Philips' redesigned bridge that works with Apple's HomeKit. (credit: Valentina Palladino)
It feels like Philips Hue has been around a long time. Since its launch in 2012, the lighting company's WiFi-connected system of bulbs and strips has arguably become the most ubiquitous smart home product—and now it works directly with your iPhone. Philips announced a redesigned bridge that meets Apple's HomeKit requirements, allowing you to control all the smart lights in your home with Siri from iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches.
In updating the bridge, Philips transformed the original, circular hub that Ars reviewed when it first came out into a rounded-off square. The device connects to your Internet network and allows all the Hue bulbs in your home to communicate with it and with each other. With HomeKit integration, you can control lights not only from the Philips Hue app but also using Siri voice controls. These can be as simple as "turn all my lights off" to kill all the lights in your home or as complicated as "set living room lights to 10 percent," which will dim only the bulbs in that specific room.
Scene activation is also Siri-ready, meaning you can choose lighting presets from Philips (or create your own) and mark them for Siri so you can turn them on or off using voice commands. In its studies of how lighting affects people and our quality of life, Philips has come up with what it calls "light recipes" for when you need a certain kind of mood in your home. When you need to relax before bed, there's a scene that mimics a sunset, warming the lights in your room or entire home and dimming them significantly. According to Philips, this kind of lighting increases melatonin production in our bodies, which encourages us to relax.
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