Hueser

A word of caution for all contemplating the Hue outdoor sensor for use in remote security applications: Hue is not effective for certain kinds of remote security uses, at least for the Hue app version through V3.15.0, and as of this writing 2019-03-03. Specifically, those uses where returning to the site is not easy, where you're far away. When the system works, it works very well. If, however, something happens to your phone or the app on the phone becomes lost or unstable (which is the only way to manage the system, since Hue doesn't have a full-capability native browser-based web portal) you are going to have to go back onsite to reconnect to the hub with your replacement phone. You cannot take a fresh phone and login to the Hue app with your existing login credentials unless you are physically local to the hub. I've been back and forth with the Hue support people about this, since that's exactly what happened to me. Yup, get on an airplane, and fly back to the site - that's their recommendation. The support staff said that this limitation of capability is for security reasons - it used to be possible to login remotely, but not since the last major app revision. The Hue support staff said that there's no work-around. That's not quite true, see the "backup recovery" strategy below - if you're lucky and careful.

If you're lucky and careful, you can do a remote recovery if you've backed up your phone properly. If the app stops working, or if you lose your phone, you can bring back the functional Hue app backup on a different phone by installing that backup on the different phone, Assuming that you have a spare phone that you want to clone your old phone onto, and that you're current on your backup status, and that your backup isn't a backup of the phone in a state where the app wasn't working - autobackup will "get you" unless you are in the habit of occasionally renaming your Apple backup files, so the usual incremental backup doesn't overwrite a was-working backup with a not-working backup.

Hue is great if you are in the house and want to use your phone for smart-house control. For real security applications, not so much. A few hundred dollars for the hub and peripherals, then months later pop an unplanned $1k and two days to fly back to the summer-vacation-home in mid-winter, rent a car, drive out there, hit the site's WiFi network, and stand around for a few minutes relinking the app on your phone to the local hub. Then get in the rental car, drive back to the airport, and fly home. Angry. Learn from someone else's experience, and make a different choice for your security system, one that trusts you to manage your own credentials properly, and where you can do a from-scratch reinstall and login if something goes wrong.