iConnectHue for Philips Hue

Although it’s limited to Hue (and compatible) lights and devices, this is **by far** the best app to control, personalise and automate my lights. It is extremely configurable yet clean and reliable, allowing you to make the best of all the options that even Phillips don’t expose in their apps. The developers keep adding new functionality (with lately the best of all iOS widgets), have very detailed and extensive documentation, and yet are responsive by email for any question or feedback. I could NOT imagine using any other app. All I wish is that they could take on the rest of the home automation space, so that I don’t have to use the manufacturer-specific apps, or the awful iOS Home app!

The old widgets have now been replaced with new ones, which have limits and require a sub when you go above one small and one medium. The old “classic widgets” are now found under classic widget but may require a phone restart to appear. That or support did something server side like they did for the new ones. Useful tool to join across multiple hubs.

The app was great at first as it was working, and I bought the full all package (forgot name) subscription. -I have no issues connecting on the hue app, not with my bridge or lights or anything else. -Likewise, no issue with range, nor with WiFi and Zigbee connectivity or signal. All hue products are up-to-date including bridge. Sensors perfectly functional. Same device. Latest iOS. Narrowed down every possible issue you can think of. -Have even changed bridge channel, reconnected bridge to both hue and I connect hue, signed in and out , enabled and re enabled remote access. Deleted and redownloaded the app. 0 difference. All permissions enabled including local network, Bluetooth, location. - Despite this, ICH has trouble finding my bridge about 50% of the time. This error forbids me from controlling my lights. However, Hue app is perfectly fine. -Usually just works a few hours later. But is disappointing. -There also doesn’t appear to be a simple way to alter light speed beyond minimum seconds. However I’ve not had a full look on the app (need to find time) to do this. I otherwise really love that the devs behind this are small-scale, and have achieved so much, enabled so much function. Most importantly, a lot of credit is due for iconnecthue being the only iOS 3rd party Hue app that is still frequently updated with the ever-evolving iOS. Much respect there. Others still charge for even poorer functionality. Even if I don’t get access half the time to this platform, I do appreciate it. Hopefully devs can help me get it resolved, if they will accept that I’ve covered all basic troubleshooting areas. There may be an ‘ignore bridge’ option in settings.. however I can’t see half the settings’ names as they’re too long for text size and finish with … Merry Xmas regardless, got a nice custom xmas scene :!

I’ve had this app for 5 years and in that time I’ve moved most of my home automations to Home Assistant - a microcomputer that is able to act as a powerful hub for all your smart devices in one. Despite this (and the Philips Hue hub links in to it so all my lights are there to work with) I have continued to control my lights with this app because unless I want to link it to other smart tech it allows me the same level of highly individualised control over my lights but with a much easier interface. I was disappointed with the limitations of the Philips app when I first got them and was so happy to find this app that allows me to almost never need to touch a remote switch or even go in to the app! My lights fade up to help wake me up and slowly fade through multiple scenes throughout the day to progressively warmer dimmer lighting. The same thing happen when I arrive home - the lights are set to the colours I think are best for that time of day. My lights turn off when the last person leaves and the remotes, which I was able to give much more function to than the default app, follow similar patterns to all the other profiles. I say similar because you cannot set light profiles for the time of day for each room and then set the remotes, home arrival and fades to follow the profiles. That would certainly have made setting it up a lot faster but to be fair I have gone in to extreme detail with my lighting. For the most part now it just runs itself, without me having to do much except turn all my lights off at bedtime with a single widget button click - another great feature. And I have a few other key light profiles located there too. Or I can ask Alexa for certain things but unfortunately iconnecthue doesn’t connect to Alexa directly and settings like scenes don’t feed back to the Philips app although they do feed over from there so I would probably recommend scene creation in the Philips app initially if you use voice assistants to set things. The rest of the lights are on timers or motion sensors and only rarely do I need to manually control things. The only minor grumbles are that when first purchasing the app certain features were advertised but they were actually only available if you purchased more add ons. I think the price was completely reasonable for the power this app provides but it was an annoying lack of transparency and my wife had to buy all the same things as it was per phone not per house. This may be different now as I’ve noticed the

Love hue system. This App is very easy to use. Recommended

Bought the app a good while ago. Tried to get into it but found it unintuitive. Gave it a score based on my experience. Developer contacted me and told me to change it to a positive score as my experience was due to ‘not spending time learn it’. I deleted my review but decided to once again share my experience. Sorry developer. My experience is valid

I’ve tried ALL the Hue apps and this is now my go to app for anything Hue. Keep up the great work!

This is a very capable app, but navigating it is a nightmare. The icons are too abstract so there’s a lot of time spent just pressing random things to see what they do, and then trying to find out how to get back to the previous page. There are places where you drag and it can either scroll the whole window or adjust a light brightness level based on some invisible threshold that you can’t see. The ‘on/off’ button for a room is bottom-right on the summary page but bottom left when you go into the room’s page. The menu option for Automation leads to a page that does not let you set automation. Etc. It’s a usability nightmare, meaning I’m not tempted to buy any in-app purchases which might just make it even more confusing!

This is without doubt the best App for controlling your Hue lights & switches. I wouldn’t use anything else to manage my growing Hue ecosystem (not even the official app!) And if you ever need personal help, they’re typically only a day or two away Great job guys

I’ve used quite a few Hue apps and I can honestly say this is the best one! Also make sure you buy the addons (Animations etc) well worth the money! I have just over 60 devices and the app manages all the timers, rules and rooms seamlessly.