Smart Light Bulbs | Philips Hue UK (2024)

FAQs

Why is Philips discontinuing Hue? ›

Philips Hue's glamorous, oversized dimmable smart bulbs designed as open lighting fixtures have hit a snag. “Aesthetic inconsistency” (i.e., they didn't look good) discovered during consumer testing of the new Lightguide bulb line has caused the company to stop making the triangle- and globe-shaped bulbs.

In the U.K. they are designed to run on 240v whereas in the US, they run on 120v. In addition must U.K. bulbs have a bayonet fitting whereas in the US they're screw in.

If you're lighting a large, functional space — a kitchen or garage, for example — choose a bulb with a brightness higher than 800 lumens, such as the Philips Hue White A21 bulb. Our brightest smart bulb yet, it offers up to 1521 lumens and is equivalent to a 100 W incandescent bulb.

If you have a Hue Bridge, you can connect up to 50 lights throughout your entire home, but if you control your smart lights via Bluetooth, you can only connect up to 10 lights in one room. The Hue Bridge allows you to control your lights from anywhere in the house — and, in fact, anywhere in the world.

As a result, the Philips Hue Sync mobile application will go out of support and will be retired from the app stores on July 11, 2023.

With an average lifespan of 25,000 hours, a Philips Hue light bulb will not need replacing anywhere near as often. Exactly how often you will need to change a Hue light bulb depends on how many hours a day it is used — but it can last up to 25 years.

If it's an incandescent lamp, just change the plug and the bulb. As the voltage is higher in Europe, the gauge of the cable will be more than adequate but the insulating properties would probably be below the required standard. If it's an LED unit, check the label - if it can handle 230 volts then just change the plug.

You need to use switches rated for at least 15 amps. Most UK switches are rated at 10 amps. You could solve that problem by wiring the light through a relay such as a RiB or Aube type low-voltage relay. Mechanically mounting it in the walls would be easy enough.

You can easily enough install an American light fitting, but you must use a British light bulb as the UK uses a higher voltage than the US. UK lights more commonly have bayonet fittings than the Edison Screw type used in the US. You can get an Edison Screw to Bayonet fitting adapter from eBay.

While that may not be something you notice on your energy bill, if you have lots of them it can make more of a difference. The Philips Hue draws between 0 and 0.3 watts which, based on paying a little above average at 15 cents per kilowatt, this will cost you 1.6 cents per month.

Why are hue bulbs expensive? ›

Philips Hue products tick all the boxes. They're made of premium components and have excellent diffusion, which prevents uneven lighting. Additionally, Philips Hue goes far beyond your basic primary color selection, offering 16 million color options in most of its devices.

If you have a Hue Bridge, you can connect up to 50 lights throughout your entire home, but if you control your smart lights via Bluetooth, you can only connect up to 10 lights in one room. The Hue Bridge allows you to control your lights from anywhere in the house — and, in fact, anywhere in the world.

You can now invite users to your Philips Hue Home with an invitation link. In your Philips Hue account, go to Manage members > Add new member to send a link.

Today, to use more than 50 lights and accessories, you have to create a separate Hue account for a second bridge and switch between them in the app to control your lights.

Philips isn't discontinuing Hue smart bulbs altogether. Only a recently-released line called Lightguide is getting the chop, and even then, it's just the triangle and globe-shaped bulbs being discontinued. The Verge has the scoop if you'd like to learn more. How many years do Hue bulbs last?

Products. Signify manufactures lighting-related products, mainly under the Philips brand (used under license), but also as Philips Hue, Color Kinetics and WiZ, among others.

Philips Hue and our parent company, Signify, are members on the board of Connectivity Standard Alliance (formerly known as the Zigbee Alliance).

As of April 30th, 2020, Philips Hue will be ending support for the Hue Bridge V1. This means that V1 will no longer work with online services like Knocki, Alexa, Google Home, and others. As shown below, the V1 bridge is shaped like a circle.