The Philips Hue app has grown in complexity over the previous a number of years, with increasingly new options and settings being tucked into the person interface. That makes all of it too straightforward to overlook the newest and best in Hue performance.
Besides such newer options as mild alarms, “mimic presence,” and—flashiest of all—Hue’s motion-sensing MotionAware know-how, there are additionally outdated favorites like mild timers and fade durations. Taken collectively, these (usually effectively hidden) options can add polish to your Hue routines, maintain your every day schedules on monitor, and even shield your private home from would-be intruders.
Read on for seven hidden Hue options you should attempt, beginning with…
Mimic presence mode
Philips Hue not too long ago made the bounce into the house safety market, including a sequence of Hue Secure-branded cameras along with door and window sensors and floodlights, But even in the event you’re not able to put money into a Hue digicam, you may nonetheless increase your safety with this built-in Hue function.
Just activate the “Mimic Presence” mode, and the Hue app will mechanically flip your lights on and off to “mimic the activities that would be expected in those types of rooms,” good for scaring off burglars or anybody else pondering of sneaking into your empty house.
The “Mimic presence” function is tucked into an extended checklist of choices on the Automations display screen. Tap it, choose a number of rooms, then choose some or all of the lights related to the room. You also can set the mode to run all day, or solely when it’s darkish exterior.
To set off the “Mimic presence” mode, simply find it on the Automations tab and faucet the “Play” button, or “Stop” to deactivate the mode. You also can set a Hue button to show “Mimic presence” on or off, or map the mode to a Hue smartphone widget.
Light alarms
Here’s one other Hue function that may assist maintain your private home secure. Rather than utilizing audible alarms to keep off intruders, the Hue app can set off light-based alarms that quickly flash some or your whole Hue lights, splendid for spooking crooks in addition to alerting your neighbors that one thing’s amiss.
To use mild alarms, you’ll want a supporting machine equivalent to a Hue Secure digicam, a Hue movement sensor (there are indoor and outdoor fashions), or a Hue contact sensor. You’ll additionally must allow the Hue Security middle (Settings > Security).
As you’re configuring Hue Security, it is going to information you thru the method of organising a light-weight alarm. For instance, you’ll have the ability to resolve which lights in your house ought to flash when the alarm is tripped, in addition to whether or not your lights ought to flash white or crimson.
You can set your Philips Hue mild alarms to flash both white or crimson.
Ben Patterson/Foundry
Besides a flashing mild alarm, you may also create automations that set off mild scenes when a Hue sensor detects exercise. For instance, I created an automation that prompts a vibrant mild scene in my downstairs house workplace every time the upstairs kitchen door is opened, helpful for letting me know when my daughter comes house from college.
In my case, I drilled all the way down to the settings for my Hue door and window sensors (Settings > Devices > Sensors > Contact Sensors), chosen the lights that I wished triggered (Office), then modify the Behavior settings (“Bright” when the door is opened, “Return to previous state” when the door is closed).
MotionAware motion-sensing know-how
One of the good new Philips Hue options can be one which’s restricted to the brand new Hue Bridge Pro. Dubbed “MotionAware,” the function allows you to flip your Hue lights into movement sensors, good for triggering mild scenes when folks enter or depart an space.
MotionAware works its magic by detecting disturbances within the wi-fi Zigbee indicators used to attach Hue lights to the bridge, and also you’ll want at the least three MotionAware-capable Hue lights in an space to enabled a movement zone.
MotionAware does have its foibles and as I simply talked about, it solely works with the Hue Bridge Pro, not the usual Hue Bridge. Still, it makes for a good way to rapidly deploy movement zones all through your private home, and whereas the $98.99 Bridge Pro is roughly twice the value of the common bridge, it’s nonetheless cheaper than paying for particular person Hue movement sensors in every room.
The Hue Bridge Pro can flip your Hue lights into movement sensors.
Ben Patterson/Foundry
Fade period
The Hue app provides each get up and sleep automations that may regularly increase or dim the brightness within the morning or at evening, however you may also set any mild scenes to regularly fade in or out.
I discover the “fade duration” setting significantly helpful for easily altering daytime mild scenes from, say, a heat morning glow to a cooler daytime look, all with out making anybody within the room do a double-take. (The Hue app additionally has a “Natural Light” scene that adjustments the sunshine temperature all through the day, with an optionally available “transition time” between every time window. I simply occur to favor my very own scene settings.)
Whenever you create a customized automation (faucet the Automations tab, then faucet the blue “+” button within the top-right nook of the display screen), the Fade Duration possibility will seem as you’re setting the beginning time for the routine. The period itself can final for wherever between 5 minutes to an hour.
If you’re adjusting an present scene, you’ll must faucet “Start at” or “End at” to entry the Fade Duration setting.
Light results
Hue lights can do extra than simply shine in strong colours or white shade temperatures. They also can flicker, shimmer, and pulse in a wide range of shades, good for simulating a candle, a hearth, or a lava lamp.
Just choose any of your Hue lights in a room, then faucet the Effects button (the one with a glittery icon) subsequent to the colour and white shade temperature controls. You’ll then see a wide range of mild results, relying on the kind of Hue mild you’ve chosen. Dimmable-only Hue white lights will provide Candle results, whereas dimmable and tunable White Ambience lights will add Glisten and Sparkle results. While and Color Ambience lights get much more results, together with Fireplace, Underwater, Cosmos, and Opal, all with completely different shade choices.
Among the Hue mild results you may select are Candle, Fireplace (left), Underwater, and Cosmos (center). You also can modify the colour, brightness, and velocity for any of the consequences (proper).
Ben Patterson/Foundry
Even higher, you may create your personal customized impact for every class; faucet Create Fireplace, for instance, and you may choose your personal shade, in addition to modify the brightness and velocity.
Once you’ve added results for various lights in a room, you may create a scene with these results by tapping the Save button.
Animated mild scenes
Speaking of scenes, you may animate any Hue scene in a room (that’s, any scenes apart from fundamental scenes like Bright, Dimmed, and Nightlight) with a single faucet.
If you see a “Play” icon on a light-weight scene, attempt tapping it; while you do, the scene will animate itself, pulsing gently in response to its personal rhythm. Tap the Edit button to vary the brightness or velocity of the animation, or to make the scene animate itself by default.
Light timers
Need to set a timer however hate the blare of an audible alarm? Just because the Hue app provides mild alarms, it additionally has mild timers that may activate lighting scenes after a set period of time.
Tap the “+” button on the Automations display screen, then choose the Timer possibility. You’ll must set how lengthy the timer ought to final (wherever from a minute to 24 hours), which room or rooms will probably be included (or your complete house, in the event you like), and which scene you’d like activated when the timer ends.
Once that’s all set, you’ll see your new timer with a “Play” button on the prime of your checklist of automations. Press the Play button, and when the countdown ends, the timer will set off the lighting scene you chose.
This function is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the best smart lighting products. Updated with particulars about Hue’s MotionAware motion-detection know-how.