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Controlling Philips Hue Lighting with Hue TV App on Apple TV

Controlling Philips Hue Lighting with Hue TV App on Apple TV
Image: Digitized House Media.
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A cottage industry of app development around the Philips Hue family of smart LED lighting has produced a nice collection of software that runs on the popular Apple TV platform. Certainly, the native Hue smartphone app is always an option for lighting control, and remains the gatekeeper for adding and deleting Hue accessories and for the creation and editing of lighting scene scripts.

Hue TV an Appealing Option

But if an Apple TV box is already in your living room or on your Christmas wish list, having a Hue-capable app on the big screen can offer additional convenience. That’s the case with Hue TV, a $2.99 app by developer Ole Mikkel Sjolie, a nicely-crafted interface for Hue lighting of all shapes and sizes, easily controllable through swipe and tap gestures on the Apple TV Siri Remote.

Hue TV app on the Apple App Store for tvOS. Image: Digitized House Media.
Hue TV app on the Apple App Store for tvOS. Image: Digitized House Media.

Setting Up

The app requires the presence of the Philips Hue Bridge, and enables granular control of individual Philips Hue lamps on the Individual lights tab, or en masse through the All lights tab. A Scenes tab displays all scenes that have been defined in the Hue app, and favorite scenes can be tapped to add them to the bottom of the All Lights tab.

So you don’t have any Philips Hue light yet? Philips offers starter packages containing Hue lamps and the Hue bridge, which is all you need to get going.

Once linked to your Hue Bridge, all Hue lamps in the home will appear in the Hue TV app. Image: Digitized House Media.
Once linked to your Hue Bridge, all Hue lamps in the home will appear in the Hue TV app. Image: Digitized House Media.
Lights can be controlled individually or en masse, as shown here. Image: Digitized House Media.
Lights can be controlled individually or en masse, as shown here. Image: Digitized House Media.

Smooth Operator

Everything worked smoothly and reliably for us using the latest version of the Hue TV app (3.0) on the latest Apple TV boxes and latest version of tvOS, including Apple TV 4K and Apple TV fourth generation boxes running tvOS 12.1.1. The Hue TV app is just as responsive as the native Hue app, meaning lights and scenes react instantly when a button is tapped.

If Apple TV control of your Philips Hue lighting is desired, Hue TV works smoothly and reliably. It is certainly well worth a look.

Editor’s Note: This article was revised on December 16, 2018 to reflect compatibility with the latest Apple TV gear following testing in our labs.

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Tom Kolnowski

Tom Kolnowski is the Chief Content Officer & Founder of Digitized House Media, LLC, the publisher of Digitized House | Guide to the Connected Home. When he isn’t writing about smart home technology, sustainability, and high-performance architecture, you’ll find him exploring faraway destinations with his family.
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Controlling Philips Hue Lighting with Hue TV App on Apple TV

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