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Despite the competition heating up in recent years, Philips Hue still offers the best smart lighting that you can buy, and the good news is that it&#;s getting cheaper and easier to trick out your home with the smart light.
Long before the likes of Nanoleaf, Govee, Lifx and Ikea Trådfri arrived on the scene, Signify (previously Philips Lighting) was offering up an array of connected lightbulbs that could be controlled from an app on your smartphone.
And its range has grown since they were first launched in : Philips Hue Bluetooth bulbs have joined the existing Zigbee-powered Philips Hue, which require you to set up an external bridge. And there are even Hue filament bulbs too.
However, a happy house of Philips Hue bulbs isn&#;t necessarily the easiest thing to achieve. It can be as simple as screwing in a lightbulb to get started, but there is now a such a huge range of Philips Hue bulbs and accessories to choose from, and there&#;s getting Google Assistant, HomeKit, SmartThings or Alexa and Philips Hue working together.
And we&#;ve not even mentioned what Matter means for Philips Hue yet.
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Luckily, you don&#;t have to do the difficult Philips Hue research, as we&#;ve done it for you. Read on for our complete guide to the ultimate Philips Hue setup.
Update: We originally published this guide a fewyears back but we keep it constantly updated with the latest info on all things Hue. The latest update, in June , includes the details on the latest new Hue kit and some new features arriving in the coming months.
The traditional Philips Hue setup (as with most other smart lighting systems) uses Wi-Fi and Zigbee wireless signals to connect however many smart lighting devices you want (well, up to 50) within your own system, which you control using an app, or a physical remote.
Once installed (into the regular bulb sockets in your home, or just simply plugged in) you can control brightness, colors, schedules, and integrations with other smart home tech.
In fact, thanks to the likes of Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, you may find you hardly use the app at all &#; and instead your home&#;s lighting will be controlled just with your voice, but we&#;ll come on to that more in the next section.
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The other good news is that you no longer need to have a Hue Bridge or third-party Zigbee hub like the Amazon Echo to run your Hue smart lights. Back in Signify announced that all new lights going forward will come with the option of Bluetooth support; and we&#;ve seen the likes of the Lightstrip Plus, Perifo and Bloom arrive with BT on board.
If you choose to rely on Bluetooth you&#;ll do all the controlling directly from your , but you&#;ll be more limited in what you can do (you can&#;t control them when you&#;re outside of that Bluetooth range, for example). Check out our Hue Bluetooth review to learn more.
It&#;s also important to know that the version of the Hue Bridge that is on sale now, the square one, is the 2nd-generation Bridge. The original Bridge, a round version, saw official support and access to the system&#;s online services terminated in April .
It&#;s widely rumored that a new 3rd-gen Hue Bridge will arrive soon&#; but those rumors have been dragging on for years now.
1. Plug the Hue Bridge into a power socket and hook it up to your router via ethernet cable.
2. Proceed once the four lights on the Bridge light up.
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3. Go to Settings > my Hue System > + > in the Philips Hue app.
4. Follow the setup instructions.
(Image credit: The Ambient)1. First, make sure the Philips Hue Bridge is all set up.
2. Go to Settings > Lights > +
3. Hit Search or manually add the serial number listed on the bulb.
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4. Follow the setup instructions, from which point you can name your light and put it into Rooms.
A Philips Hue system generally consists of the Hue Bridge and at least one Hue bulb.
Technically, you don&#;t actually need a Philips Hue Bridge &#; you can just use a Hue Dimmer switch or connect using Bluetooth on the newer bulbs &#; but you&#;ll be limited to just a simple dimming light situation, for up to 10 bulbs, and that&#;s hardly embracing the smart home revolution, is it?
If you&#;ve got an Echo Hub, Echo 4th-gen or one of the newer Echo Show devices, which all act as Zigbee hubs, you also won&#;t need the Hue bridge to use your bulbs.
However &#; there&#;s a small disclaimer here. While these Echo devices do indeed offer more than the basic Dimmer switch control, it&#;s still not the full Hue bells and whistles. You&#;ll need a Bridge &#;to unlock the full Philips Hue experience&#; &#; Signify&#;s words, not ours&#; but it&#;s true nonetheless.
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Without a Bridge, you&#;ll be missing out on key features such as lights coming on or off automatically when you enter or leave your home, smart switches and sensor controls, wake up and sleep routines, custom scenes, syncing your lights with music, video and gaming, and access to third-party apps.
Head over to our full guide on this for more in-depth instructions on the different routes you can take, including how to replace the hub with an Ikea gateway.
Starter Kits offer a mix of the Bridge and different types of bulbs and there&#;s a range of options to choose from. Prices start from $69.99 / £69.99 for a kit that comes boxed with the Bridge and two warm-white E26 lightbulbs.
There are also plenty of other bundles available, with GU10 bulbs on offer, more bulbs, Hue buttons and more.
At the top end of the spectrum (spectrum, get it?) you&#;ll get a Bridge and four multi-colored lights for $199.99, or if you&#;re in the UK, you can get a pack of three bulbs and a Hue Dummer switch for £169.99.
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You can, of course, buy a Bridge on its own for $59 / £49 and then add bulbs to it as you please. Even non-Hue, cheaper, ones; but we&#;ll get to that in a bit.
There is an absolute plethora of Philips Hue kit currently on sale &#; more than 100 different packs and devices at the last count.
In both the US and UK, Signify has a dedicated Hue Store where you can buy the latest lights and accessories, while the brand also has a storefront on Amazon as well &#; and there are often discounts on there.
Here&#;s a rundown of what to look out when shopping for the best Hue lights and devices&#;
The first thing you need to decide is where you want your Philips Hue lightbulbs to go and then check the light fittings for those places. Hue bulbs are like regular lightbulbs &#; they will screw into pretty much any light fitting or lamp in your home.
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The good news is that there&#;s a range of sizes and shapes for screwing your bulb in. In the US you can pick up A21, E26, E12, BR30 and PAR16 screw-in bulbs and GU10 bulbs for your spotlights.
In the UK, the names are slightly different but the options are pretty much on par. It&#;s E27 and E14 for your light sockets with screw sockets, GU10s for your spotlights and also the old-style B22 Bayonets as well, if that&#;s what you need.
The next thing you need to consider is bulb shape. There are regular round lightbulbs, candle shaped bulbs, flat bulbs for ceilings and also slick-looking curved ambience bulbs too. Most of these are available across the range of fittings mentioned above.
Hue&#;s also added smart filament bulbs to the mix, which have that exposed Edison-style vintage look to them, and are available in A19, ST19 and G25 sizings. They&#;re a great way to switch up the look of different rooms or lights if you&#;re going an in on Hue bulbs.
(Image credit: The Ambient)Finally, and the biggie &#; you need to decide on colors. With the &#;basic&#; Hue bulbs, there&#;s a choice between white, white ambience, and white and color ambience. The last one is the flagship of the range, offering a staggering 16 million colors and shades.
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White ambience gives you more control over the shade and temperature of your white light (K-K) and plain old white doesn&#;t have different temperatures but is still dimmable like every other Hue bulb.
On the whole, they all shine around 800 lumens; although the brightest white bulb in Hue&#;s armory, an A21 bulb with lumens, went live in June .
The Filament bulbs mentioned above shine at 550 lumens with a locked temperature color of K, so they&#;re dimmer than the flagship range and only shine in one warm-orangey color.
With all Hue lightbulbs &#; all LED bulbs, obviously &#; you&#;ll get 25,000 hours of life from a 9.5-10W maximum output.
You can buy bulbs in single, double or different sized multipacks, depending on your location, with prices starting from $14.99 / £14.99 for a single white bulb to $49.99 / £49.99 for a solitary color ambience one.
Prices vary wildly though depending on what bulb fitting and shape you want exactly.
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Rather than making your existing light fittings and lamps more connected, Hue also offers you the opportunity to go all out smart with lamps and light fittings designed to totally replace your 20th century lighting.
There&#;s around 40 different styles to choose from; the UK has a slightly larger selection than the Hue store Stateside.
There are wall lights, table lamps, spotlights, suspension lights, ceiling lights, runner lights, recessed lights, mirror lights &#; you name it, Signify has got it. Prices start at around the $40 / £35 mark and go well above $350 / £350 depending on your décor preferences.
One of the coolest ways to light up your home with Philips Hue is using its colored Lightstrips. These thin strips can be hidden under kitchen counters, behind couches, around skirting boards &#; pretty much anywhere you want &#; and they add an array of futuristic looking lights around your home.
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There&#;s even an outdoor version of the Lightstrip &#; perfect for Christmas or Halloween. They are water resistant and stick to your path via clips rather than sticky tape. Makes sense, as they have to be out in nature&#;s glory.
You plug one end into your mains socket and then 1m or 2m strips can be joined together to form a chain as long as 10m. Don&#;t worry if you can&#;t get an exact fit &#; they can also be cut to size.
The latest Lightstrip &#; the Bluetooth packing Lightstrip Plus &#; was announced in mid- and includes the option to cut the Lightstrip to size and re-attach unused bits, or combine them with others using adapters. You can&#;t do this on the non-Plus models.
The Plus also allows you to add up to eight extensions, as well &#; so a maximum length of 16m, based on a device measuring 2m.
There are also specific lightstrips designed for the back of your TV, but we&#;ll get to that in a bit.
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Those light strips aren&#;t the only outdoor goodies, though. Philips Hue&#;s full outdoor smart lighting range launched in and there have been an absolute bonanza of new arrivals in the years that have passed since then.
The range consists of wall mounts, bulbs, spotlights and the already-mentioned Lightstrips. The Philips Hue Lily, which comes as a starter pack consisting of three spotlights and is designed to highlight design features in your garden and illuminate flower beds and plants.
There&#;s also the Philips Hue Calla (640 lumens, like the Lily), which is a path lighting option. The base pack includes one bollard, additional ones can be purchased seperately.
If you&#;re looking for wall mounted fixture lighting then you&#;ll be interested in the Philips Hue Inara (800 lumens), Lucca (800 lumens) or Ludere ( lumens). Philips also has a dedicated outdoor bulb &#; the white PAR38 which are $29.99 each or $49.99 for a two-pack and are rated at lumens.
Other new arrivals such as the Daylo, Nyro, Impress and Attract have boosted the amount of outdoor specific Hue lights to nearly 50 options.
You can, of course, use a regular Hue bulb in a waterproof outdoor fixing although Signify advises against it.
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Philips Hue Adore is its bathroom specific range of smart lighting. The star is the Adore White lighted mirror which has a ring of white LEDs and can be controlled by Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit or a dimmer switch. It also has IP44 dust and water resistance.
Also in the range: the Adore Bathroom spot light, the Adore Bathroom mirror light and the Adore Bathroom ceiling light. They&#;re all white lighting, no colors, with chrome metal finishes and IP44 water resistance.
Right, so you&#;re all kitted up with the lights &#; now you just need a way of controlling them. The app is obviously your best bet (more on that next) but there are physical controllers too.
We&#;ve already mentioned the Hue Dimmer switch, but if you want something smarter then you&#;ll be looking at the $50 / £50 Hue Tap Dial. Working off kinetic energy &#; no batteries required &#; the Tap Dial lets you choose your four favorite scenes anywhere, at the touch of a button. You can stick it on a wall or use it as a remote control.
Alternatively, if you&#;re looking for a minimalist option, there&#;s Hue smart button that&#;s literally just a solitary push button. It can stick to fridges or metal magnetically, and long presses can be used for more control, but at $19.99 / £19.99 it&#;s an interesting option.
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There are Hue Motion sensors which turns bulbs on based on movement. The indoor version costs $39.99 / £34.99, it&#;s $10 / £10 more for the outdoor model.
Both have a daylight sensor so you can choose to only have them operational when it&#;s dark. (Pro-tip&#; you could always use cheaper motion sensors and trigger your Hue bulbs using Alexa Routines and the like).
(Image credit: Signify)Signify debuted this long-awaited Wall Switch Module in . With a Hue Wall Switch Module into your existing light switch, your smart bulbs are always usable, no matter the state of the switch.
The Philips Hue Wall Module is $39.95 for one or $69.95 for a two pack.
(Image credit: Signify)Advertisement
In Signify launched the Philips Hue Sync App for Windows 10 PCs and Macs, which analyzes the content you&#;re playing (or watching) and syncs up your Hue lights so you can bathe your room in colors that match the action.
That was fine for some desktop gaming, but if you want it on your TV or living room console, you had to hook it up to your PC via HDMI, Chromecast or other means.
That problem went away with the Hue Play Sync Box, an HDMI pass-through that also functions as a Hue device, so you can plug in your various TV boxes and have all the on-screen action sync up with your lighting.
The box supports HDMI CEC and HDMI 2.0, so you can run 4K HDR content through it at 60Hz. You can connect up to four devices into the box via HDMI, and sync with up to ten color-changing Hue lights.
Pretty neat, and it&#;s easier than ever to set up with new Play-focused lights such the Gradient lightstrip.
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The Philips Hue Play Gradient Light Tube fits into this entertainment side of the Hue line-up well. It&#;s a follow-up to the Gradient Lightstrip, and offers a solid tube of LED lights rather than a strip you&#;ll need to attach to a wall or other surface. Just place it above or below a TV, or wherever you like, and you&#;re done.
Philips Hue has also updated a couple of its lines with Gradient tech. This lets Hue lights display multiple colors at once, rather than cycling through flat tones.
The Hue Signe table and floor lamps are Gradient models, for $199.99 (table) and $299.99 (floor).
Back in at CES, Signify and Samsung announced a partnership that meant that people wouldn&#;t need to cough up for a HDMI Sync Box to get that &#;Ambilight&#; effect, as the duo launched a new app that does the job without the need for additional hardware.
However, it wasn&#;t all good news as there was still the need to cough up $130 / £115 for the Philips Hue Sync TV app.
Fast forward a year or so and there&#;s now a more appealing entry to the light syncing TV action, with a $2.99 / £2.69 monthly subscription on offer.
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What the app does is essentially replaces the external Hue Sync Box hardware and powers everything from inside your Samsung TV instead, effectively meaning your Samsung TV can act as a Play Sync Box, offering a unique light syncing experience with anything you watch or play on your TV.
As great at the Hue app is, it&#;s no longer as vital as it once was. And that&#;s because of Philips&#; Friends of Hue program. Hue has always been open with the likes of IFTTT, Logitech and Xfinity but has added Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit and Amazon Alexa to the mix.
This means not only voice controls for turning your lights on and off, but extra security measures like having all of your lights turn on if motion is detected by a certain camera, for example.
Using voice assistants or IFTTT you can also create elaborate scenes across all of your connected tech such as having your temperature set to your perfect sleeping level, while at the same time having your lights turned off, your blinds closed and your security alarm armed.
The scenarios are seemingly endless and Hue is easily one of the most supported smart home platforms &#; you&#;ll struggle to find connected kit that doesn&#;t play nicely with it.
(Image credit: The Ambient)Advertisement
And there&#;s, in theory at least, extra smarts available to Hue users thanks to Signify embracing the Matter smart home standard... sort of.
You can pair your Hue Bridge to a Matter controller and get all the benefits of the emerging smart home platform.
Those benefits aren&#;t going to make much of a difference to Hue users just yet but, as Matter matures in the months and years ahead, Hue users will be able to take advantage of everything that comes with that.
At present, the only Hue device that is Matter certified is the Bridge &#; the bulbs and lights will only be able to play a part of a Matter smart home system when connected to the Bridge.
For now, you&#;re probably asking yourself why exactly you&#;d even bother using Matter, rather than say Echo Skill, to sync up your Hue bulbs to your smart home ecosystem of choice.
The main reason, for now at least, is it would take some of the heavy lifting off of the cloud-based integrations we currently all use, and bring things in house.
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Back in , Spotify partnered with Philips Hue to develop &#;deep integration of lighting and music&#;. Bulbs and light strips will pulse in time with the music, and use color shades that fit the track.
This is possible because the Hue app gets access to Spotify&#;s track metadata, which includes information on a song&#;s tempo, genre, mood and more. It&#;s the information Spotify uses to help categorise its millions of tracks into endless playlists.
Officially unveiled at IFA , Philips Hue now offers smart security cameras and sensors too.
The Hue Secure cameras come in both battery and wired options, and there&#;s also a Floodlight Hue Secure camera too.
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A key selling point is that the new Hue security cam is end-to-end encryption by default. This means that no processing of footage is done in the cloud, it all happens locally on the devices themselves.
Everything is powered in the new Security Center, which can be found in the Philips Hue app. You&#;ll need both a Hue Bridge and a Hue account to get started.
From the app you&#;ll be able to do all the usual smart security stuff such as manually triggering an alarm that flashes your Hue lights, sounding the siren on your Secure camera, or even calling the police, or a friend or family member.
Want more information on philips hue indoor spotlight? Feel free to contact us.
Because Philips Hue has been around for a while, and because the platform is so open, there&#;s a heck of a lot more you can do with your bulbs outside the official app and ecosystem.
As well as the official app you&#;ll find a tonne of third-party Hue apps across Google Play and the App Store &#; more than 700, in fact. Most are rubbish &#; that&#;s always the way with an open API &#; but there are a few gems that add features to the mix that the official app doesn&#;t allow for.
Top picks include Hue Disco for adding some color to your home party and OnSwitch for grouping your Hue bulbs with your Lifx ones in the same app. Check out our guide to the best Philips Hue apps for more.
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Here&#;s something you won&#;t read on the Signify&#;s website (actually you will, but you&#;ll have to do some digging): you don&#;t actually need Philips Hue bulbs in order to have a Philips Hue system.
Philips Hue is part of the Zigbee Light Link standard protocol and, as such, Zigbee Light Link compliant products and devices work with the Hue Bridge.
It can be a bit fiddly, but you can get cheaper bulbs such as Ikea&#;s, GE&#;s and Osram&#;s all set up on your Hue system. To learn more, take a look at our guide explaining how to set up Ikea Trådfri on Philips Hue or getting your Innr bulbs working with Hue.
(Image credit: The Ambient)The Friends of Hue initiative, whereby you buy accessories &#; think switches and the like (like the Senic Outdoor Switch pictured above) &#; and, although they aren&#;t official Hue products, they act as if they are.
You add them through the Hue app and they connect to your Hue Bridge using Zigbee.
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Check out our guide to the best Friends of Hue switches for your Philips Hue system.
Here are a few more how-tos to get you going&#;
If your bulbs or Bridge aren&#;t responding, you&#;ll need to do a hard reset. When it comes to bulbs, you can do this reset through the app, but if you&#;re not using the Hue Bridge or app, you&#;ll have to go via whichever hub you&#;re connected through. Head to our full explainer for more.
1. Make sure your Philips Hue light is turned on and ready to connect.
2. Download the Philips Hue Skill on your Alexa device.
3. Say &#;Alexa, find my devices&#; and wait for 45 seconds while the assistant scans the area for any new devices.
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4. Once a bulb is discovered, you can connect it up through the Alexa app and control it manually or through your voice. Just make sure to name it something easy to say.
5. Whether you have a bridge or not, you can control your lights using just your voice. Try a command such as, &#;Alexa, turn bedroom light to 50%&#;.
Check our full guide to Philips Hue and Alexa.
Whether it&#;s for setting the mood or you just fancy being a little more in touch with nature, one of the coolest Hue tricks you can do is have them replicate a certain type of weather or adjust to sync with the conditions outside. It&#;s not even that difficult to do &#; here&#;s how.
As we mentioned up above, another trick the Hue Sync app offers is being able to add extra immersion to movies and games by having your Hue bulbs adjust to what&#;s happening on-screen. Head to our full guide to learn how.
Friends of Hue smart switches are effectively smart buttons that allow you to control your Hue lights. And it&#;s easy to set these up directly in the Hue app.
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Senic&#;s Friends of Hue Outdoor Switch is one of our favorites in this area.
Philips Hue might be the leading light in the smart lighting world, but there are plenty of smart lighting alternatives now on sale.
Lifx is the most obvious pretender to Hue&#;s crown &#; it&#;s a bridge-less system that offers and app that (dare we say it?) is slightly better and easier to use than Hue&#;s, with cheaper price points and an ever-growing army of bulbs and accessories. Watch this space for sure and check out our comprehensive Lifx guide.
Nanoleaf, which started out as a smart light panel specialist has emerged as a genuine Hue alternative in the past couple of years, as it expands into lightstrips, bulbs and spotlights too.
The Ikea Trådfri range turned up at the smart lighting party in early and, while there still aren&#;t many bells and whistles, smart assistants, colored bulbs and increased compatibility are breathing life into the platform &#; and as mentioned above, you can even get Ikea&#;s cheaper bulbs playing nicely within your Hue setup. Read our Ikea Trådfri review for more.
Other names vying for space in an ever-expanding smart lighting arena are Innr, Nanoleaf, Osram, Wemo, Hive, Wyze, Sengred, Govee and Elgato. Check out our smart lighting hub page to stay up to date with all the news, reviews and analysis.
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Thinking about smartening up the lights in your home? Philips Hue is one of the first names you should consider.
Among all of today's smart lighting platforms, Hue is the most well-established, the most well-developed and the most well-connected, too. It doesn't matter if you're an Alexa user, an Apple HomeKit fan, an IFTTT nerd, a Razer gamer, a Google Home devotee, a Logitech Harmony connoisseur, a Nest aficionado or about a bajillion other examples I could list -- Philips Hue's lights work with all of it.
If you barely understand what any of that last sentence means, don't worry: Philips Hue is a great pick for smart lighting newbies, too. And hey, maybe that's why you're here. You want to know more about the platform before you buy in -- especially because a lot of these lights don't come cheap.
Read more: Philips Hue's new Bluetooth bulbs don't need the Hue Bridge at all
Well, we're here to help, with everything you need to know about Philips Hue in one place: What it is, how it works, how to put it to use in your home, which bulbs to buy first -- and yep, which ones are overpriced duds, too. And please note that I've included links to Amazon where appropriate, as well as a few of our top picks here at, well, the top -- CNET may get a share of revenue from purchases made through those links. Gotta keep the lights on, right?
Read more: The best LED light bulb for every room in your house in
The most important thing to know if you've decided to invest in Philips Hue's ecosystem is that you'll need the Hue Bridge plugged into your router in order to take full control of your lights (it's the square-shaped hub in the middle there). The newest Hue bulbs can use Bluetooth to pair directly with your without need for a Hue Bridge, but you'll miss out on most all of Hue's advanced features and integrations.
You can buy that Hue Bridge on its own, but the best way to get it is to buy a starter kit that packages it with a couple of bulbs -- and the best value among those starter kits is the Philips Hue White starter kit. The newest version comes with three white-light bulbs and a wall-mountable smart button that you can program to control them for $99. It's a great way to test the platform out and learn the basics of automating your lights with the Hue app, and you can build upon it over time, adding new lights to your system whenever the ones you want go on sale. And since it includes the Hue Bridge, you'll be able to connect your bulbs with whatever third-party platforms and services you like.
Read Philips Hue White Starter Kit review.
$99 at AmazonMaybe it's controversial to pick Hue's light bars over the classic Hue bulbs, but if color-changing bulbs are all you want, you've got options from other brands that cost less. And besides, the Hue Play fixtures are perfect to hide behind a monitor or to mount beneath a shelf or on the back of a TV -- sneaky smart places for color-changing accent light, and places where bulbs can't traditionally go. They're also handy if you have even a casual interest in photography -- a nice kick of color can really help that Instagram shot stand out.
If you're interested in the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, which syncs the colors with whatever's on your TV screen, then these lights come with some extra entertainment appeal. I also love that you can power up to three of them with a single plug, but I wish that they unplugged for battery-powered portability. And yeah, I wish that they cost slightly less, too -- but waiting for a sale is par for the course with Philips Hue at this point.
Just make sure you buy a base kit that includes the lights and the power supply. A base kit that includes one light bar will cost you $70, while a two-pack costs $130. One you've got the power supply, you can add a second or third light as a standalone extension for $60.
Read full review.
$130 at AmazonFor $50, the Philips Hue Tap is a wireless four-button remote that can control your Philips Hue lights. The coolest thing about it is that it powers itself whenever you press a button, so you'll never need to recharge it or replace its batteries.
Like the rest of the Hue lineup, the Tap also works with Apple HomeKit, which means that you can use it to trigger HomeKit-compatible gadgets from other brands, too. We've been using one to control the lights at the CNET Smart Apartment for a few years now, and it's never failed us. Seriously, what's not to like about this thing?
Read full review.
See at AmazonPhilips Hue is a line of smart LED light bulbs and fixtures. Each one communicates wirelessly with the Hue Bridge, a little modem-looking thing that you keep plugged into your home's router. That connection to the cloud lets you control Hue's lights from your , with a voice command via Siri, Alexa or the Google Assistant, or by automating them to turn on and off at specific times or when other devices trigger them.
Many of Philips Hue's bulbs and fixtures can change colors upon request (hence the "Hue" branding), but some are just basic bulbs that put out plain ol' white light and nothing else. Prices range from $15 a piece for bulbs like those to $250 for a 58-inch tall Philips Hue Signe color-changing floor lamp (spoiler alert: that's one of the overpriced duds you can definitely skip).
To get started with Philips Hue, you plug in the Hue Bridge and connect it to your router via an Ethernet cable. Then you'll screw in your Hue bulbs or turn on your Hue fixtures. Download the Philips Hue app to your Android or iOS device and open it up -- it'll walk you through the rest of the setup process.
Once you've paired your lights with the app, you sort them by room and give each one a unique name. The app (and if you're using them, the Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant voice controls) will let you control entire rooms at once by saying, for example, "turn on the living room." You can control individual lights, too, which is where naming everything is important. "Turn on the desk lamp" is a lot less clunky than, say, "turn on Hue White Ambiance Bulb 4"
The Hue app comes with a number of preset "scenes" that, when activated, will automatically change all of the lights in the room. Along with basic scenes for normal, soft white and daylight-toned white light, there are multicolor scenes that will randomly apply colors from a preselected palette across all of a room's lights. For instance, a Spring Blossom-themed scene will randomly assign shades of pink, red and white across your lights, while a Northern Lights-themed scene will go live with shades of green and blue. You can make and save your own scenes in the Hue app, too, which lets you return to a custom mix of colors that you like with a single tap or voice command.
The Hue Bridge plugs into your router and sends Zigbee commands to your Hue lights. Unless you've got an Amazon Echo Plus, you can't use Hue bulbs and fixtures without it.
In a word? Zigbee.
...Oh, right, I should probably be a little more specific. Zigbee is a wireless communication technology like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. You can think of it as a language that lets smart lights talk to each other and to their control hub. All of Hue's bulbs and fixtures have their own built-in Zigbee radios, as does the Hue Bridge, which you keep plugged into your router. Its job is to act like a Zigbee-to-Wi-Fi translator for your home network and your lights.
For instance, you send a signal to your router whenever you turn a Hue bulb on using the app. From there, the Hue Bridge translates that command into a Zigbee signal and sends it out to the bulb. All of this happens in a fraction of a second, and since the connection to your router keeps your Hue Bridge connected to the cloud, it means you can control your lights from anywhere in the world where your can connect to the internet.
One quick note: You'll need the square-shaped, second-gen Hue Bridge pictured above for all of that. The circular, first-gen Hue Bridge is no longer supported.
Nope, you don't need a Zigbee provider or a Zigbee subscription or anything like that. Zigbee isn't like Wi-Fi in that sense. It's more like Bluetooth. It's a local wireless network for your home -- specifically for your smart home gadgets. Once you plug the Hue Bridge into your router, screw in a Hue bulb, and pair the two together via the Hue app, the two will start using Zigbee to communicate like two kids playing with walkie-talkies. You don't have to sign up for Zigbee service or pay a monthly Zigbee bill or anything like that.
Yes. Since Zigbee is a local network, none of Hue's bulbs connect directly to the cloud, and all of their Zigbee transmissions back and forth to each other and to the Hue Bridge follow standard encryption practices, which the Philips Hue team has been developing and refining with regular firmware updates for several years now.
Speaking of the Hue Bridge, you have to connect it directly to your router with an Ethernet cable. While that's a little less convenient than hubs that connect to the router wirelessly, the Hue team tells us that this approach ensures that your home's Wi-Fi credentials are never transmitted wirelessly, which would make it easier for someone to intercept them. Hue also requires you to tap the button on the top of Bridge during the initial pairing process and during setup for most third-party connections, which is an excellent common-sense means of keeping someone from taking over your system from outside of your home. On top of that, each Hue Bridge has a unique verification key, which means that if one were to be compromised, the hacker couldn't use it as a way to take over any others.
Connecting anything to the internet comes with risks, obviously, but Philips Hue has a long, solid track record of keeping its platform secure and addressing vulnerabilities whenever they pop up, which is what you want from a smart home brand. There's no reason to think that connecting your lights to the internet poses any more risk than connecting, say, your laptop, your or your TV. As always, just be sure to keep your Wi-Fi network protected with a strong password. Better yet, make a habit of updating that password every now and then.
Hue's newest bulbs add in Bluetooth to let you try them out without need for a Hue Bridge. Other than that, they're the same bulbs as before. The only new one is this $20 Hue White floodlight.
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The new Philips Hue bulbs with Bluetooth are currently rolling out at retail. If you want them, look for packaging with the little Bluetooth icon in the upper right corner.
Hue's newest bulbs are the same basic thing as before, but they now include Bluetooth radios in addition to the Zigbee receivers. That lets you pair them directly with your without need for a Hue Bridge.
To do so, you'll need to use a separate, Bluetooth-based version of the Hue app on your Android or iOS device. It's a much more basic experience than what you'll get if you use the full-fledged Hue app powered by the Hue Bridge. You can still turn your lights on and off from your , dim them up and down, and group them according to room, but you won't be able to control them from beyond Bluetooth range without a hub, and you won't be able to take advantage of advanced features like wake-up fades or Hue Entertainment (more on both in the next section). You also won't be able to sync them up with most outside services, including Apple HomeKit and IFTTT.
You can, however, connect them directly with current-gen Amazon Echo speakers and with Google Home speakers and Google Nest smart displays. Once you do, you'll control them via the Alexa or Google Home apps, and turn them on and off using Alexa and Google Assistant commands.
That makes them pretty appealing for people who just want smart bulbs that their voice assistant of choice can control, and who aren't interested in plugging a hub into their router to unlock any advanced features (and you can always add a Hue Bridge later if you decide you want it). For most, I think the Hue Bridge is worth it from the start -- especially since you can typically get it packaged in one of Hue's starter kits for very little additional expense.
On a basic level, smart lights like the ones from Philips Hue let you control and dim your lights using your , using voice commands or using automations that you set up in the Hue app or with a compatible third-party automation service like IFTTT.
The Hue Entertainment feature lets you sync your color-changing Hue lights with whatever's playing on your computer screen.
Basic automations like those let you do things like schedule your lights to turn on automatically in the morning or at sunset, or even more creative use cases, like lights that blink whenever you receive an from an important contact. You could also connect your lights with a motion sensor, then program them to turn on automatically whenever someone enters the room.
Other, more advanced features include automatic Google Assistant wake-up lighting that can slowly fade your bedroom lights up during the thirty minutes prior to your morning Google Assistant alarm. Another recent feature called Hue Entertainment lets you set your lights to mimic the color of whatever's playing on your computer screen in real time. Connect that computer to your living room TV for a color-coordinated movie night with the kids -- that is, if you don't find the feature too distracting.
Philips Hue parent company Signify expanded on Hue Entertainment in by introducing the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, which costs $230 and supports voice control via Alexa, Siri or the Google Assistant. With multiple HDMI jacks, you plug all of your media streamers, set top boxes and gaming consoles into it, and then connect it to your TV. From there, it reads the incoming video signals, which lets your Hue Bridge match the color of your lights to whatever's on your TV screen. That brings all sorts of new content under Hue Entertainment's control.
Like I said before, it works with quite a lot. Most notable are the voice assistants -- in fact, Hue was the first smart lighting platform to hit the trifecta and sync up with Alexa, Siri and the Google Assistant (and hey, Hue works with Cortana, too). Make the connection, and you'll be able to turn your bulbs on and off, dim them up and down or trigger your scenes by asking your assistant of choice to do it.
On the Alexa front, Philips Hue also offers direct compatibility between its lights and the Amazon Echo Plus, an Alexa smart speaker with its own, built-in Zigbee radio. That means that Echo Plus owners don't need the Hue Bridge if they want to pair Hue bulbs with Alexa -- though they'll only be able to control those Hue lights in the Alexa app and by using Alexa voice commands. If they want to use the Hue app or any of Hue's other integrations, they'll still need the Hue Bridge plugged into their router.
Keep an eye out for new "Friends of Hue" smart switches -- when paired with Hue bulbs, your automations and voice controls will continue to work even then the switch is off.
You can also add Philips Hue bulbs and fixtures to a whole lot of other smart home platforms, including Wink, Samsung SmartThings and security-minded automation systems like Comcast Xfinity Home and Vivint. Just know that for all of them, you'll still need the Hue Bridge.
Speaking of the Hue Bridge, it also supports third-party Zigbee lights that aren't made by Philips. That includes inexpensive smart bulbs from names like Cree and Sylvania that cost a few bucks less than Hue's white light bulbs at retail. Just make sure that those smart bulbs send their signals using the Zigbee wireless protocol.
Something else to watch for: A growing number of smart light switches designed to connect with Hue's light bulbs, making it so your automations and voice controls will continue to work even when things are off at the wall (with a regular light switch, cutting the power makes it so your bulbs can't receive signals from the Hue Bridge). We've already tested one such smart switch from RunLessWire, and came away impressed. Another, the Lutron Aurora, simply acts like a dimmer dial that covers the old switch, locking it into the on position.
Philips Hue's color-changing light bulbs cost $50 each, but you'll often find them on sale for a little less.
You've got lots! Hue sells both color-changing and white-light bulbs in a variety of shapes and sizes. They include:
There's a lot of those, too (and even more of them if you're shopping in Europe). Among the most notable:
Available for $50, the Philips Hue Outdoor Sensor tracks motion, temperature and ambient light.
Nope! Philips Hue sells accessories for its system, too. These include:
my favorite Philips Hue accessory
Click Smart Switch
: A "Friends of Hue" partner accessory from a company called RunLessWire (and formerly known as the "Illumra"), the Click is a four-button Zigbee smart switch that pairs with your bulbs to turn things on and off, dim thing up and down or trigger scenes. What's really cool about it is that it uses the same energy-harvesting trick as the Hue Tap, so it powers itself with each button press. That means you can install without needing to wire anything in. It costs $60.Lutron Aurora
: Available now for preorder at $40 each, the Lutron Aurora is another noteworthy Friends of Hue accessory that offers control over your Hue lights at the light switch itself. Instead of replacing your old light switch, the Aurora is a smart, battery-powered Zigbee dimmer knob that snaps over the light switch, locking it into the on position and preventing your kids and houseguests from cutting the power to your lights and rendering their voice controls, automations and app controls inoperable. From there, just tap it to turn whatever bulbs are paired to it on or off, or twist it to dim them up and down.Of all of these, I think most people will get the most value with a Philips Hue White starter kit, which includes the essential Hue Bridge and a couple of Hue White bulbs to get you going, complete with a smart button. It's enough to get your feet wet, and since it comes with the Hue Bridge included, you can build upon it, gradually expanding your setup, light by light.
The smart way to do this is to figure out which products appeal to you the most and then wait for a sale. You shouldn't have to wait long -- Philips Hue products are frequently marked down at major retailers like Amazon, Best Buy and Home Depot. Good deals on days like Black Friday and Prime Day are pretty much a given at this point, too.
To each their own, but I tend to think color-changing bulbs are a bit frivolous in lamps and overhead lights you typically use as primary light sources for shared spaces (seriously, how often are you really going to want to be able to bathe your entire living room in purple?) Instead, I find that lights like these are best suited as accents that you aim at your walls wherever they might benefit from a pop of color.
That's why I tend to like the Philips Hue Play light bars and the kid-friendly, battery-powered Philips Hue Go fixture a little bit better than the bulbs. At $60 and $80 per light respectively, they're each a little expensive, but they fit the bill as colorful accent lights for high-tech homes. Same goes for the Philips Hue Lightstrip -- though I wish that it was capable of putting out more than one color at once, like the Lifx Z Lightstrip is.
Philips Hue offers some solid accessories for its system, too. First among these in my mind is the self-powering Philips Hue Tap remote. With no need for batteries, it's a great little gadget at $50, and a nice Apple HomeKit accessory, too.
I was also recently impressed when I tested out Philips Hue's Outdoor Sensor, which, like the Tap, costs $50. Mount it outside your home if you want your Hue lights to turn on automatically as you're fumbling for your keys at the front door after a long day at work. I like it for indoor use, too -- even more so than the standard Philips Hue Motion Sensor. Why? For $10 more, the Outdoor Sensor adds in sensors for temperature and ambient light.
You've got plenty of options when it comes to color-changing lights, so it's smart to shop around. Just keep in mind that no other competitor has a smart lighting platform that's as steady or well-developed as Philips Hue.
Read more: The best color-changing smart bulbs that cost less than Philips Hue
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Available for $35, the Lifx Mini is brighter and bolder-looking than Philips Hue's White and Color LED.
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That weird, greenish cyan setting for the Hue bulb in that grid above seems to be a unique issue when controlling it with Alexa. Here's how the Hue bulb's cyan setting looks when you're using the Hue app, Siri or the Google Assistant.
The closest is probably Lifx, a smart lighting startup out of Australia that caught fire in the crowdfunding scene several years ago. Lifx offers terrific app controls, it works with a great range of third parties, including Alexa, Siri, IFTTT and the Google Assistant, and it's done a good job of building out a wide product lineup. Lifx products communicate using Wi-Fi, not Zigbee, so they don't require a hub -- you can just buy a single color-changing Lifx Mini LED for $35, screw it in, pair it with the app and go.
Lifx also offers color-changing LED light panels called Lifx Tiles that you can stick to your walls, similar to the likable Nanoleaf Canvas Light Panels. Philips Hue doesn't offer anything like that for your walls.
If you just want a cheap color-changing bulb for your next party or for a game room, then a Philips Hue starter kit is probably overkill. You'd be better off with Wi-Fi alternatives that don't need a hub.
Low-cost color-changing bulbs from names like Eufy (Anker's smart home brand) and Kasa (TP-Link's smart home brand) will do the job just fine, complete with Alexa and Google Assistant compatibility. For a hub-free color-changer that works with Apple HomeKit, consider the Sylvania Smart Plus LED, which costs $45 at full price, but often goes on sale (as of writing this in April of , it's marked down to $23 a piece on Amazon).
Recently, GE Lighting jumped into the color-changing category with RGB smart bulbs of its own. Those are worth keeping an eye out for, too -- especially if you're a Google Assistant user, since GE bulbs are "Made for Google" products. And, while Philips Hue offers a full lineup of its own outdoor lights, you might consider waiting for Ring's upcoming outdoor lighting lineup, which looks to have a good variety of fixtures with their own built-in motion sensors.
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