Philips teases concept for Hue smart bulb control widget in iOS 8

Posted:
in iPhone edited June 2014
Smart LED bulb maker Philips on Thursday offered a preview of what its planned iOS 8 Notification Center widget could look like when running on an iPhone.




The image posted to the Philips Hue Dev account on Twitter is only a concept prototype, but it does signal that the company is looking to support the new widget feature coming in Apple's iOS 8 mobile operating system update. The concept shows a dedicated Hue widget with an "All off" button, as well as three light "scenes" that can be quickly selected.

Integrating Hue controls into Notification Center would allow those who own the advanced lighting system to quickly turn the lights on or off, or change their colors, without needing to launch a dedicated app or even unlock the phone.

User customization is a major part of the iOS 8 update, with completely configurable widgets in Notification Center. As part of its iOS 8 unveiling this week, Apple showed off widgets with ESPN sports scores and current eBay auctions.

iOS 8 widgets will come bundled in downloadable applications on the App Store. Compatible apps can then be enabled or disabled through the Notification Center, and users can drag their installed widgets into any order of their choosing.

Hue


By default, Notification Center in the first iOS 8 beta comes with the Today Summary, Traffic Conditions, Calendar, Reminders, Stocks, and Tomorrow Summary. All of them can be disabled, while Calendar, Reminders and Stocks can be reordered.

That Philips is planning to support a key new feature of iOS 8 should not come as a surprise, as the company has worked closely with Apple in the past and even launched its lineup of Hue bulbs exclusively at Apple's retail stores.
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 40
    evilutionevilution Posts: 1,399member

    Good because the existing app is terrible.

  • Reply 2 of 40
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member

    Nice.  No menu bar clutter.  Future versions could tap into Home Kit and have your favorite HA macros. 

  • Reply 3 of 40
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post

    Hue

     

    Xzibit’s Pimp My House! Sofas with undercarriage lighting!

  • Reply 4 of 40
    macosrmacosr Posts: 12member
    What I want is dimmer switches that are wifi enabled. I want to be able to set moods for each room and preferences for what each room should do based on my location in my home. With this technology and the built-in location technology I should be able to walk through my home and lights go on and off as I'm walking through my home if that's what I wish.

    I don't want wifi bulbs...give me wifi switches and I'll gladly swap out the light switches in my home.
  • Reply 5 of 40
    fmalloyfmalloy Posts: 105member

    This "widgets-in-the-notification-center" seems ridiculous - it opens the door for all kinds of widgets that do stuff but have nothing to do with notifying me of something, so why are they lumped together with real notifications? The Notification Center is going to look like a mish-mosh of notifications and widgets.

     

    The Hue widget lets me turn stuff on and off but isn't notifying me of anything.

     

    It looks like Apple is too scared to open up real widgets on home screens, so they gently stuff them out of the way in a place where they really don't belong.

     

    Seems very un-Apple to me.

  • Reply 6 of 40
    theothergeofftheothergeoff Posts: 2,081member
    meh. Show me the HomeKit integration where I can turn on my Phillips Hue Lights, turn the HVAC from 'no one home' to 'occupied' and turn off my ELK Alarm system, and unlock my back door as I walk toward my back door.
  • Reply 7 of 40
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member

    I can't wait for that control widget. I've been pretty happy with my Hue lights so far. I know many people don't like the app, but I think it's fine. It definitely could use some improvements though. 

  • Reply 8 of 40
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MacOSR View Post



    What I want is dimmer switches that are wifi enabled. I want to be able to set moods for each room and preferences for what each room should do based on my location in my home. With this technology and the built-in location technology I should be able to walk through my home and lights go on and off as I'm walking through my home if that's what I wish.



    I don't want wifi bulbs...give me wifi switches and I'll gladly swap out the light switches in my home.

    You can somewhat do that with the current Hue App. Not individual rooms, but you can set up the app to turn off the lights when you leave home and turn them on when you arrive. I have my lights set up that way. It works really well. 

  • Reply 9 of 40
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheOtherGeoff View Post



    meh. Show me the HomeKit integration where I can turn on my Phillips Hue Lights, turn the HVAC from 'no one home' to 'occupied' and turn off my ELK Alarm system, and unlock my back door as I walk toward my back door.

    You need both. 

     

    There are times when I want to change the lights and my iPhone is upstairs.   I'm really considering the forthcoming Philips physical switch and I'd welcome a Hue Extension as yet another way of quickly getting to my recipes. 

  • Reply 10 of 40
    chadmaticchadmatic Posts: 285member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MacOSR View Post



    What I want is dimmer switches that are wifi enabled. I want to be able to set moods for each room and preferences for what each room should do based on my location in my home. With this technology and the built-in location technology I should be able to walk through my home and lights go on and off as I'm walking through my home if that's what I wish.



    I don't want wifi bulbs...give me wifi switches and I'll gladly swap out the light switches in my home.

    Here you go... http://www.savantsystems.com/category/savant_smartlighting_wifi.aspx

  • Reply 11 of 40
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheOtherGeoff View Post



     and unlock my back door as I walk toward my back door.

    I still think this sort of thing could be problematic. The reason you have a lock on your back door is to protect your stuff. Example: we were told by the Police that they were searching for someone to stay inside and keep the doors locked. Why would I want my back door to automatically unlock every time I came near? I'm all for having the iPhone unlock a door, but only when I explicitly ask it to, like a hands free Hey! Siri command.

  • Reply 12 of 40
    undefined
  • Reply 13 of 40
    boltsfan17 wrote: »
    You can somewhat do that with the current Hue App. Not individual rooms, but you can set up the app to turn off the lights when you leave home and turn them on when you arrive. I have my lights set up that way. It works really well. 

    Even with the current Hue App, which is limited I agree, you can still set up specific rooms, specific light fixtures, and many more things that I can list. it's just organized in a horrible way and the UI is not very intuitive.

    One thing everyone should know is that you can not buy two starter packs. The lamps that come with a starter pack will not work on a different bridge. I actually educated a whole apple store about this, without mistakenly buying them, just research. If you purchase two starter packs you have two different lighting systems. Please keep that in mind. It should also be known by anyone selling those lamps. After all, they're $60 per each.

    One starter pack only, then buy the lamps to extend your system.
  • Reply 14 of 40
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by fmalloy View Post

     

    This "widgets-in-the-notification-center" seems ridiculous - it opens the door for all kinds of widgets that do stuff but have nothing to do with notifying me of something, so why are they lumped together with real notifications? The Notification Center is going to look like a mish-mosh of notifications and widgets.

     

    The Hue widget lets me turn stuff on and off but isn't notifying me of anything.

     

    It looks like Apple is too scared to open up real widgets on home screens, so they gently stuff them out of the way in a place where they really don't belong.

     

    Seems very un-Apple to me.


     

    The **** are you talking about? First of all, you have to EXPLICITLY add a widget, nothing is added by default. Secondly, notification center doesn't have to be STRICTLY for notifications- useful things can live there that are only a swipe away from ANYWHERE you are. Thirdly, what the hell does fear have to do with it? To me, widgets in notification shade seems like a genius idea- doesn't clutter anything up, Apple can create visual guidelines, and they're accessible from anywhere, while still being organized. It actually makes the notification area useful.  It seems completely Apple-like. I guess what you wanted Apple to do is just blindly clone whatever Android is doing with widgets, which is a complete mess? Would that have been "Apple-like"? No, you would have then said "lol apple ripping off android". Which people are saying anyway of course, even while this implementation is wildly different. 

  • Reply 15 of 40
    boltsfan17 wrote: »
    You can somewhat do that with the current Hue App. Not individual rooms, but you can set up the app to turn off the lights when you leave home and turn them on when you arrive. I have my lights set up that way. It works really well. 

    With the current app you can set up specific rooms, and indeed specific fixtures within such rooms. It's not very intuitive, but you can however if you'd like. You can even have specific rooms, or specific fixtures turn on when you come home and everything turn off when you leave. I've wowed quite a few people with that app unintentionally.

    I'd recommend Lightbow. It's better for control, but it can not handle geofencing yet.

    Having a widget for the lamps would be a god send for anyone that actually owns them.
  • Reply 16 of 40
    slurpy wrote: »
    The **** are you talking about? First of all, you have to EXPLICITLY add a widget, nothing is added by default. Secondly, notification center doesn't have to be STRICTLY for notifications- useful things can live there that are only a swipe away from ANYWHERE you are. Thirdly, what the hell does fear have to do with it? To me, widgets in notification shade seems like a genius idea- doesn't clutter anything up, Apple can create visual guidelines, and they're accessible from anywhere, while still being organized. It actually makes the notification area useful.  It seems completely Apple-like. I guess what you wanted Apple to do is just blindly clone whatever Android is doing with widgets, which is a complete mess? Would that have been "Apple-like"? No, you would have then said "lol apple ripping off android". Which people are saying anyway of course, even while this implementation is wildly different. 

    You have to understand that after soooooo many years of Apple fanatics telling people that widgets are bad, they've actually created a fear towards Apple using them. That sword cuts both ways. So now we'll have a backlash created not by Apple, but the fanatics that have argued why they are so horrible for the past few years. It would have been better, if Apple explained why they're safe/useful/non-battery draining. Hopefully Apple will explain to common (non-tech) people in future promotions for IOS8.
  • Reply 17 of 40
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Silver Shadow View Post





    Even with the current Hue App, which is limited I agree, you can still set up specific rooms, specific light fixtures, and many more things that I can list. it's just organized in a horrible way and the UI is not very intuitive.



    One thing everyone should know is that you can not buy two starter packs. The lamps that come with a starter pack will not work on a different bridge. I actually educated a whole apple store about this, without mistakenly buying them, just research. If you purchase two starter packs you have two different lighting systems. Please keep that in mind. It should also be known by anyone selling those lamps. After all, they're $60 per each.



    One starter pack only, then buy the lamps to extend your system.

     

    That's actually not true. I did buy 2 starter packs from the Apple store. They were out of extra bulbs so I just went ahead and bought another starter pack since I wanted 3 more bulbs. The lights from one starter pack will work with the bridge on another starter pack. Mine work fine. 

  • Reply 18 of 40
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Silver Shadow View Post





    With the current app you can set up specific rooms, and indeed specific fixtures within such rooms. It's not very intuitive, but you can however if you'd like. You can even have specific rooms, or specific fixtures turn on when you come home and everything turn off when you leave. I've wowed quite a few people with that app unintentionally.



    I'd recommend Lightbow. It's better for control, but it can not handle geofencing yet.



    Having a widget for the lamps would be a god send for anyone that actually owns them.

    I'll have to check out those settings this evening. I set mine up a while ago. After my lights go on when I arrive home, I control the individual lights with the app Rapid Hue. Some I dim, others I don't. It's much easier doing that through the Rapid Hue app versus the Hue App. 

  • Reply 19 of 40
    boltsfan17 wrote: »
    That's actually not true. I did buy 2 starter packs from the Apple store. They were out of extra bulbs so I just went ahead and bought another starter pack since I wanted 3 more bulbs. The lights from one starter pack will work with the bridge on another starter pack. Mine work fine. 

    I'm very sorry then. A few months ago when I had purchased all of mine that was not possible. I do know that the bridge had received several updates since then. At the time of my purchase it was definitely true that bulbs from one starter pack could not be used with bulbs from a separate starter pack.

    Hopefully my feedback to Phillips had something to do with that, but it doubt it. :)
  • Reply 20 of 40
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Silver Shadow View Post





    I'm very sorry then. A few months ago when I had purchased all of mine that was not possible. I do know that the bridge had received several updates since then. At the time of my purchase it was definitely true that bulbs from one starter pack could not be used with bulbs from a separate starter pack.



    Hopefully my feedback to Phillips had something to do with that, but it doubt it. image

    I've actually had mine longer then a few months. I bought the starter packs not long after they came out. I lose track of time. Anyway, now that I think about it, I did have an issue at first with the bridge not recognizing the lights from the other starter pack. From a little research on Philips website, I downloaded their application Lampstealer and got the lights working that way. 

Sign In or Register to comment.