Siri, Turn on My Lights: Philips Hue gets HomeKit Support

Philips has unveiled a new Hue Bridge 2.0 which has been enhanced to support Apple HomeKit.

Philips Hue announced Monday, according to 9 to 5 Mac, it officially teamed with Apple, enabling iPhone, iPad and Apple watch users the ability to dim or increase lighting in their homes through Siri. 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.

“Lighting is the most accessible aspect of the connected home, and as the lighting expert for the Internet of Things we are taking connected lighting to the next phase”, CEO of Philips Lighting Eric Rondolat said in a press release.

The company revealed today that its new Philips Hue Bridge 2.0 will enable Apple’s voice activated assistant, Siri, to control Hue’s lightbulbs. For example, if you want every light in your house to flip off simultaneously, setting up a command like, “Siri, set my home to night mode”, is now possible. (Standard Hue bulbs, which support 16 million colors, cost $60.) Philips is also selling a new light strip that’s created to be more of a primary lighting solution. Also, Philips notes that the names of each scene should be unique, that way you’re not confused when you say “dinner time” expecting a light show but actually receive a list of casserole recipes on your iPhone.

The new Hue Bridge hub will be easy to tell apart from the non-HomeKit version because it’s square instead of round. With HomeKit integration, you can control lights not only from the Philips Hue app but also using Siri voice controls.

While Philips will continue to support the first generation Hub with software updates, HomeKit compatibility is not possible because the device does not meet the hardware specifications required by Apple. Users can also set more complicated “scenes”, such as one that turns off all the lights and turns down the thermostat for the night. With Philips Hue, light can wake you up, welcome you home, and turn the everyday into the extraordinary – turning on your life with light.

New Philips Hue Bridge The new Philips Hue Bridge 2.0 seamlessly brings together existing and forthcoming Philips Hue bulbs and lamps, so that they benefit from all the functionalities of HomeKit and work seamlessly with other HomeKit-enabled devices.

The new Bridge costs $60, and will be available from tomorrow, October 6th.