my router the app can't find my bridge for a while

If you are using DHCP and reboot your router, the bridge may be assigned a new IP address. When this happens the app will attempt to connect to the old IP address for a few minutes before alerting the user. You can speed this up by tapping the bridge icon on the Home screen and selecting "Find new bridge." If nothing is working as expected, try to remove the app from memory and relaunching. On an iPhone or iPad you can remove an app from memory by double tapping the button on the bottom of the device and swiping up with your finger. This doesn't delete the app, but cleans it out of the device's memory. It is a good idea to periodically do this with all of your apps.

Rebooting a router can also change your WiFi channel. These WiFi channels can sometimes interfere with the ZigBee channel. To see your ZigBee channel select "Set Up" and then "Bridge Information." If your light responses are sluggish or sometimes don't work, try changing these channels.

Hue Personal Wireless Lighting is a trademark owned by Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., see www.meethue.com for more information. Hue Lights and LapApps, LLC are in no way affiliated with the Philips organization.