# Lightbow — for Philips hue, LIFX, & WeMo > Smart home lighting control and animation app for Philips Hue, LIFX, and WeMo. (iPhone/iPad app by Peter Rapp.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lightbow/id695235159 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Peter Rapp](https://appshunter.io/developer/695235162) - Category: Lifestyle, Utilities - Price: $4.99 with in-app purchases - Rating: 4.20/5 from 273 App Store ratings · 127 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 10.3 · 170 MB - Languages: American English, Danish, Dutch, French (France), German (Germany), Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean and 8 more - Released: 2013-09-15 - Data updated: 2026-06-10 - Monetization: free with in-app purchases - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lightbow/id695235159/reviews.md ## What is Lightbow? Imagine the App Store or Music Store, but for LIGHT. After six years and 100+ updates, Lightbow continues to provide the highest quality & quantity of stunning light shows, plus the most powerful editor to create your own! Enjoy hundreds of lighting and sound environments at your fingertips... (Full Editor included with your purchase, dozens of designer collections other than "Starter Pack" available as in-app purchases) Take full advantage of Philips hue, LIFX, Nanoleaf, & Belkin WeMo*, or control them all at once with presets, animations, groups, triggers, transitions, and more! From theater productions, to mood lighting in a restaurant, to everyday home living, Lightbow has something for everybody! * Lightbow is an independent 3rd party app, and not affiliated with the companies that make Philips hue, LIFX, WeMo, or Nanoleaf * ** Buy Lightbow for iPhone or iPad, then download on your Apple TV for free (or vice versa). See Lightbow's description on the Apple TV App Store for more details on current functionality. Check www.lightbow.net/hardware to see which features are supported in your specific setup. ** Presets - Combine custom multi-step animation loops, static colors, or ON/OFF/Brightness commands for any sets of lights or groups. Activate them all with a single tap. - Light animations even run in the background (when you close the app, or hit the sleep button) - Share presets with others in your household on your local WiFi network—no emails or passwords necessary! - Give each preset a transition, such as crossfade, flashbulb, or fading through a specific color. - Randomization ranges offer interesting variations on colors each time you activate a preset. - Organize your Presets into Collections for greater flexibility and scalability. Triggers - Activate any preset with Siri, countdown timers, alarms, events like opening/closing Lightbow, or even a shake of your phone. - For hue tap owners, choose the colors and fade time that each button will trigger on your Philips lights. Groups - Put your Philips or LIFX hardware into groups to control sets of lights together. - Group lights by room, function, or anything else. Lights can be in multiple groups! - Set a color on different models of lighting hardware, and Lightbow will automatically calibrate that color to match up where possible. Light Control - From one simple screen, you can rename, reorder, and switch on or off any of your lights. - Set the mood of a room with control over the hue, saturation, brightness, and color temperature of each bulb. - Use your Belkin WeMo Outlet, LightSwitch, or Insight hardware to turn any electrical device on or off, not just lights! - Enjoy your LIFX bulbs using the same familiar interface. Lightbow will continue to add support for new lighting hardware as it is released. ALL ACCESS You have the option to purchase "ALL ACCESS" from the "Featured" tab within the app, a $24.99(USD) annual subscription unlocking the entire back-catalog of 100+ animated presets, plus new additions each month! This represents significant cost savings over individual purchases. Check store for pricing in other currencies. App Store subscriptions are subject to the following terms and conditions: -Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase -Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period -Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal -Subscriptions may be managed by you and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to your Account Settings after purchase -No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period -Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that item Privacy Policy: http://www.lightbow.net/privacy Terms of Service: http://www.lightbow.net/tos ## Key features - Create custom light shows and animations - Control Philips Hue, LIFX, and WeMo devices - Organize lights into groups - Trigger lighting effects with Siri or timers - Full editor for custom light show creation - Background animation playback ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: $4.99. **Subscriptions** | Subscription | Price | Period | | --- | --- | --- | | Annual "All Access" Pass | $24.99 | per year | **One-time purchases** | Purchase | Price | Type | | --- | --- | --- | | Christmas (16 Presets) | $3.99 | one-time | | Winter Warmth (10 Presets) | $3.99 | one-time | | Love is Everywhere 11 Presets | $3.99 | one-time | | S P A C E (11 Presets) | $3.99 | one-time | | Summer Fun (10 Presets) | $3.99 | one-time | | FIREWORKS (11 Presets) | $3.99 | one-time | | Halloween (12 Presets) | $3.99 | one-time | | Emotions (10 Presets) | $3.99 | one-time | | We Love Fall (10 Presets) | $3.99 | one-time | ## What do users think of Lightbow? Overall sentiment: neutral **Pros** - 👍 Charming pre-built effects - 🚀 Outstanding light animations - 👍 Excellent mood lighting and sensual vibe - 👍 Variety of light spectacles for different moods and occasions - 👍 Preset of the Day feature is cool - 👍 Works well with Hue lights - 👍 Flexible lighting control - 👍 Intuitive user interface once learned - 👍 Responsive Wemo control - 👍 Powerful and customizable **Cons** - 🐛 Issues opening and editing pre-built presets - 🔧 Confusing and difficult to use - 💰 Expensive in-app purchases for presets - 🐛 Crashes and presets getting deleted - 🐛 Disconnects from lights and requires reconnection - 🐛 Doesn't work as advertised with Nanoleaf - 🐛 Doesn't work with latest LIFX bulbs - 🐛 Transitions don't work with LIFX - 🐛 Alarms don't work unless app is running - 🐛 Buggy and unstable - 🐛 Abandoned by developer **Commonly reported bugs** - Crashes on launch - Presets getting deleted - Lights not staying in groups - Alarms not working - Incompatibility with latest firmware/iOS versions **Most requested features** - Ability to open and edit pre-built presets - Organize presets by room or user - Trigger presets via IFTTT or schedules - Support for more light brands (e.g., LimitlessLED) - Ability to control individual lights or groups separately - Home screen widget integration - Better instructions and documentation ## Recent user reviews (10 of 127) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lightbow/id695235159/reviews.md ### 4/5 — I want to love it *2023-07-14* Many of the pre built effects are charming, others are awfully garish but we all have our own tastes. I can’t tell if this is because I don’t have some of the information I need, or if they have intentionally disabled it, but I cannot figure out how to reliably open up presets to edit them. Especially those that were pre-built. For instance, I want to build a preset based off of one that they already built, and I cannot seem to find a way to open it to start making changes to a duplicate. Essentially, they have a lovely sea preset that I would like to shift colors in to see if I could create some thing like a forest, but so far I have not been successful. ### 5/5 — Outstanding! *2023-07-07, version 3.3.3* Ive used many light apps. None of them make my lights dance and move like Lightbow. Excellent App to have for lighting. ### 5/5 — Lightbow Light Show Host! *2022-11-18, version 3.3.3* I love Lightbow. It is my perfect mood lighting and goes well with my aroma therapy (ScentAir & Aroma 360 Machines) to create the perfect sensual vibe. I purchased the annual membership because I love to have a variety of light spectacles and it covers all moods , Holidays, and form of expression. It really relaxes me to see the color change and adds a little bit of theatrics to the night whether you listening to Music, watching a movie, talking on the phone, Djing, or reading a book, or just laying in bed, Light or adds the perfect touch. The Preset of the Day feature is the coolest feature for you to test out a preset if haven’t already purchased an annual which is rather cheap only $24.00 well spent. When I play my lights, I become the Host of the LightBow Night Show pairing sight, scent and sound to create the ultimate 3 Sensational Home experience. Thanks Lightbow! ### 1/5 — IMMEDIATE REGRET *2022-10-20* I expected animations/video on the TV but this is actually worse than some of the ios apps where at least you can turn off the tv to enjoy the lights. Instead you get an ugly static image and mediocre lights show. There are free apps for your phone that are much better. This is a total rip off for 5 bucks ### 1/5 — Dead app *2022-07-28, version 3.3.3* The developer gave up on this app 4 years ago, it’s not worth downloading. ### 1/5 — Doesn’t say on. *2021-11-02, version 3.3.3* Doesn’t stay on. Waste of money. ### 1/5 — Does not work with Nanoleaf as advertised *2021-11-01, version 3.3.3* App description says you can control Nanoleaf lights, and you can’t. ### 2/5 — Presets keep getting deleted *2021-03-08, version 3.3.3* The app crashes and the presets I creat get deleted every time I reload the app. Otherwise I have enjoyed this app ### 5/5 — Lightbow for Hue Lights *2021-03-03, version 3.3.3* This is a must have app for your Hue Lights. So many different scenes and colours for different occasions. A bit hard to navigate at first but once I got the hang of it, was fairly user friendly. I had no idea my Hue lights could do half of this stuff. Neighbours txt me from across the road every night as they love watching the changing lights as much as do. Kids stop on the side of the road to check them out. Really is a spectacular app and well worth $35 a year. ### 1/5 — Does not work... *2021-02-16, version 3.3.3* They make you buy presets, and only then will you find out it doesn’t work. ## Frequently asked questions about Lightbow ### What does Lightbow do? Lightbow is an app designed to control and create dynamic light shows for smart home lighting systems like Philips Hue, LIFX, and WeMo. It allows users to design custom animations, group lights, and trigger lighting effects through various means. ### What are the key features of Lightbow? Key features include a powerful editor for creating custom light shows, the ability to control Philips Hue, LIFX, and WeMo devices, grouping lights for simultaneous control, and triggering presets with Siri, timers, or app events. It also supports background animation playback. ### How much does Lightbow cost? The app itself is free to download. A full editor and additional designer collections are available as in-app purchases. An 'ALL ACCESS' annual subscription is also offered for $24.99 USD, unlocking the entire back catalog of content. ### What devices is Lightbow compatible with? Lightbow is compatible with Philips Hue, LIFX, Nanoleaf, and Belkin WeMo hardware. It can control individual lights, groups of lights, and even WeMo outlets and switches for non-lighting electrical devices. ### What are some common use cases for Lightbow? Lightbow can be used for a variety of purposes, including creating mood lighting for homes or restaurants, enhancing theater productions, setting dynamic lighting for parties, or simply enjoying visually appealing light displays synchronized with sound or events. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 3.3.3 — 2019-10-11 Lightbow has the most Halloween content of any lighting app! - With the popularity of our "Trick or Treat?!" collection last year, we decided to double the number of costume-centric light+sound environments (available for in-app purchase) that you can use to psych up kids (and parents) before heading out to Halloween festivities! Enjoy all new presets like Vampire, Rubber Ducky, Swamp Creature, Fairy, Sailor, and more... Users who already bought the "Trick or Treat?!" in-app purchase get all the new presets for free. (Are you throwing a halloween party or just like getting into the spirit of things? Check out the dozens of presets in the "Haunted House" and "Halloween" collections as well! - Added a half-dozen new color profiles for lightbulbs introduced since the last release. - Fixed a few issues with toolbar heights and layout that popped up with the latest iOS versions. ### 3.3.2 — 2019-09-25 - Thanks to Joan for her spry identification of another crash affecting some users! (Remember, the best way to get a bug fixed asap is to contact us and let us know! The automated crash reporting can only provide so many clues, and there are thousands of possible lighting and device setups. Thanks to all as we navigate the somewhat rocky iOS transition this year, and we all look forward to iOS 13.1 which will fix the improper double-height toolbars, among other things) ### 3.3.1 — 2019-09-20 - Minor fixes for Dark Mode, preset creation, and a crash that several users were experiencing when activating a preset (thanks Dan for reporting!) ### 3.3 — 2019-09-14 - You have been asking for Dark Mode for years, and now with iOS 13, we've made all the optimizations to deliver a true Dark Mode! - Lightbow Store search results now show individual preset matches (as well as Collection names) - Updates to the user interface to match modern iOS design guidelines. - Various improvements and bug fixes. ### 3.2.4 — 2019-08-24 - Fixed an issue on Philips Hue bridge discovery related to their latest firmware change. - Added profiles for more bulbs from various vendors. ## Apps similar to Lightbow | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [LED Light Lamp Controller](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/led-light-lamp-controller/id6476985200) | 4.3 (63) | Free | Lifestyle | | [Philips Hue](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/philips-hue/id1055281310) | 4.7 (108,323) | Free | Lifestyle | | [LED: Light Controller](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/led-light-controller/id1660901578) | 4.4 (132) | Free | Lifestyle | | [LED Lamp Remote Controller](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/led-lamp-remote-controller/id6472647498) | 4.6 (99) | Free | Lifestyle | | [Smart Led Light Strip Remote](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/smart-led-light-strip-remote/id6670478478) | 4.6 (594) | Free | Lifestyle | | [LedRemote Led Light Controller](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ledremote-led-light-controller/id1587679090) | 3.6 (2,446) | Free | Lifestyle | --- *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.*