Hue Essentials 4+

Worked until latest update

Bought for Disco effect. Worked fine until yesterday when there was an update. Now just crashes out of app when you hit Start.

Since I paid £5.99 in IAP for full version, not super happy. Will update this review if it gets fixed.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for letting us know. We released an update for you now. Support@hueessentials.com

Fixed 66.6% of my Hue issues

The Hue set up is ok but there were 3 things I wanted to do that I just couldn't achieve with the standard app. I'd given up trying when I found this app after Hue updated the native app and somehow screwed up my entire system.

The hub was no longer found or discoverable even though the switches still worked and the entire system still worked through Apple Home. Even after buying a new hub, the Hue app wouldn't find it.

Thankfully I found this app and got everything up and running with the new hub. Issue 1 solved.

Issue 2 was Philips idea of "night light" on their bulbs. I have Hue ceiling lights in the bathroom and their night light mode is perfect, very dim. The bulbs on the other hand are still too bright on their dimmest setting. I fitted a full colour bulb thinking I could just use red on the lowest power setting and a motion sensor but I couldn't get the original app to do that. On this app however, it was no problem and now at night I have a nice dim red night light controlled by a motion sensor.

Issue 3 is where I'm stuck. I have a zigbee switch that controls an extractor fan. The extractor fan that my partner turns on when she has a shower before work and will leave running to clear the steam. Issue being that she'll leave for work and it'll be running unnecessarily for up to 8 hours. I just wish there was a timer mode for switches so it would automatically turn off after 20 minutes of being on.

Perfect for fine tuning remote devices!

When I originally downloaded this app I was just starting out with my smart home and experimenting with apps to understand how the various bits link together and how I would want things configured.

I found the app a little confusing to begin with and didn’t understand why I would need it...but that drastically changed after purchasing a few Hue remote devices.

Using the native Hue app I nearly returned my remote device purchases out of sheer frustration and not being able to tweak things how I wanted. Reading a few forums and seeing this app mentioned a few times I thought I’d check see what could be done and I’m so glad I did because this app has been a saviour! With it I’ve been able to tweak remotes and fine tune the physical control over my smart lights to my hearts content, which in turn has helped me win back the Wife-Acceptance-Factor and ultimately lead me deeper down the smart home hole!

I would love to see a “copy remote” type of feature to help duplicate settings across remotes and I’d love to be able to edit a buttons actions without having to delete the action and start over...but even with those niggles I’m just chuffed I have been able to set up my smart lighting how I wanted it.