My Hue Lights Turn ON by Themselves! How to Fix Them

Smart lights are great, you can control them from your phone or set timers and routines to have them turn on and off automatically, but what do you do if they are turning on when they shouldn’t!? 

Philips Hue Bulbs Keep Turning Back On

If your smart bulbs are turning on automatically when you turn them off, then there are a number of reasons or causes, and ways to fix this. Thing to consider and check –

• Power outage
• Routines set up that may have this bulb accidentally added
• Sync routines with Spotify running that uses that light
• Hue Labs running that uses that light
• Possible faulty bulb

Power outage

If there is a power cut or the power trips, turning off and back on quickly, it may causes your lights to turn on automatically when the power comes back on. With this in mind even a quick power outage may causes your Hue lights to turn on by themselves once powered up again.

These are possible causes, however to help narrow down the cause, if you can change the hue bulb in the fixture, you will then know if it is the fitting and light itself, or the bulb.

Have you had a power cut or do you get frequent power outages, then this could be a cause and reason. 

Check your Routines/Automations

Under the Hue app you can set routines where your lights turn on and off at certain times, it is possible that a routine setting is active that causes your lights to turn on, or the bulb is added to this by accident.

1. Open the Philips Hue app on your phone and go to Automations.
2. Tap each routine and check to see if the affected bulb is used in this automation 

You may already know if an automation uses this bulb and light, however it is worth checking to see if the light is used on an automation you are not aware of or has been accidentally added too. 

Any Hue Sync Automations running?

Routines and automations are one area, but what other features do you use, do you have and use Hue Sync, have an entertainment area set up, or perhaps sync with Spotify or Razor. It is possible these are running or accidentally turning that bulb on, so it is worth looking to see what features you are or have used to see if there is a connection there and the reason for the light to be turning on. 

Hue Labs?

Have you used or played around with Hue labs automations, if so it is possible these are still active and running on your Hue bridge and maybe turning the light on by themselves. 

Delete and repair the Hue Bulb

If after trying and looking at the above options then deleting and repairing the Hue bulb is the next step, here you can remove the link and connect it again removing any previous uses of the bulb. 

1. Open the Philips Hue app on your phone and go to Settings.
2. Tap Lights, then select the light that keeps turning itself back on.
3. Select to Delete the light from your setup and confirm you want to Delete light.
4. Now tap the Add light (+) button and Search for that bulb again to re-add.
5. Now add the bulb again and give it a name to add it to your Hue system again.

Once re-added and before adding it to an automation, see if it turns on itself again when off to see if the problem persists, if so it could be a faulty bulb, if not and the bulb does not turn on, on its own then you can add to an automation again if needed. 

When running through these possible solutions and causes, try to narrow them down, is it the bulb or the lighting fixture that may have a power problem, is it just one specific bulb or a number of Hue bulbs you use. Looking at these can help make it easier to find out why your Hue lights turn on by themselves. 

View other common problems with hue lights and how to fix them here.

Mike Ford

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