Philips Hue is one of the most popular smart lighting systems on the market. It’s capable of creating over 16 million different colors and is compatible with Google Assistant, Alexa, and Siri.
But what makes Philips Hue stand out the most is its wide range of third-party integrations. These apps allow you to get even more out of your smart lights than what you can do through Philips’ default app.
We’ve rounded up some of the best apps for Philips Hue that will help you make your home even smarter.
Best Apps For Philips Hue
You can open up a world of lighting possibilities with third-party apps, from dynamic lights that pulse and change, or flash to the beat of music, to a simpler way of controlling your lights. Find the best Philips Hue apps below in our definitive guide.
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Philips Hue Bulb Deal
In this article…
- OnSwitch
- hueDynamic
- Huemote
- QuickHue
- Hue Disco
- iConnectHue
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In the world of smart lights, Philips Hue is still the undisputed top dog. Despite an ever-growing number of other lighting brands encroaching on its territory, Hue has continued to expand and evolve to stay ahead. And now that its entire range supports Bluetooth, it’s never been cheaper or easier to jump aboard the Hue bandwagon.
But there’s so much more to explore beyond Hue’s own products and apps; this is a pretty open ecosystem, and there are plenty of third-party apps and integrations that do interesting stuff with Hue’s lighting and accessories. Here are the best Philips Hue apps to make your lights more fun and dynamic.
OnSwitch
A huge library of dynamic scenes, including a mode that syncs your lights to your music
OnSwitch is one of the Philips Hue appsScreenshots from an app about fireworks, albums and light groups
OnSwitch works with both Hue and Lifx bulbs, so if you’re someone with both those brands, then this could be one of the best Philips Hue apps for you. All the basic controls are at your fingertips, but it’s the library of scenes that make this app stand out. From candlelight scenes to jellyfish (hey, you do you; we’re not judging) there are heaps to choose from. The app is constantly updated with new themes to stay relevant, with the Super Bowl and Chinese New Year, both recent additions.
Some are unlikely to get much use – we’re not sure how many people want to have their lights and speakers imitate a German police car, but it’s an option. The app is pretty easy to use overall, although it sports a slightly messy interface.
There are some scenes available for free, but you’ll need to cough up a monthly fee of £3.99 for the premium tier to unlock the whole catalogue. Alternatively, you can buy the premium scenes à la carte, but just keep an eye on how much you’re spending. There’s a 7-day free trial if you want a taste of the ongoing paid tier.
hueDynamic
Moves beyond standard lighting with experiences that combine audio with a light show
hueDynamic is one of the Philips Hue appsScreenshots from Huedynamic app about all lights, color pallete and ambiences
One of our absolute favourite Hue apps right now is hueDynamic, which is jam-packed with features for your setup. There are “experiences” that combine lights with sound and can be mixed and matched. “Ambiences” create scenes based on photos (and are stored on the bridge, so you don’t have to keep replicating them). There’s a Disco mode and even a feature that lets you point your phone at the TV to create scene-fitting dynamic lighting.
You can include the same lights in multiple groups and control lights on multiple bridges at once – super-handy!
It’s a pretty substantial package, and much is available for free – although you’ll need to upgrade to the paid Pro version to remove time limits on certain experiences and unlock features such as advanced Hue Dap and Dimmer programming.
Huemote
A simpler way to control your lights than the standard Hue app provides
Huemote is one of the Philips Hue apps
Huemote is one of the simplest and most straightforward Hue apps around, providing a quick and easy dashboard of all your Hue smart lights. It makes changing bulb colours or adjusting brightness super-easy, and you can even control groups and scenes from the lock-screen using the Today widget.
You can build groups and control up to 16 lights at any time, with the ability to organise bulbs and groups as you wish.
If you have a lot of Hue lights and rooms in your home, the Huemote app offers a great way to view the status of all your lights on one screen. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to simplify their Hue experience as much as possible. There’s even an Apple Watch app.
QuickHue
An Android exclusive that makes it light work of controlling your lights
quickhue is only available on Android
Exclusive to Android, QuickHue adds a Hue icon to your Android’s Quick Settings, allowing you to turn your lights on and off with a tap. It’s that simple.
The basic version is free and provides a single tile, while the $1.99/£1.99 Pro version gives you up to six. Try the free version and see how you get on, but for Android users, this app comes thoroughly recommended as one of the Best Philips Hue apps. A real time-saver.
Hue Disco
The Best Philips Hue app for party-lovers
HueDisco is one of the Philips Hue appsThree smartphones displaying Hue Disco settings screen and Hue Mood settings screen
One for the party-lovers. The Hue Disco app uses your phone’s microphone to transform sounds into a light show. It isn’t totally random, either: you can select a themed colour-set for the app to work from, and tweak settings such as transition times, how bright you want the lights, and how often you want to see different colours. There’s a strobe setting, too, which also lets you build a custom colour theme.
We also like how you can adjust the microphone sensitivity and silence detection to control how the lights respond to sound.
There’s enough here for a good time – but it will cost you. The app costs £3.99 to download, making it one of the more expensive options on this list; but it means you get the full suite of features right away.
iConnectHue
An incredibly powerful way to control your lights, but it’s for iOS only
iConnectHue is only available on iOS
If we’re just counting features, the iOS-only iConnectHue might be the most accomplished on the list. It has a £5.99 up-front cost, but for the money, you’re getting an app that’s crammed with new ways to use your Hue lights. Better yet, it’s extremely well polished and regularly updated.
Creating animations is super-easy, and there’s an impressive level of depth to the customisation. Features include intelligent timers, and something called “Magic Scenes” – an easy, fun tool for building custom gradients and deploying them across rooms.
The switch and motion sensor editor is really great, too, making it easy to assign various scenes to different buttons and triggers.
It also now offers Siri Shortcut support, letting you execute scenes without opening the app at all. Overall, our favourite app on this list – just a shame it isn’t available on Android.
best hue apps iphone
The Philips Hue lighting system was one of the first smart home products to gain traction in the consumer market. It continues to become more popular thanks to an expanding number of products and integration with other smart home devices.
To that end, we’re highlighting some of the best Philips Hue apps that can control your lights and much more.
- Philips Hue
3 Images
Philips Hue Main Screen
Philips Hue Color Picker
Philips Hue App Scenes
At one time, the official Philips Hue app was heavily derided thanks to its confusing UI and lack of control options. But that’s no longer the case; it’s now one of the best Hue lights apps.
The app now features a number of shortcuts that allow you to adjust your lights with just a few taps. You can quickly change the light color or even set the bulbs to one of the last four used scenes.
Speaking of color, a new picker allows you to group or ungroup lights in a room and choose a precise shade of white or color from the palette. There’s also a huge variety of different lighting scenes to select from. And if none of those suit your fancy, you can even use the app to extract a specific color from an image and apply that to the lights.
Download: Philips Hue for iOS | Android (Free)
- Ambify
3 Images
Ambify Music Selection
Ambify Bulb Selection
Ambify
Think of Ambify as a fun way to turn your Hue lights into part of an interactive jukebox. Just start up the app, pick your lights, and then choose a playlist. The app will analyze it, then visualize your tunes with the Hue lights. You can create different color themes for specific music types and customize the visualizer settings.
You can also send music to an Apple TV or other AirPlay device while the app is still creating the experience.
Download: Ambify for iOS ($3)
- Hue Disco
3 Images
Hue Disco Settings
Hue Disco Color Editor
Hue Disco Themes
While similar to Ambify, Hue Disco offers one big advantage. Instead of having to play music on your iOS device to start the interactive light show, Hue Disco will listen for music through the microphone. So along with any music on your device, it also supports a wide variety of other options like a Bluetooth speaker and more.
A specific microphone sensitivity feature will let you control how often music turns into light. You can also customize the maximum or minimum brightness for the disco setup. It’s also easy to control the color of specific themes; the app even lets you select an image from your photo library to turn into a theme.
Party fans will also be happy to hear that there are a number of different strobe options.
Download: Hue Disco for iOS | Android ($4)
- OnSwitch
3 Images
OnSwitch Main Screen
OnSwitch Lightning Screens
OnSwitch Everyday lighting
OnSwitch is all about using Hue lights to create a truly interactive experience. The top feature of the app is the 30 different albums featuring more than 200 animated and static light scenes. The scenes combine the lighting effects with audio from the app to create a unique mood. Some of the different scenes include Santa landing on your roof, a spaceship battle, or a New Year’s Eve ball drop.
For everyday use, there’s also an album with clear images of what type of lighting each option provides. You can also use OnSwitch to create and manage a single bulb or different groups.
As a nice touch, the app also supports the popular LIFX smart lighting line as well. Our guide takes a look at the differences between LIFX and Philips Hue systems to help decide which one is best for you.
Download: OnSwitch for iOS | Android (Free, subscription and in-app purchases available)
- Lightbow
3 Images
Lightbow Presets
Lightbow Lights
Lightbow Collections
Lightbow is a powerful scene editor and light control app.
Its best feature is the ability to customize a preset. You can add multi-step animation loops, static colors, and other commands for any light or even a group. Each preset can even have a transition, like a crossfade. When you’re done creating a perfect setup, you can run each preset with just a tap.
The app also allows you to organize presets into different collections for quick access. Even better, a quick Siri command lets you activate a preset thanks to the Siri Shortcuts feature.
Since the app is compatible with Philips Hue, LIFX, and WeMo bulbs, you can put hardware from different manufacturers into a single group for easy control.
For access to your lights without pulling out an iPhone, the Apple Watch app provides the ability to set scenes and control bulbs on your wrist.
Download: Lightbow for iOS ($5, in-app purchases and subscription available)
- Hue TV
3 Images
Hue TV Color Selection
Hue TV Lights
Hue TV Settings
Hue TV can help turn a regular night of watching TV into a fresh experience. Just open up the app and aim at the show you’re watching. The app will use your device’s camera to choose up to three of most important onscreen colors and then adjust the lighting to match. It can change Hue, LIFX, and Avea bulbs at the same time.
If the colors are too bright, it’s easy to change the brightness. And a selection tool can help you focus on colors at a specific part of the screen.
Download: Hue TV for iOS ($3)
- HueMote
3 Images
HueMote main screen
HueMote Groups
HueMote-color-picker
For a simple and easy way to control your Hue lights, HueMote is a great choice. With just a few taps, you can change colors, adjust brightness, and save specific light settings into scenes to access later. Thanks to iCloud sync, your light settings will be available on all iOS devices.
There’s no need to even open the app to control your lights, as a widget provides access directly from your iPhone or iPad lock screen.
Download: HueMote for iOS (Free)
Unleash the Power of the Best Philips Hue Apps
These apps will give you all the power you need to control your lights just the way you want. They’ll add some serious atmosphere to your house no matter what you have planned—a party, movie night, or just a quiet evening in.
And if you’re just starting out with the smart lighting system, make sure to take a look at our comprehensive guide on how to set up and use the Philips Hue starter kit.
Conclusion
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