With the development of technology, more and more devices are becoming “smart.” That means they can connect to the internet and be controlled with apps or voice assistants. Voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa are becoming increasingly popular because they make our lives easier by controlling devices with just our voices.
One type of smart device is a Philips hue light bulb. Philips hue light bulbs are LED light bulbs that can be controlled with an app or voice assistant. They can change colors and be used to create different lighting effects in your home.
If you own an Alexa device, you might also be interested in learning how to connect Phillips hue to Alexa. We will teach you how in 5 easy steps!
In this article, we’ll show you how to connect your Philips hue light bulbs to Alexa so you can control them with your voice.
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How to Connect Your Phillips Hue Light Bulbs to Alexa in 5 Simple Steps
To connect your Philips hue light bulbs to Alexa, you’ll need the following:
– A Philips hue bridge
– A power supply for the bridge
– An internet connection
– The Philips hue app
– An Amazon Echo or other Alexa-enabled device
Step One: Set Up the Philips Hue Bridge
Connect your Philips hue bridge to your power supply (the power supply plugs into a standard US electrical outlet box). Then, follow the steps in the Hue Bridge setup guide.
When you set up your bridge, it will also ask you to create a Philips hue account. Create an account if you don’t already have one, and enter the email address and password that you use for all of your other online accounts. You can use any email address and password here, but there are some restrictions that you need to be aware of.
For example, Hue will only recognize the email address registered to the account and will not allow you to link multiple Philips hue bridges to the same account. You’ll also need to provide a nickname for your bridge. This nickname is displayed on your bridge and is also used by Alexa in the voice commands described later.
After setting up your Philips hue bridge, you’ll be able to add more light bulbs to your account.
Step Two: Connect Your Hue Bridge to the Internet
Your bridge needs an internet connection in order to work with the app and Alexa. To get a connection, you’ll need to plug your bridge into the same power supply used for your other devices. Once it’s plugged in, your bridge will be ready for use.
Step Three: Set Up the Philips Hue App
Now that your bridge is set up, you’ll need to set up the Philips hue app. The app will let you control your light bulbs and other smart home devices, but it also lets you give Alexa commands. The Hue app comes with a set of default color options and scenes that can be used for controlling your lights.
For example, you can use the “Sunset” scene to slowly change the color of your lights to make it look like it’s sunset in your home.
To set up the Philips hue app, follow the steps in the Hue app setup guide.
Step Four: Link Your Phillips Hue Account to Alexa
The final step to setting up your Philips hue light bulbs with Alexa is linking your account to Alexa. This process is called “associating” your hue bridge with your Amazon account. You can do this through the Alexa app, which you can download here.
To associate your Hue account with Alexa, follow these steps:
From the app’s menu, tap Settings>Smart Home. Then tap Manage Accounts. From the Manage Accounts screen, tap Philips Hue. You’ll need to enter your Philips hue login info again for security reasons. After you’ve logged in, you’ll see a screen that says “Logged In.”
It will have your email address and a list of all of the devices associated with your account. Tap any device to get more information about it, or tap the Edit button to change the device’s nickname. Then, tap the name of your Alexa smart home group (if it doesn’t exist, create it).
You’ll then be taken to a screen that says, “Associate This Bridge.” Tap Add to complete the process.
Now that you’ve associated your Hue account with your Alexa smart home group, you can control your lights and other devices with just your voice.
Step Five: Control Philips hue light bulbs with Alexa
There are several commands that you can use to control your Hue light bulbs. You’ll also need to make sure that Alexa is enabled and listening for a command. (You can enable Alexa by tapping the microphone button in the corner of the app’s main screen.)
Here are some common commands:
“Alexa, turn on [light description]” —This command turns on a light. For example, you would say, “Alexa, turn on the bedroom lamp.
“Alexa, turn off [light description]” —This command turns off a light. For example, you would say, “Alexa, turn off the kitchen light.
“Alexa, dim [light description]” or “Alexa dim [light description]” —This command dims a light to a certain level. You can replace the word “dim” with any number between zero and 100 percent to set the brightness or tilt of your lights. For example, you would say, “Alexa, dim bedroom lamp to 50 percent.
“Alexa, brighten [light description]” or “Alexa brighten [light description]” —This command brightens a light. You can replace the word “brighten” with any number between zero and 100 percent to set the brightness or tilt of your lights. For example, you would say, “Alexa, brighten the kitchen night light to 50 percent.
“Alexa, [light description] off” or “Alexa [light description] off” —This command turns off a light. You can replace the word “off” with any other color to turn the associated bulb to that color. For example, you would say, “Alexa, yellow kitchen light on.”
Now that your Philips hue light bulbs are connected to Alexa, you can control your lights with just your voice. You can try this out for yourself by watching this video. You can also take a look at the Amazon Alexa support page for more information about other commands that you can try.
How do Philips hue light bulbs and the Amazon Echo stack up?
Philips hue light bulbs are an awesome way to control your lights, but there are some other smart options on the market. For example, you can use a smart light bulb with Alexa and other voice assistants by simply plugging in a compatible device.
Philips hue light bulbs are great because they come with their own bridge and app, but it’s not always easy to get them set up. Some smart bulbs, like the TP-Link LB130, don’t need a separate bridge because they have built-in WiFi functionality.
They also require less setup, but you won’t have the same options that a Philips hue light bulb has. Both of these lights can be controlled by voice commands and are easy to set up, but depending on what you need, it could make sense to go with one or the other.
Philips hue vs. Amazon Echo: key differences
Philips hue bridge —Philips hue bulbs come with an 11-watt bridge that plugs into your home’s existing outlet. You’ll need to connect the bridge to your WiFi network in order to control your lights through the app. However, in terms of connectivity and features, this bridge is very similar to other WiFi bridges.
How to Connect Phillips Hue to Alexa – Final thoughts
Now that you know how to connect Phillips Hue to Alexa, we hope you are able to enjoy the hands-free leisure it will allow you and the power of being able to give Alexa commands to control the brightness of your Phillips Hue bulbs!
If you enjoyed this article, check out our “Why does my Phillips Hue keep sending DNS Query?” article here!