10 Ways That Philips Hue Lights Can Change Color Automatically. Philips hue color

How to Set Up Philips Hue Without a Hue Bridge

If you bought a set of Philips Hue Smart light bulbs, you won’t necessarily need to buy an expensive Hue Bridge to control them. Depending on what kind of bulbs you have, you can also use the Philips Hue app on your smartphone to turn your lights off, dim them, change the color of the light, and more. Or you can connect your Philips Hue lights to your Alexa or Google Home Devices, so you can control them with voice commands. Here’s how to set up Philips Hue Smart light bulbs without using a Hue Bridge.

Note: You can only Philips Hue Smart light bulbs without the Hue Bridge if you have the Bluetooth models. So, before you try to set up your Philips Hue bulbs, make sure that they have the Bluetooth icon on the box or at the base of the bulbs.

How to Set Up Philips Hue with the Hue Bluetooth App

To set up your Philips Hue bulbs, screw them into a light socket and download the Philips Hue Bluetooth app. Then follow the on-screen instructions to set up your account and discover your bulbs. Finally, tap the Lights tab to control your Philips Hue bulbs.

• Install your Philips Hue bulbs and turn them on. Screw your Philips Hue bulbs into your light socket just like you would screw any other light bulb into a socket.
• Then download the Philips Hue Bluetooth app. You can download the Philips Hue app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Make sure not to download the regular Philips Hue app.
• Next, open the app and select Get Started.
• Then tap Yes. If you select No when asked if your lights are Bluetooth compatible, you will be asked to set up a Philips Hue Bridge.
• Next, set up your account. You will be required to enter your name and email address. Plus, you will have to accept the terms and conditions by tapping the slider at the bottom.
• Then select whether you use a voice assistant. You should only select Yes if you use Alexa or the Google Assistant. Otherwise, select Not right now. You can always connect your Philips Hue bulbs with your voice assistant later.
• Turn on your light switch and tap Add light. The app will immediately start searching for your Hue lights. Note: If you are connecting to a dimmer switch, make sure that it is turned all the way up.
• Next, tap Pair. You will see a pop-up prompt asking you to allow the app to access your device’s Bluetooth.
• Then tap Next or Search for more. Once your device finds one of your bulbs, you can tap Next to continue. If you are installing more than one bulb, tap Search for more. You can find out which bulb your device paired by tapping Hue bulb. This will cause your light to turn off and on quickly. Once you have paired all your bulbs, tap Next. Note: If you are not able to connect to a bulb, try turning your lights off for 10 seconds and then turning them back on. Also, try moving your device closer to the light. Then select Retry. Philips recommends moving your device within 3 feet of the bulb, so it can connect.
• Then select which voice assistants you want to use. You can only choose between Alexa and the Google Assistant. If you don’t have a Smart assistant, or you want to set up a voice assistant with your Philips Hue bulbs later, you can also choose Setting up a voice assistant later.
• Assign a name to the Hue bulb. Tap the text box at the top of your screen to change a bulb’s default name. If you are using a voice assistant, it is a good idea to name your Smart light bulb something that your Smart speaker can recognize.
• Finally, tap Next to finish the setup process. Now you can control your Philips Hue Bluetooth light straight from the app. To dim your lights or change their color, simply tap the Lights tab in the bottom-left corner of the app.

You can change the name of your bulbs by tapping the Settings icon in the bottom-right corner of the app. Then go to Lights and choose which bulb you want to name. Finally, tap the bulb’s default name to enter a new one.

Once you set up your Philips Hue bulbs with the app, you can then connect them to your Alexa and Google devices. Here’s how:

How to Connect Philips Hue to Alexa

To connect Philips Hue to Alexa, install your bulbs and open the Alexa app. Then go to Add a Device Lights Philips Hue. Then select Yes Discover Devices. If you are adding more than one bulb, select Add Another.

• Install your Philips Hue bulbs and turn them on.
• Open the Amazon Alexa app. If you don’t have the Alexa app, you can download it from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
• Then tap You will see this tab in the bottom-right corner of the app under the three-line icon.
• Next, tap Add a Device. This will be at the top of the app.
• Then tap Light. If you see the Philips Hue option on your screen, you can also select that and skip the next step.
• Next, select Philips Hue.
• Then select Yes. If you select No when asked If your bulbs are Bluetooth-enabled, Alexa will try to connect to your Hue Bridge.
• Next, select Discover Devices. Alexa will start looking for nearby devices automatically. Move your mobile phone as close to your Philips Hue light as possible while the app looks for devices. You only have to hold your device near the bulb until you see it flash once.
• Then wait for Alexa to connect to your Philips Hue bulbs.
• Next, tap Set Up Device. If some of your Smart bulbs didn’t connect, you can also tap Add Another and repeat the process. Note: If Alexa was not able to connect to your Philips Hue bulbs, repeat steps 1-7 above and select tap here instead of Discover Devices. The Alexa app will ask you for permission to access the Bluetooth on your device. Then tap Next and follow the instructions on the following screen. The Alexa app will ask you to turn your lights off for 10 seconds and turn them back on. Also, you should move your device within 6 inches of your Smart plugs. You can also check your Devices tab to make sure your bulb isn’t already connected.
• Then tap Choose Group. If you connected multiple bulbs, you will have to tap Choose Device and set them up individually. You can skip the remaining steps and start using your Philips Hue bulbs without adding them to a group. If you tap Skip, you can start using Alexa to control your Smart lights. However, that means you will have to use voice commands to turn each Smart light off individually.
• Next, select the room where the light is. If you don’t see the group you want to add your bulb to, tap Skip. You can always add your lights to groups later.
• Finally, select Continue on the next two pages.

Once you have connected Alexa to your Philips Hue bulbs, you can use voice commands to control them. Simply say, “Alexa turn off the lights in the kitchen,” or “Alexa, dim the lights in my bedroom to 50%.” If you have colored lights, you can also say, “Alexa, turn the lights in the living room red.”

If you want to make any changes, you can open the Alexa app and tap the Devices tab at the bottom of your screen. Then scroll down to select the group you want to add more bulbs to. Or tap the plus icon in the top-right corner to add a new group.

You can also tap Lights on the Devices page and select a bulb to change its color and brightness. Or you can select Create a Routine at the bottom of your screen or tap the gear icon in the top-right corner to change your bulb’s name.

How to Connect Philips Hue to Google Home

To connect Philips Hue to Google, open the Google Home app and tap the plus icon. Then go to Set up device Set up new devices Light bulb Set up. Finally, follow the on-screen instructions to connect your Philips Hue bulbs to Google.

• Install your Philips Hue bulbs and turn them on.
• Then open the Google Home app. If you don’t have the app, you can get it on the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.
• Next, tap the plus sign.You will see this in the top-left corner of the app home screen.
• Then tap Set up device.
• Next, select Set up new devices.
• Then choose a home and tap Next. Google Home will start looking for available devices to connect to.
• Next, tap Light bulb.
• Then select a bulb and tap Set Up. Your bulb should start to blink on and off. If it doesn’t, select Light didn’t blink. If you don’t see your bulb listed, tap Don’t see my light. Note: If you are not able to connect your Philips Hue bulbs to Google Home, try moving your Google Smart speaker close to your bulbs. Then turn your lights off for at least 10 seconds and turn them on again. Also, try disconnecting your bulbs from any other apps or voice assistants.
• Next, choose a room where your device is. Then click Next.
• Finally, choose a name for your bulb. If you have multiple Smart lights, you will have to repeat the final few steps for each bulb.

Note: If you can’t control your Philips Hue lights, make sure that the Hue and your Google Smart speaker are on the same Wi-Fi network. Also, check that you’re using the same Google account for your Google Home app and Google Nest Smart speaker. To do this, go to Settings Linked Accounts in your Google Home app.

If you’re looking to expand your Smart home, check out our list of the best Smart thermostats to help you save money on your energy bills.

HelloTech editors choose the products and services we write about. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.

Ways That Philips Hue Lights Can Change Color Automatically

Unfortunately I didn’t turn into the hulk right after, but it got me wondering whether it’s possible to set my Philips Hue bulbs and light strips to change color automatically (not using an app or voice command)? Thankfully the short answer is:

Yes, it’s easy to set-up your Philips Hue lights so that they cycle through a range of colors. There are a number of formulas and third party apps that allow you to do this.

Background: Philips Hue RGB (Color) Lights

Philips Hue are the most successful Smart lighting provider, with a massive range of products from Smart bulbs to Smart light strips and fixed Smart light fixtures. Whilst you can get pure white bulbs (that only allow dimming), most of their range is full RGB meaning they can be changed to one of 16 million different colors:

These white diodes are essential because it’s hard to achieve certain colors (and, of course, mainly white lights) with just red, green and blue diodes – so having separate white diodes allows Hue lights to deliver much more diverse color ranges.

However one of the things I always disliked about the official Hue app is that you can’t easily say to a bulb “have fun and change color rapidly”. This is something that’s very easy with LIFX, via the Effects tab on the app.

If you’re having a party or just want some mood lighting, you may want to have your Hue lights change color automatically instead of having them in one static color (which is what happens with standard Hue scenes and routines). Thankfully this is easy to achieve via a range of methods – which I explore below.

Note: whilst the pictures above show a Hue Lightstrip, you can make your lights change on any color-compatible Hue bulb or light. For example, a Hue A19 or E14 bulb will also work fine as long as you buy the “Color and White Ambiance” version. You don’t just need a lightstrip to follow this guide.

Ways To Make Your Philips Hue Lights Change Color Automatically

Method 1 – ColorLoop Lab Formula

The Hue ColorLoop lab formula is one of my favourites – it’s what I used in the YouTube video towards the start of this post. As its name suggests, it loops through all the different colors – making it awesome for mood lighting (especially if dimmed down a bit – it can be a little overpowering at 100% brightness!).

It can be accessed by launching the Hue app, going to “Automations” and then “Hue Labs” (this was previously on the “Explore” tab on the old Hue app):

Click on “Formulas” and search for “colorloop”. Click “Try it!” to enable it:

You can configure the lab formula for one of your Hue bulbs (or lightstrips, in my case). Once this is done, just click on “Hue Labs Controls” and click the toggle button to activate the formula:

Note: you cannot access any Hue lab formulas using the Hue Bluetooth app. The Bluetooth mode is cut-down, and doesn’t offer certain features – including these lab formulas. So this method, and the ones below that refer to “Hue lab formulas” will only work with the full Hue app.

Method 2 – LivingScenes Lab Formula

A slight twist on the ColorLoop formula is the LivingScenes formula. This is also accessible via the “Automations”. “Hue Labs” route on the app, but this formula allows you to loop between a slightly more cohesive set of colors.

What I mean by that is that you can choose “evening sunset” colors or “dinner party” vibe colors. The formula will then slowly switch between these pre-set color choices at an interval of 15 seconds to 2 hours:

Having a more specific color pallete (compared to ColorLoop which gives you everything from bright orange to pink and white colors) is the benefit of the Living Scenes – and its variants such as the Autumn and Christmas Living Scenes.

Method 3 – The OnSwitch App

Moving away from Hue Lab formulas for dynamic color changes, whilst I mention that the Hue app itself is lacking for this (compared to the LIFX app, for example), there are some great third party apps.

Hue lights all have an easy to use software API, which is just a fancy way of saying that people can write programming code to change how the Hue bulbs work.

These can then be packaged up into convenient smartphone apps, such as the OnSwitch app which is available on both the Play (Android) and App (Apple) stores.

This ships with over “30 professionally designed light scenes”, and allows you to do things like simulate candle light, disco lighting, fireworks and a whole lot more. In other words, the scenes in this app aren’t like Hue scenes: the OnSwitch scenes actually change between different colors, hence working as some great mood lighting.

The big downside of this app, however, is that many of the better scenes are paid-for. Some are as cheap as 0.99, but some cost as much as 9.99. Therefore it could be worth checking out this app – especially since there are some free scenes to play around with.

Method 4 – hueDynamics App

An alternative to the above app is the better-known hueDynamic app – available on Android and Apple smartphones.

hueDynamics is actually a full-blown alternative to the official Hue app, meaning that you can also use it to configure your Hue lights and accessories. For example, you can use it to enhance the Hue dimmer and tap switches so they work exactly how you would like them to.

But just like the OnSwitch app, hueDynamics also has a bunch of professional scenes that allow your Hue lights to switch between a range of RGB colors automatically:

One of the awesome features of Smart lighting is the ability to have natural alarms. Instead of being woken up by the blaring of some rubbish smartphone alarm, you can instead be gently woke up by your Smart lighting that slowly go from 0% to 100% brightness.

This matches sunrise, and is quite nice to do. The Hue Labs formula ‘Sunset to sunrise‘ offers this feature, however it’s not always the most dynamic in terms the color changes – it’s more focused on changing the brightness of bulbs.

Thankfully, the Hue Lights app supports a more dynamic wakeup alarm. This is the “Perfect Sunrise” feature, and it changes through thousands of colors to more accurately match the different color hues that a natural sunrise actually has.

Therefore this is a really nice way of automatically changing Hue colors throughout the morning, in a way that naturally models the sunrise.

Method 7 – Sync to Music with iLightShow and Hue Disco

If you liked the sound of Thorlight’s music sync, the free iLightShow app is even better. It connects to Spotify and Apple Music and syncs with Philips Hue bulbs in a really clever way:

Whilst other apps (including the LIFX app) sometimes just listen to music via the smartphone microphone – thereby delivering a slightly delayed and primitive Smart lighting sync experience – iLightShow can also analyse the music that is playing on the phone and delivers a “a perfectly synced light show!“.

Hue Disco is another rival that delivers Smart lights that sync to music – although some of the recent reviews have been a bit critical, and it costs around 4-5 depending on the app store you use.

Method 8 – Sync to TV/Movies

You may have seen some truly awesome Smart lighting effects via Philips Hue when people are watching movies:

This is usually made possible with the Philips Hue Play Bars and Sync Box (along with products like the Hue Gradient lightstrips which stick to the back of the TV).

These work really well but they are an expensive solution. What if you just want your ceiling (or side lamp) Hue bulbs to change depending on what’s on TV? Well thankfully, there are a range of third party apps which support this:

• Hue Matcher, which is installed on your phone and then uses your phone’s camera lens to work out the average color of what it sees. In other words, you point your smartphone at your TV or PC monitor, and it’ll then send a signal to your Hue bulbs to automatically change color based on what it sees. This costs 0.99 on the Android store at the time of writing.
• Hue TV is a similar idea on the AppStore: point your Apple smartphone at your TV or monitor, and it’ll sync your Hue bulbs based on what it sees.
• If you don’t like the idea of using your smartphone’s camera to drive this (it will drain your battery very quickly, and probably require a tripod too), ScreenBloom is worth checking out. It runs on PC and Mac meaning that it won’t work for ordinary TVs (but it will for computer-based media TVs).

Method 9 – Have a Lightsaber Battle!

The Hue Lab formula ‘Battle of light and dark‘ (which requires full color Hue lights) is great for budding Star Wars fans – or Jedi Knight’s in training!

This allows you to choose ‘blue’ and ‘red’ groups of lights, and these will then battle in a way that simulates a lightsaber battle. Whether you’re sitting down to start (re)watching the Star Wars trilogies, or you’re about to watch the latest Mandalorian episode, this is worth checking out.

Method 10 – Sync to the Outside Weather

One of the things I’ve always disliked about standard bulbs (and white-only Smart bulbs) is that they are one color, irrespective of the weather outside.

As in, it’ll be a really gloomy day but the bulb is a jarring cool white. Or it’ll be sunny daytime, but a bulb might be warm white.

Whilst Smart lighting in general solves this problem, it’s even better to sync your Hue lighting to the weather. This is possible via various different IFTTT applets, allowing you to do everything from setting your bulbs to purple when it rains, to having your bulbs blink when it’s snowing as some sort of futuristic weather warning!

Whilst IFTTT has been criticised recently due to its move to the paid for IFTTT Pro plan, you can still install three applets before you have to pay. So if you haven’t used IFTTT yet and syncing Hue bulbs with the weather sounds interesting to you, you won’t have to pay anything to try this out (unless you decide you want four or more applets running, that is).

About Tristan Perry

Tristan Perry is a software developer who is passionate about tech gadgets, DIY and housing. He has therefore loved seeing Smart homes hit the mainstream. Tristan also has an academic background (in Math Computer Science), and so he enjoys digging into the technical ways that Smart home devices work.

Tristan owns close to a dozen Amazon Echo devices, way too many Philips Hue bulbs and lightstrips, a boat-load of Ring Cameras and Doorbells. and a bunch of other Smart home devices too (from Reolink, Google Nest, GLEDOPTO and others).

If you have any questions, feedback or suggestions about this article, please leave a comment below. Please note that all Комментарии и мнения владельцев go into a moderation queue (to prevent blog spam). Your comment will be manually reviewed and approved by Tristan in less than a week. Thanks!

4 thoughts on “10 Ways That Philips Hue Lights Can Change Color Automatically”

Nice little write-up/tutorial! Do you need the gradient light strips to perform these animations or will the standard (cheaper) light strip plus v4 work for these sorts of animations and color changes? Thanks! Reply

Thanks Michael! Good question – you can do this with any of the Hue lightstrips – i.e. including the cheaper indoor ones. Reply

Is there a way to select your own colours that you want the bulbs to loop through? For example why am I forced to use colours that Philips chose? I have 5 exterior lights fixtures at my house and want them all to turn on and off together. Not only that I want them all to turn on with the same colour and cycle through a few colours at the same time that I choose; example would be for Halloween: Orange and Purple. If I choose a scene it uses those colours but displays a different colour on each bulb. I don’t want that look I want the clean look of all the bulbs having the same colour. Hope that makes sense and hope you can help! Reply

The official Hue app is fairly limited in this sense, unfortunately. I don’t think that you can specifically choose certain colors to loop through (via the official Hue app). So it’s frustrating, but I would explore some of the paid-for third party apps, which DO offer this functionality. hueDynamic, iConnectHue, quickHue and Hue Essentials are all worth exploring in my opinion. Reply

About Tristan Perry

I’m Tristan Perry, the guy behind Smart Home Point. I’m a software developer whose interested in gadgets, homes and DIY, so I have loved seeing Smart homes (and home automation) become increasingly popular over the years. Read more.

Do All Philips Hue Lights Change Color?

Back in October of 2012, Philips introduced the Hue Smart bulbs that do much more than just light up a room. Some of them even change colors!

We decided to write a detailed guide on color-changing light bulbs with Hue lighting to better understand how they work and what you can do with them.

We dove into the technical details of the hue bulb, how to set up and use the app to control them, and which features are most important in making them part of your Smart home.

What Exactly Is A Color Changing Light Bulb?

You might be wondering what the heck a color-changing light bulb is. Well, let me break it down for ya. These bad boys can switch up the color of their light like it’s no big deal. They come in all shapes and sizes, but most of them fit into your standard light socket, so there is no need to go all handyman on your home.

You might think, “But which brand should I go for?” Don’t worry. There are plenty of options! Philips, GE, Sylvania, and more got you covered.

But if you’re looking for the OG color-changing bulb, you gotta check out Phillips Hue Lighting. They were the first to bring the connected home lighting game; their product line is fire! You’ll find something for every room in your house and even your outdoor space.

Getting Started With Philips Hue Color Combinations

When setting up hue lighting in your home, you’ll first want to choose a starter pack that includes some bulbs and a hub that connects them to your network.

Philips Hue Color Starter Kit

The Philips Hue Start Kit includes everything you need to get started in the world of color lighting. These kits include:

• 3 light bulbs – These Smart light bulbs can change between millions of colors.
• Philips Hue Hub or Bridge – This unit uses a Zigbee protocol to connect and control each light from your smartphone or tablet. It connects to the internet via your home network via an Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi connection. It also connects to your smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth Low Energy, so you don’t need an Ethernet cord running to your device to use it. Once you plug the hub in and connect it to your home network, you can download the app to your phone or tablet and begin using your new lights. The app is available for iOS and Android devices.
• Light switch – This Smart light switch can control the lights from your wall. The magnetic controller can also detach from the switch and be used as a remote control.

If you want to get started with this, I recommend starting with this starter kit, which you can expand on for your unique needs. It also gives you complete instructions on how to get started.

Philips Hue Color Chart

Here is a list of the color palette available with these bulbs. As you can tell, it hits pretty much the entire color spectrum:

Now, there are actually millions of colors that you can get from these bulbs, but the chart above basically gives you the primary colors.

Philips Hue Color Lumens

Lumens are the measure of brightness that a bulb can emit. The higher the lumens rating, the brighter the light will be. Different colors will also emit different lumens depending on their intensity, but this is a pretty good approximation of what you might expect from each one:

• Blue: ~450 lumens
• Red: ~800 lumens
• Green: ~500 lumens
• Yellow: ~600 lumens
• White: ~800-900 lumens
• Pink: ~300-400 lumens
• Purple: ~500-600 lumens
• Orange: ~600-700 lumens

Philips Hue Color Temperatures

When you’re in a room with incandescent bulbs, and everything feels cozy and warm? That’s all thanks to its yellowish glow, which gives off a warm color temperature. But on the other hand, have you ever noticed that fluorescent lights make everything look a little blue? And LED lights they’re like a ray of sunshine, bringing the outside in with their more white and daylight-like glow.

Each lighting situation has unique vibes, and it’s all about finding the right temperature for your mood and environment. And that’s where Philips Hue comes in, my friend! It lets you switch up the color temperature without even having to leave the couch. How cool is that?

Philips Hue Color vs. White Ambiance

So, you want to spruce up your space with fancy new light bulbs. Well, let me tell ya, you’ve got options! You can choose between Color and White Ambiance bulbs.

White Ambiance is the bomb because it lets you switch up the mood depending on the time of day. You can make it super bright and cheerful for the day, warm and cozy for the night, or relaxed and calming – all from the comfort of your phone using the Ambience feature.

Color Ambiance is for those who like to live in the rainbow lane. You pick the color you’re feelin’, and boom, your room transforms! It doesn’t change temperature, but who cares when you’ve got 16 million colors to choose from? You can still use the White Ambiance feature at night to create a chill vibe.

Best Philips Hue Colors For Different Reasons

There are a lot of different uses for colored bulbs other than making some nice colorful effects in your room. Here are some of the best uses for these lights:

• Create Mood Lighting – You can set the color on your lamps to create the mood you want in your room. Some good examples would be to set the red bulb on a dimmer to create a lovely romantic atmosphere or set the color to green to create a soothing environment to unwind after a hard day’s work.
• Set a Timer – If you have a lamp that you want to turn on/off at a particular time.
• Wake up light or sunrise color – If you are like me, you don’t always wake up at the same time every day. A wake-up light is a valuable tool to help wake you up in the morning at your desired time by gradually increasing the brightness of your lamp over a specified time. You can set these up in the mobile app or use the “wake up” function on the light switch. You can pick from a range of preset times or customize your schedule in the “wake up” section of the app and then set the light on a timer to turn on/off at the specified time.
• Best color for sleep – If you have trouble falling asleep at night, you can set a color on your bedside lamp to help you relax before going to sleep. Many people like to set their lights on a dark red hue, but this can stimulate some people, so you may want to experiment with different colors to see what works best for you. You can also set your lights to turn off at a specific time each night to help you fall asleep faster.
• Blacklight – while you cannot get a true black light, you can et the next best thing and mimic it.

The Philips Hue App

Are you tired of getting up to turn off your lights? Well, with this app, you can control your lighting from the comfort of your phone or tablet like a boss! It’s like having your own personal lighting assistant. You can easily adjust the brightness of each bulb and set timers for when you want them to turn on or off.

And if you’re feeling extra fancy, you can even change the color! Just tap on the bulb and pick your new shade from the cool color palette. And if you want a brighter or more subdued light, you can tweak the intensity level too.

Trust me, this app is a game-changer. Want to see all its awesomeness in action? Check out this walkthrough video. It’ll show you everything you need to know to control your lighting like a pro.

Hi, my name is Tyler Adams, and on this website, I share my findings on Smart home products that are within the reach of the average consumer.

DumbSwitches.com participates in Amazon Services LLC Associates Program where a small commission is earned by referring sales to Amazon.com and its subsidiaries.

How to change your Smart light colors

St. Patrick’s Day is March 17, and you may want to spruce up your party space with some festive colors. You’ll need to have some Smart lights to really set the tone, but once they’re set up, it’s easy to change the colors. The main thing is being familiar with the native apps involved and accurately identifying the color you want.

How to change Philips Hue light color

Philips Hue has set the standard for home Smart lighting. It’s possible to get a full home all running on the same network, and sync up their activity with music coming from Spotify.

Step 1: Download and install the Hue app on your phone.

Step 2: Once the lights have been set up, tap the room you want to change the color for.

Step 3: Tap the button next to My Scenes in order to change all of the lights at once.

Step 4: For festive occasions, it can be helpful to use a reference image to capture faithful colors. Download a relevant image to your phone, and tap Use photo in the Hue app.

Step 5: Select the image from your file library. The app will pull the dominant colors and build a color recipe based on them. Tap the shuffle button to cycle between the colors. They should preview the lights in the room.

Step 6: Name the scene and tap Save.

Step 7: To tweak individual lights, simply tap on them from within the room interface, and drag and drop the the picker anywhere on the color wheel.

How to change Nanoleaf light color

Nanoleaf lights are great for adding animation to your color recipes. Their wall panels are quite popular, and their modular system lets you mix and match lights to make whatever pattern you like. Set up a shamrock, or a Christmas tree, or whatever shape the occasion calls for.

Step 1: Download and install the Nanoleaf app.

Step 2: Once the lights have been set up, tap the color bar of the light you want to change the color for.

Step 3: Tap the basic tab to select a single solid color for the light. Tap the Scene tab to select a preset animated light recipe, or to build your own.

Step 5: Tap the light recipe you want to use, then select the lights or room you want it to be used on. This will show a preview of the recipe in action. Tap the Download icon in the bottom-right of the color recipe listing to store it permanently on the light.

Philips Hue Buying Guide (2023)

How to change Govee light color

Govee offers a wide range of Smart light form factors while keeping the pricetag reasonable. If you’re just starting off with Smart lights and don’t want to make a huge investment right off the bat, Govee is a fine way to go.

Step 1: Download and install the Govee app.

Step 2: Once the lights have been set up, tap the light you want to change the color for.

How to set up your lights to automatically turn on at sunset

Step 3: Tap the power button in the top-right if it’s not already on.

Step 4: Select the Govee lights in the collection to switch to the desired color scheme.

Step 5: Tap the color button and select a color from the existing presets, or the sliders beneath.

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Philips Hue Color Smartbulbs Review

Let’s take a look at the Philips Hue Color Smartbulbs and their millions of color options, helpful routines, app features, and widespread Smart device compatibility.

Today, we’ll take a look at the Philips Hue Color Smartbulbs, go over the features in the app, and find out why they are so popular. Philips Hue is probably one of the most popular brands of lighting out there. It seems like everybody advertises that they’re compatible with Philips Hue. But what makes them so popular?

million bulb color options

Looking at their White Color Ambiance Bulbs, not only do they have 16 million different colors, but you can choose anywhere from a warm white all the way up to cool daylight. There are lots of color options with this set of lights.

Sky-high specs

These light bulbs have a 25,000-hour lifespan and 100% brightness when you turn the lights on, which is really cool. They are 800 lumens, making them a pretty bright light bulb. They use 9.5 watts, connect via 2.4GHz connection, and have a Kelvin rating of 2,000 to 6,500. Not sure what those Kelvin numbers mean? Those indicate how bright white it can get or how yellow or orange it can get. Also, Philip Hue Color Smartbulbs are compatible with both Amazon and Google voice assistants, as well as Bluetooth and Zigbee.

What the bulb looks like

Taking a look at the light itself, it looks like a standard light bulb. It’s plastic, not glass, so you don’t have to worry about dropping it. The casing where all the Smart components are housed is going to be encased in metal. The light bulb’s specs are printed directly on the bulb, so if you do lose the box or if you have multiple light bulbs, you’ll still know this important information. I like that they label the light bulbs. If you have a bunch of different types of these, you’re going to want to distinguish between them in case you take them out and move them around your house.

What Philips Hue bulbs can do

Color scenes

Now that the light bulb is set up, let’s go through the app and see what these lights can do. The app has a lot of predefined scenes, but you can also create new scenes too.

If you choose Savanna Sunset, it’s going to take colors from that picture and apply it to these lights. I’ve used other light bulbs—cheaper light bulbs—in the past and you get options of color. There are all the standard pinks, blues, purples, reds, oranges.

I would have to say, using these lights and experiencing these colors, they are truer to color than anything I’ve used before. I’m really impressed with the colors that these lights are putting out. They’re very vibrant.

Adjusting color scenes

There is a toggle at the top; you can use that to toggle the lights on and off. Right below that is a slider for the brightness. It’s easy to use these controls to get to everything that you need to right away. Below that you can also create new scenes.

Another really cool thing is the camera icon at the bottom of the screen in the app. Click on this icon, and it has a bunch of different pictures with different color schemes that you can use. Scroll through any of these, and when you select one, it’s going to change the lights by the colors that it sees in this picture. If you don’t want to use any of their pictures, you can take a picture of your own.

Light bulb routines

You can also set up different routines for these light bulbs. Standard routines are Home and Away. These both have geofencing built into them, meaning that when you leave the house or come home, you can set up different things to happen.

For example, you can set them so when you leave the house, it turns off all the lights. As you’re approaching the house, it can turn on all the lights.

Additionally, there are wake up, sleep, and other routines. You can get very granular about how you want to set these routines up. There are so many cool things you can do with these light bulbs and the app.

Philips Hue Color Smartbulbs app

Clicking on the Explore area of the app, you will see a section called Friends of Hue, which brings up different apps these bulbs will work with. They work with all the major voice assistants and a lot of different Smart home things like SmartThings, IFTTT, Vivint Smart Home, and more. You can also control the lights when you leave the house.

That is a brief run-through of the app and what the app provides and the things that you can do with it. The sky is the limit with the Philips Hue smartbulb system. They offer so many options and work with so many Smart home devices. I feel like every product I look at works with Philips Hue, and there are endless possibilities with them.

Steve is a social media influencer and an overall Smart Home enthusiast. He loves to geek out with all things tech, and is quickly becoming one of the industries leading voices. When he’s not in front of the camera, Steve is researching the next greatest Smart Home accessory or playing with his 2 little girls in sunny So Cal.

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