Home automation with smart lighting

08/07/2024

Home automation with Philips Hue smart lighting allows you to control your Philips Hue lights with a combination of timers, sensors, and security cameras — at home or from anywhere in the world! You can set lights to switch on and off, dim, or change color at the times that you choose. Hue Motion sensors and Hue Secure cameras can even trigger your lights to make you more comfortable as you navigate your home while bringing you added peace of mind when you're out of town.

Automating your Hue smart lights works by connecting them to the Hue Bridge — a smart light hub that’s the brains of the system. Then, using the Hue app on your smartphone you can set up all your automations in the Automations tab of the app. Choose from automations to help with your daily routine, guide you when you arrive and leave home, or mimic your presence while you're away. You can even customize your own automations to control lights exactly how you want.

The way to automate your home with Philips Hue is to use a Hue Bridge. It’s a smart lighting hub which simply connects to your internet router and acts as the brains of the whole smart light system in your home.

You’ll also need to choose a combination of Philips Hue smart bulbs, lamps, lights, sensors, and cameras, depending on your needs. If you’re just getting started with Philips Hue, a Bridge and a selection of led bulbs and lamps is the easiest way to benefit from home automations.

For a more advanced setup, consider indoor and outdoor motion sensors and cameras. These will trigger your lights by detecting movement without the use of a timer. (Of course, you can choose the windows of time when you want the sensors and cameras to be active!) As well as triggering lights automatically, Hue Secure cameras can send you alerts so you can decide if you want to activate your lights or not.

Once you have the hardware in place, it’s time to download the Hue app on your smartphone. The app is where you’ll set up, control, and tweak all your automations.

Smart light automations from Philips Hue can help with your daily routines around the home, adjusting the tone and intensity of light to help you wake, focus on work, relax, and fall asleep. In the Automations tab in the Hue app, you can set the days and times, rooms or selected lights, and the light scene to match your needs.

Get the best start to your day with wake-up lighting designed to help you wake gently and feel more refreshed.² Simply set your lights to switch on and gradually brighten for the duration that you choose. For the ultimate relaxing alarm call with light, set the Sunrise wake-up style. Your lights will gradually transition through soft blues to warm orange tones, getting your day off to a gentle start. Signe gradient floor and table lamps are the ideal bedroom companion. The lamps feature a subtle slender design and give a blend of color light along their length. You can also set the Wake-up automation on any of your bedroom lights. LED strip lights tucked under the bed or behind furniture are another great option for creating soft diffused light that’s easy on the eyes first thing in the morning.

During your working hours at home when you particularly need to focus, automate the lights in your office or study so that they switch on with a cool bright white tone. This will give you the optimal amount of light for the tasks at hand while helping you concentrate better. Use a combination of table lamps, led ceiling lighting, and floor lamps to ensure you get a sufficient level of light exactly where you need it. You can even set the lights to start transitioning to softer, warmer tones to signal that it’s time to take a break or stop working.

When your day is done, smart light can help you fall asleep with the Go to sleep automation. When activated — either automatically or with the push of a button — your bedroom lights transition to warm, red-toned hues and then dim until off. Studies have found that blue light suppresses the sleep hormone melatonin, so our Go to sleep automation purposefully excludes it to give you the best chance to drift off more easily.¹

Let Philips Hue lights, sensors, security cameras, and the Hue app work together to bring you peace of mind, whether you’re home or away.

Using the Philips Hue app, you can set a Mimic presence automation, making it look like you’re home when you’re not. You can set a schedule for your led lights in the different rooms of your home to turn on and off to different light scenes, either all day and night or just at night. They’ll mimic the typical activities that would be expected in those types of rooms, giving the impression that someone is home.

Indoor and outdoor motion sensors will trigger the lights of your choice when they detect movement in and around your home. You can set a schedule for when you want the sensors to become active, so you’re lights and triggered unnecessarily. You can even automate specific lights so that when they’re triggered, they display a particular light scene, color, or intensity of light that you choose. Not using sensors? Create a Custom automation in the Hue app. Set the days and times you’d like your lights to turn on and off. Simple peace of mind!

Let Philips Hue keep an eye out for you! Secure smart security cameras let you monitor your home in real time with a 1080p HD live stream. You’ll receive instant notifications on your mobile device any time your Secure camera detects motion. Arm and disarm from the Home tab in the Hue app, trigger alarms, get an overview of all activity, and receive push notifications when your cameras detect something suspicious. Place Hue secure cameras in any room or outdoor space around your home. Choose from the Secure wired camera, Secure battery camera, and Secure Flood light camera.