# Hue Scintillator — user reviews > 110 indexed App Store user reviews of Hue Scintillator by Flaming Pear Software, rated 3.00/5 from 19 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hue-scintillator/id668223674/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hue-scintillator/id668223674.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 8 · 4★ 2 · 3★ 0 · 2★ 0 · 1★ 9 ## What do users think of Hue Scintillator? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 🎨 Highly customizable animations and color effects - 👍 Intuitive and elegant user interface - 🎵 Music visualization and synchronization features - 🔄 Runs in background after phone locks - 💰 One-time purchase with no in-app purchases - 🎭 Extensive preset library for quick setup - ⚡ Responsive and seamless performance - 🎯 Granular control over bulb groups and sets - 🎪 Excellent for parties and ambient lighting **Cons** - 🐛 Frequent connectivity issues with smart bulbs - 📱 App stops working when phone is locked (older versions) - 🔴 Microphone always-on indicator causes privacy concerns - 🎵 Music visualization doesn't work reliably - 📉 Inconsistent support for different light brands - 🔌 High battery consumption - 🚫 Limited bulb selection/configuration options - ⚠️ Poor customer support and unresponsive developers - 🔋 Interferes with Bluetooth audio playback - ❌ Removed support for multiple light platforms over time **Commonly reported bugs** - Cannot connect to Hue Bridge despite finding it - Only controls subset of detected lights - Nanoleaf animations not functioning - LIFX bulb connectivity broken - SYLVANIA/Osram Lightify support removed without notice - Avea Bluetooth bulb support unreliable - Apple Music library greyed out and non-functional - Music visualizer doesn't change light colors - App crashes when editing bulb sets - Animations stop when app closes - Lights lose connection after being turned off - Manual bridge IP entry required instead of auto-discovery - Color palette selection produces unintended colors **Most requested features** - Spotify and Pandora music integration instead of Apple Music only - Siri Shortcuts support - Timer and alarm functionality - Ability to lock bulbs to same color with synchronized animations - Notification widget and quick toggle - Better documentation and in-app instructions - Ability to sequence multiple animations - User-created scene sharing database - Faster animation speeds - Precise CIE color specification controls - Microphone input option for music visualization - iPad-specific version - Background operation without microphone requirement ## Newest reviews (12 of 110) ### 2/5 — Animations don’t work in Nanoleaf *2024-03-06, version 1.83* Wish I hadn’t paid for this. The animations don’t work which is what this app is for. Super disappointed. ### 4/5 — Music library shows songs but won’t play any *2020-09-04* I just purchased the app and I’m trying to use the visualizer and I can see my music library but I’m unable to play any of the songs. The apps ui is clean and straight forward and very easy to use and setup. Except being unable to get my music library to work pretty great first impression. ### 2/5 — Lights stop when App closes *2019-05-04, version 1.79* Read above. Once the app closes the color cycle just stops. So, I need to keep my phone open and running the app so it will work. This is not what I was expecting. ### 2/5 — Can’t get colours of choice *2019-04-29, version 1.79* When I try to construct a preset of purple, for example, i might get lots of white, yellow, And red. Not at all the range I was going for. Same result if I use the suggested palettes. Rather than a sliding scale, I would like to be able to put together a preset using precise colour numbers. ### 4/5 — Great App - Add Siri Shortcuts *2019-04-05, version 1.78* I love, love, love this app. It’s great for doing lighting effects like those in sports stadiums and makes it feel like you’re at the game. The only thing keeping this from being 5 stars is Siri shortcuts support. Add that, and then this is a must-have for smart lighting setups. ### 2/5 — Not exactly scintillating *2018-12-31, version 1.78* The overall idea of this app is wonderful. The execution of it, leaves a significant amount to be desired. The special-effects stop the moment you switch to a different the phone goes into lock mode. Obviously, that is not the desired outcome. This app should also be re-engineered to work with “hey Siri” ### 4/5 — More Customizable Please *2018-04-15* After testing multiple apps to use on my LIFX bulbs, this is the one I’ve settled on as coming closest to my needs. Would have been 5 stars if there were more options to lock all bulbs to the same color. I’m trying to animate a setting where all bulbs pulsate the same color with random brightness and then all slowly shift to a new color after a few minutes. Whirlwind is the closest preset I could find but all bulbs are different colors with no option to link them. ### 1/5 — DO NOT BUY *2017-08-17, version 1.76* Does not connect to my elgato avea bulb! Does not work. I want a refund! ### 2/5 — Great when it works *2017-08-03, version 1.76* Has trouble connecting to the Bridge. The app finds it but won't connect when you press the Bridge button. I've only made it work once so far, when I initially set it up. ### 1/5 — Does not work with LIFX lights *2017-02-11, version 1.76* I bought this app to use with my LIFX lights in my house, but they are not compatible. Waste of money. ### 2/5 — Was 5 Stars Until LIFX Firmware Update *2017-02-05, version 1.76* I can barely give this two stars right now since it doesn't even work with any of my 3rd Gen and LIFX+ Infrared bulbs now. It used to just work which is what I like about the app. Not sure where you guys went wrong with LIFX. Time to push an update to fix this mess. I think I had to pay for this stupid app too. Unsatisfied customer. ### 1/5 — Terrible with LIFX *2017-01-27, version 1.76* App is just about useless with the LIFX bulbs. And even when it did work it's not very good, especially the music part. Not happy and wish I could get a refund. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Revised review *2023-10-04* This was a 5 star app at one point. I got it because it worked with Hue and Lightify flawlessly. I continued to expanded my setup extensively using hue and Lightify, then one day Lightify would not work with it at all. No response from developer and then all of a sudden they completely removed Lightify support. It does however control my Avea Bluetooth bulb, I wonder how long it will be before they remove the support for that. Update: now it will no longer control the lifx bulbs, no way to add them either. ### 1/5 — Worthless *2023-08-21* This used to be an amazing app but no longer will it connect to the Hue Bridge. ### 1/5 — Doesn’t work with LIFX *2022-11-29* No way to add LIFX bulbs. Waste of money :( ### 1/5 — Piss poor support , will not work with SYLVANIA Smart Bulbs *2021-08-21, version 1.82* For some reason, I found this out by checking the revision history, they have dropped the ability to use the app with SYLVANIA smart bulbs. As I have all SYLVANIA bulbs the app is now useless for me and I had to pay to get it!!! ### 1/5 — Apple Music doesn’t work, finds 9 lights but only controls 3 *2020-08-02* I’m pretty sure the two reviews here are fake, first off it says it found nine hue lights however there’s absolutely no way to configure any of these lights and for whatever reason it only controls two of the lights and my light strips, the rest don’t seem to do anything through this app. Secondly it didn’t automatically find my bridge or a friend of mine’s bridge; I figured my Internet connection might be a little weird due to our network set up so I tried his which has his hub plugged directly into the router. Unfortunately the only way to set it up was to manually enter my bridge IP address. Apple Music integration finds all of my music but it’s all grey’ed out, doesn’t work. Unfortunately because they didn’t add a microphone option you can’t even use the music visualization feature. How terrible can you be where you force people to use one music option (Apple Music) which is integrated directly into your app (and broken) instead of having something like a mic option to listen to music in the room instead. There’s absolutely no way to configure which lights that this app uses that I found, the interface is terribly stupid and simple, all together it seems like a half-baked app that still in beta testing and never gets updated. **Developer response:** To use more lights, try this: - Double-tap an effect to get the effect editor. - Next, tap the yellow circles to get the bulb editor. - Then choose the bulbs you want from the list. Once you make a bulb set, you can use it with multiple effects. ### 1/5 — Revised review *2019-04-26, version 1.79* This was a 5 star app at one point. I got it because it worked with Hue and Lightify flawlessly. I continued to expanded my setup extensively using hue and Lightify, then one day Lightify would not work with it at all. No response from developer and then all of a sudden they completely removed Lightify support. It does however control my Avea Bluetooth bulb, I wonder how long it will be before they remove the support for that. ### 1/5 — Can’t choose bulbs *2019-01-22, version 1.78* Forces effects onto all bulbs which is impractical if you have hues all over the house. ### 1/5 — Does not connect to Osram/Sylvania lightify *2018-10-20, version 1.77* I have emailed the vendor 3 times and no response. I have asked for a refund. No response. The app will not connector to the Osram/Sylvania lightify account. Therefore it it absolutely useless. Do not buy this app. ### 1/5 — Constant Crashes *2017-12-16, version 1.77* This app is unusable. Trying to edit a bulb set crashes it every time. What else is there to say. ### 1/5 — Can’t find LIFX Gen 3 bulbs *2017-10-29, version 1.77* Have no idea if it is a good program as I cannot get it to find my LIFX bulbs to get started. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Pure garbage. *2023-04-27* If you want seamless animations using a large selection of presets or create one of your own, this is your app. Simple,elegant. Gorgeous color variations to just zone out or set to your favorite party mix. Animations run after your phone has gone to sleep. ### 5/5 — Best Hue App *2021-06-21* I’ve been using this app for years, and still no other app has come close to the functionality this one provides. It’s by far the most featured app for having lights display multiple colors in varying methods. It’s a must for party background lighting ### 5/5 — The only hue app u need *2021-06-01, version 1.82* It’s absolutely awesome this app. You can create limitless combinations of light. All the other apps I tested asked for ongoing subscription and were quite limited. This app is a thousand times better than anything else I tried. ### 5/5 — Stopes working with os8 *2019-09-10, version 1.80* Works fine for me and my 99 lamps,and its all free! ### 5/5 — Amazing *2019-08-27, version 1.80* Works Great but should have the ability to use other music apps other than your apple library should have Spotify and Pandora for example ### 5/5 — Best app for Hue lights *2018-12-21, version 1.78* My kids love playing with the hue lights through this app. Very nice effects. I also use it to create a candle like romantic atmosphere. Must have app for Hue. ### 5/5 — Working great so far after reinstall *2017-06-11, version 1.76* Working good. Had to reinstall the app. Love to see more development on this fun program. ### 5/5 — Best for Hue *2017-01-28, version 1.76* One of my favorites for controlling our Hue lights, for sure. Very customizable. ### 5/5 — Must get!! *2016-11-04, version 1.7.3* Pry the best Hue app out there!! ### 5/5 — The most versatile animated Hue control app! *2016-06-10* I have been using Scintillator for over a year now and I love all the different animation modes, I especially love being able to create different bulb sets as not all of my hue bulbs reach the same brightness or produce the same ranges of color. Scintillator allows me to have 3 sound reactive presets running simultaneously for the different types of bulbs I have in my hue setup. Running 3 presets allows me to create a evenly lit, sound reactive, color changing environment timed to whatever I'm listening to, with different color sets tuned to the differences between friends of hue products and the hue led bulbs. If you want or need granular control of different types of hue products this may be the best solution for complicated hue installations. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*