Set up Philips Hue lights with any smart home hub fast

Philips Hue lights have been around a while now and have made their way into numerous smart homes. This is mainly because the product is very polished, uses Wi-Fi to connect to its own bridge and is compatible with many smart home hubs. This means most setups will work with minimal configuration. That isn’t to say there is no configuration though, so if you want to know how to set up Philips Hue lights with any smart home hub fast, this is the post for you!

Before we pair Philips Hue lights with a smart home hub, we first need to pair them with the Phillips Hue Bridge. Each starter pack of lights comes with a hardware device called a bridge. This controls the lights and either works on its own with the Hue app or with a smart home hub.

Pair Philips Hue lights the Hue Bridge
Let’s set up our new lights and Bridge.

1. Insert the Philips Hue lights into the fixtures and switch them on.
2. Plug the Philips Hue Bridge into the mains connect the Ethernet cable to it and your router. Once all lights are lit on the Bridge, it is ready.
3. Download the Hue app onto your smartphone. Both iOS and Android versions are available.
4. Connect your smartphone to your Wi-Fi network and open the app. The app will automatically seek out the Hue Bridge.
5. Follow the app setup wizard to pair the lights with the Bridge.

Once you have the Hue lights connected to the Hue Bridge you have full control over them. You can either keep them as standalone smart lights or connect them to a smart hub for more features.

Set up Philips Hue with a smart hub
The exact instructions will differ slightly depending on which smart hub you use but the principles are the same. I’ll use two of the most popular smart hubs as an example. Just adapt the instructions slightly if you use a different one.

Pairing with SmartThings
1. Open your SmartThings app and tap Light Bulbs.
2. Tap Phillips, then the Bridge and then Connect Now.
3. Select the Bridge when the app finds it and tap Done.
4. Tap Next once the app tells you it is connected and then Select Hue Bulbs.
5. Tap Done twice to confirm.

Pairing with Amazon Echo
1. Open the Alexa app and tap the menu in the top left.
2. Tap Smart Home and then Your Devices.
3. Tap Discover Devices and wait for the app to find your Hue Bridge.
4. Tap the Hue Bridge to authorize the app once found.

Once connected to Amazon Echo you can add skills and features as you see fit.

Learn more about Apple Homekit here or try the The ultimate beginner’s guide to Google Home!