Lights, action!
Build a smart lighting system with these HomeKit bulbs
> As we’ve mentioned, Philips has dozens of different lights in its Hue range. But, if you want to use your Hue lights with HomeKit and the Home app, then it’s best to start with one of the Hue Starter Kits. There are several Starter Kit options, costing as little as £69.99 for a basic kit with two plain white bulbs, going up to £169.99 with three colour-changing bulbs. However, all the Starter Kits also include the Hue Bridge, a small box that connects to your home Wi-Fi router with an Ethernet cable.
The Hue lights will work on their own, but it’s the Hue Bridge that provides HomeKit compatibility, so you need the Bridge in order to use your Hue lights with HomeKit and the Home App (and make sure you get the square second-gen Bridge, and not the circular first-gen version as that’s not compatible with HomeKit). Once you’ve got the
Hue Bridge connected to your router, you can then expand your lighting system with any of the other Hue lights that you want to buy, including ceiling-mounted lights, floodlights for outdoor use, and even the colourful Festavia Christmas lights. Philips has also announced that it plans to provide a software update for the Hue Bridge that will allow it to support Matter in the coming months.
One other thing to watch out for is that some of the Hue lights utilise Bluetooth, rather than using Wi-Fi to connect to your home network and the Hue Bridge. Bluetooth lights can be controlled individually using the Hue app, but they’re not compatible with HomeKit, so be aware that you won’t be able to control them with your other lights and smart devices within the Home app.