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How to Setup Apple Homekit and Siri to Control Your Philips Hue Lights

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Using Apple Honest you can now control your Hue smart lights at home.

The ability to control home devices and appliances from networked devices such as smartphones is so fulfilling and empowering. The peace of mind that comes with an automated home has made life easier for many homeowners.

How to Use Siri to Control your Philips Hue Lights

Technological innovation has not stopped at this as some would expect. When you come to think about it, launching a lighting app on your device may take you almost the same effort it would take you to flick a light switch. In this regard, innovation has introduced a perfect solution for lights automation; voice commands. 

Who and what is Siri?

Siri is Apple’s own voice assistant, similier to Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home. Siri voice control is used on Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPad, HomePod, Mac and AirPods. Using Siri you can say ‘Hey Siri, find all my Hue lights’ to add them to your smart HomeKit.

Can I use Siri with Philips Hue?

Yes you can. The update of Phillips Hue app to use Siri for lighting control was highly adopted by Phillips smart lights users and apple device owners. Siri can successively suggest when to control your Phillips hue lights or with a single command, turn the lights on and off.

To use Siri and Apple HomeKit, you must have a second generation bridge, you can see which Hue bridge you have here

For Siri to work you must ensure it is enabled on your iPhone or iPad.

  1. Keychain Access: Settings, iCloud, Keychain set to On.
  2. Siri needs to be enabled: Settings > General > Siri > Allow
  3. Internet connection must be active.

Siri has proven to be a robust system software for many apple devices. Its integration of voice queries and actions through recommendations and requests to internet services has made apple devices user’s life facile. 

How to set up Philips Hue with Apple HomeKit

With your Hue lights set up and working at home, you can easily and quickly add these to work with Siri using your Apple phone following these steps. 

  1. Open the Philips Hue app on your phone
  2. Go to Settings > HomeKit & Siri
  3. Tap Pair Hue Bridge
  4. Name your home and tap Create home.
  5. When the app opens your camera, scan the ID on the bottom of your Hue Bridge. 
  6. After this your lights will appear in a default room the Home app, you can then organise and group your lights into rooms to help you turn room lights on and off. 

Connect the Phillips Hue app and Homekit – Go to the settings app of your Apple device and on the search bar, type home data. This will navigate you to the Phillips Hue app where you should enable the Home data setting for your Hue app to access HomeKit.

Integrate Philips Hue Bridge with Homekit – Launch the Phillips Hue app, go to settings and select HomeKit and Siri. On successful searching for your home bridge, the app will bring a pair bridge option. Click on this option and choose your HomeKit. Scan the HomeKit code on the back of your Hue Bridge when the scanner pop up appears. Lastly click on update rooms when the HomeKit rooms do not match message appears.

Apple Homekit and Siri commands to control your Hue Lights

There are two main methods you can use to control Hue with Siri, suggestions and scenes. 

  • “Hey Siri, turn on the lights.”  
  • “Hey Siri, turn off all the lights.” 
  • “Hey Siri, turn off the lights downstairs.” 
  • “Hey Siri, turn the living room lights to full brightness”  
  • “Hey Siri, make the lights blue in the kitchen” 
  • “Hey Siri, turn on Read in the living room.” 
  • “Hey Siri, are the lights on downstairs?” 
  • “Hey Siri, dim office” 

Siri suggestions

As with other actions, Siri picks up those lighting activities that you frequently do in your home. With this, Siri provides on the Apple device search page, suggestions to perform these actions.

If you, for example, switch on or off your Phillips Hue lights, Siri can pick up the action and offer suggestions to do the same when that particular time arrives. While this is the simplest way to control Hue with Siri, it may take some time for Siri to pick up your lighting patterns. This second method is a more reliable one, in this regard.

HomeKit scenes

A scene is a single command that controls multiple devices. In Hue lights automation, typical scenes include the night-time and day-time scenes. A HomeKit Scenes should engage and put into actions all your Hue light bulbs through Siri commands.

Hue sync box commands for Siri

  • “Turn on Hue sync box.” 
  • “Turn off Hue sync box.” 
  • “Set Hue sync box to start.” 
  • “Set Hue sync box to stop.” 
  • “Set Hue sync box to PlayStation 4.” 
  • “Set Hue sync box intensity to subtle.” 
  • “Set Hue sync box intensity to moderate.” 
  • “Set Hue sync box to intensity to high.” 
  • “Set Hue sync box to intensity to intense.” 
  • “Set Hue sync box to game.” 
  • “Set Hue sync box to video.” 
  • “Set Hue sync box to music.” 

How to create a new HomeKit scene

Go to the settings of the Phillips Hue app, navigate to the HomeKit and Siri and click the new scene button on the top left corner. A HomeKit scene name is required for each lighting scene. Here, it is advisable to use words that are easily recognisable by Siri.

To create a new scene use the the Apple Home app for iPhone:

  1. Open the Home app
  2. Tap on the ‘+’ icon in the top-right corner
  3. Tap on Add Scene
  4. Tap on the Custom button

From the time Phillips updated their Hue lights to support apple’s Siri and HomeKit, it has become hassle-free to perform actions such as turning on and off Hue lights, turning on a colour loop and dimming lights in a home. As long as you come up with explicit lighting scenes and shortcuts for Siri to recognize, you should not find any trouble using Siri to control your Philips Hue lights.

FAQ

Do I need a Hue Bridge with Apple HomeKit?

Yes, you do need the bridge, it must be the 2nd Gen Square  bridge which supports Siri and HomeKit.

Do Philips hue Bluetooth bulbs work with HomeKit?

The Bluetooth bulbs do work with Apple Homekit, but only with the use of a Hue bridge. They do not work without the bridge. 

‘Bridge Already Pair’ Connection Error

It canoe common for the error “Bridge is already paired”, this can easily be resolved and fixed by:

  • Opening your iPhone’s settings
  • Go to Privacy and then select the HomeKit Option.
  • Then tap Reset HomeKit Configuration. You need to confirm the Reset Configuration to complete the process successfully.

Can I control my Lights with Alexa and Google Home?

Yes, read our guides here to set your Hue lights up with these:

While remote control of most devices in a home is possible thanks to automation systems, it is advisable to give preference to the commonly used devices and systems in a home.

The lights are one perfect amenity that through automation has brought convenience in homes. With the help of apps and Wi-Fi connection, homeowners are now able to switch on and off their lights at the comfort of their connected devices.


Founder & Editor

Mike is the founder of Hue Home Lighting, a huge Hue fan with far too many lights, covering home and garden. A smart home gadget addict and also enjoys the odd bit of DIY

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