Hue Scintillator 4+

Well this app really looked promising, great feature, easy to use, but in the end totally useless.

There is no background operation for the app.
As soon as your phone screen locks the app stops and the light effects stop with it. So unless you keep the phone screen active and use no other apps at the same time it works. Trouble is no one uses a phone like that.

We need to be able to select a light setting and it run in the background, like every other Hue app!

What a waste of a good app, will not and can not use it again.

This is a good app for creating scenes and animations for your Hue lights. It's intuitive to use and has loads of options for getting just the effect you want. Trouble is, it's flawed.

The big no no for me is the way the app works in the background when in use. For example, I created a scene, or used one of the excellent presets, but when opening another app or returning to the home-screen, my iphone displays a red-bar to warn me that the Scintillator is still using the mic.

You can deny the app access to the phone's microphone in iOS settings so it's not listening. You can also turn off the "always listening" option in the app settings, and this removes the red-bar from the screen. Trouble is, this also stops the Hue bulbs animating once you close the app. It's either red-bar and working bulbs, or no red-bar and static colours - not a great choice really.

I give this app three stars, as the scene creation really is very good, and the "always listening" option doesn't worry me from a privacy viewpoint (as the mic permissions stop it listening), but that either/or problem with the red-bar really is a deal breaker. Good app, ruined by a clunky method of working in the background. Particularly frustrating as there are other apps for the Hue bulbs that don't have the same issue but have the same quality of scene/animation creation.

Wait for the app update to change the way it works in the background.

Absolutely fantastic app. If you have a hue setup and don't have this app you are only getting half of hue.

Setup is great, press button to pair is seamless and presented elegantly. UI is clean throughout, initiative and very well considered despite a daunting initial tutorial page hinting otherwise.

Built in effects are varied and beautiful without exception, can't wait to really spend some time with the editor. There are enough subtle ones present for this to become my default hue app. Underpriced if anything.

One small caveat, I would beg the developer to please give me an app icon with a fraction of... restraint. This is now my entire existence's default light interface. They have coded a replacement for the switch on my wall. If the switch on my wall was designed like this icon I would have ripped it out and subsisted on candles and glo-sticks. Please remedy.

One bigger caveat. No backgrounding. At all, unlike every other hue app. Your phone is completely unusable while these light effects are running.

Fantastic app. 5 stars with 2 deducted for backgrounding.