How Smart Lighting works | Philips Hue (2024)

FAQs

How does Philips smart light work? ›

Smart lights have a chip inside them so that they can communicate with other devices wirelessly. Every light can connect to an app, smart home assistant, or other smart accessory, so you can automate your lights, change their color, or control them remotely.

Bluetooth. Philips Hue can also connect via Bluetooth, so you can still experience some of these intuitive features in a dorm room, the work shed out back, at your favorite campsite, or anywhere you don't have a router.

However, the Hue Bridge is not required to use Philips Hue smart lighting. Most Philips Hue smart lights are Bluetooth-enabled (look for the symbol on the packaging) and can be controlled with the Philips Hue app without a Hue Bridge — but a Bluetooth setup does come with some limitations.

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.

Philips isn't discontinuing Hue smart bulbs altogether. Only a recently-released line called Lightguide is getting the chop, and even then, it's just the triangle and globe-shaped bulbs being discontinued. The Verge has the scoop if you'd like to learn more. How many years do Hue bulbs last?

The Hue Bridge lets you connect your smart bulbs to the internet wirelessly. However, the Bridge itself must be connected to a router with an ethernet cable. One way to connect the Bridge to Wi-Fi is to connect it to a router configured to run in bridge mode.

A Philips Hue Bridge is a device that allows users to control their Philips Hue lights from a single central hub. It connects to an Internet-connected router and acts as the 'brain' of the system, enabling users to access and configure their lights from anywhere in the world.

Using Bluetooth instead of Hue Bridge

A Bluetooth setup lets you turn lights on or off, dim, and change light colors with the Hue app. You can also set a timer, use preset light scenes, and even control lights with your voice.

The Philips Hue draws between 0 and 0.3 watts which, based on paying a little above average at 15 cents per kilowatt, this will cost you 1.6 cents per month. Say you kit out your entire home with smart bulbs, using 20 or 30 of them, then you can expect to notice the vampire power draw more.

Well, yes and no. While it's technically true that the Bluetooth-enabled Hue lights don't need the Bridge for initial setup and subsequent control (there is a separate Hue app for the Bluetooth lights), there are a few features that will only become available if you use the Bridge.

Why does Philips Hue need a bridge? ›

The Hue Bridge allows you to control your lights from anywhere in the house – and, in fact, anywhere in the world. Whether you're at work, running errands or away on holiday, you can turn lights on and off, dim or brighten, or even set up automations just like you would at home.

Considered the heart of the Hue smart lighting system, the Hue Bridge uses ZigBee technology to connect to your Wi-Fi.

Smart lights have a chip inside them so that they can communicate with other devices wirelessly. Every light can connect to an app, smart home assistant, or other smart accessory, so you can automate your lights, change their color, or control them remotely.

Philips Hue White ambiance bulbs feature warm-to-cool white light, ranging from cool daylight to the warm, golden tones of sunsets. The White and color ambiance line of smart LED bulbs offers the full color spectrum with 16 million colors to choose from.

Philips Hue and our parent company, Signify, are members on the board of Connectivity Standard Alliance (formerly known as the Zigbee Alliance).

Smart sensor automatically adjusts the time and temperature for effortless perfect results. Every time! Our professional chefs designed the Smart Chef programs to do the thinking and cooking for you.

You can control it with your voice. by using Alexa or Siri. You can also use the Philips Hue mobile app. or use the Apple Home app. This also lets you manually adjust the brightness.