New redesigned Philips Hue app is faster, smarter, and even in 3D

What you need to know

• The brand new home screen gives quick access to lights and scenes in tile format, as well as a way to quickly switch between Hue bridges.
• Lights can now be placed in 3D space to further enhance the scene lighting accuracy when synced with entertainment.
• New automation abilities include multi-user geofencing, sunset and sunrise enhancements, and more.

Your Philips Hue bulbs are about to get a lot more brilliant thanks to the newly redesigned 4th-generation Philips Hue app, launching today on the Google Play Store and Apple Appstore. Philips Hue bulbs are consistently ranked among the best smart lights in any situation for many reasons, but the regular updates and feature additions, like the recent announcement that all Hue bulbs and bridges will be supporting the new Matter industry standard for smart home interconnectivity.

Right up front, you'll find a brand new home screen with a more handy tile view in the new 4th-generation Philips Hue app. That lines up with similar interface updates we've seen from companies like Samsung and Google, as well as upcoming design changes in Android 12. From here you'll be able to quickly toggle lights, change scenes, and do more without needing to navigate away from the Hue home screen. You'll also find that overall app performance is much improved in this new app version, including quality of life changes like the ability to quickly switch between Hue bridges right on the home screen.

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Philips is also significantly enhancing automation and entertainment capabilities of its bulbs with this new app. A new isometric 3D view will allow lights to be placed with vertical height now — not just their top-down position in the room, as was the case previously — making entertainment syncing with products like the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box even more brilliant than before. Likewise, the Automations tab replaces the previous Routines tab and offers much more advanced customization of automated experiences.

Those automations can now include geofencing for multiple users and enhanced sunset and sunrise settings, as well, making sure you don't leave everyone in the dark if you're the only one leaving home. Philips says that the next big update coming in Summer 2021 revolves around dynamic scenes, which will see lights in a room slowly transition through different colors in a scene together.