Comparison

emblazee vs Hue Essentials

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

emblazee

Control your HomeKit compatible lights from your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Organize your lights into homes, rooms, zones, and groups, and create custom scenes. Automate your lighting with time-based triggers and voice commands via Siri.

Highlights
  • HomeKit light control
  • Create rooms, zones, and groups
  • Custom scene creation
  • Time-based scene triggers
  • Siri voice commands
  • Apple Watch support
Features
Read full description

emblazee lets you control your HomeKit compatible lights on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. You can manage your homes and create rooms, zones, groups and scenes. In addition, you can create triggers that activate your scenes at defined times. You can control your Lights, Rooms, Groups or Scenes with Siri. For example you can turn on your Living Room if you say: "Hey Siri, turn on lights in the Living Room". Follow emblazee on social to stay updated. Facebook: www.facebook.com/emblazee Twitter: @emblazee

About

Hue Essentials

Unlock the full potential of your smart lighting system. Create custom scenes, dynamic effects, and automate your lights with schedules and triggers. Control multiple smart home bridges and devices seamlessly for a personalized ambiance.

Highlights
  • Custom scenes and effects
  • Music and entertainment sync
  • Sunrise/sunset automation
  • Multi-bridge control
  • Device discovery and setup
  • Button and sensor automation
  • Away from home control
Features
Read full description

Imagine unlimited possibilities in your smart home. Set scenes and fast effects to your mood. Experience Dance Sensation in your entertainment area with Philips Hue Entertainment. Feel more in control with schedules and automation from sunrise to sunset. Control multiple bridges simultaneously without switching between them. Supported devices • Philips Hue bridge • Philips Hue Bluetooth lights • deCONZ (ConBee) • diyHue • LIFX Scenes & effects Create the perfect ambiance from your photos or the included photo library. Experience special animations like lava, fireplace, fireworks, or lightning. Wake up at sunrise and go to sleep at sunset with fading lights. Get into the party on the beats of your music. Sync your lights for a night of disco with strobe effects (updates 25 times/sec). Quick access Create rooms and groups to organize your lights. You can even put a light in several groups. Smart lights & controls The unique ‘Touchlink’ search allows you to find new (3rd party, Zigbee) lights. Use included wizards for easy setup of your devices. You can set scenes, actions, or even multiple scenes on a button to make your switch a real investment. Experience the right ambiance during different times of your day with your motion sensor. All of your creations are stored on the bridge. Easy for you and your family. Advanced Automation allows you to have greater control of your smart home. Turn on your lights when the door opens. Adjust your ventilation when the humidity gets too high. Open or close blinds and curtains based on temperature or sunshine. Make it look like you are at home using 'Away from Home' (out of home control). Communicate directly with your Hue bridge using the API debugger. View technical details of your Hue bridge and update its resources like lights and sensors. You want it all? Fast performance with ad-free experience. Purchase the premium version to unlock full content.

Screenshots

emblazee4 screens
Hue Essentials4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Hue Essentials at Free against emblazee's $0.99. Hue Essentials also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 7 months) and rating (4.2 vs 3.9). emblazee's advantage is review sentiment (75% vs 37%) and in-app purchases (none vs 8). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Hue Essentials is free to download; emblazee costs $0.99 up front. Hue Essentials sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. emblazee asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Hue Essentials holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Hue Essentials has 138 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 75% of emblazee's written reviews are positive against 37% of Hue Essentials's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

emblazee ships an update every 7 months, Hue Essentials every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
emblazee versus Hue Essentials: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteremblazeeHue Essentials
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating3.9 (8 ratings)4.2 (138 ratings) — better
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews — better37.2% of reviews
Number of ratings8138 — better
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFreemium — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple Watch
Requires iOS9.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB271 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMarcel DittmannThomas Vos

Customer experience

emblazee

All ratings8 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%

Hue Essentials

All ratings138 ratings
Positive77.5%
Neutral7.2%
Negative15.2%
Written reviews239 reviews
Positive37.2%
Neutral8.4%
Negative54.4%

Bugs and requests

emblazee

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Hue Essentials

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Fade feature not working
  • Saving automations not working
  • Crashes when checking 'About' section
  • Widgets and Apple Watch app issues

Requested features

4 requests
  • Repeat/loop function for automations
  • Strobing/flashing effects
  • Dark mode
  • Alexa integration

In-app purchases

None

emblazee

No in-app purchases

8 purchases

Hue Essentials

One-time8
  • Effects: Christmas$0.99
  • Effects: Universe$0.99
  • Effects: Wonders of nature$0.99
Show 5 more
  • Effects: Romantic$0.99
  • Effects: Floral fantasy$0.99
  • Effects: Spooky$0.99
  • Multiple bridges$4.99
  • Premium$7.99

Questions

Is emblazee free?
emblazee costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Hue Essentials free?
Hue Essentials is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, emblazee or Hue Essentials?
Hue Essentials is rated higher. emblazee averages 3.9 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Hue Essentials averages 4.2 from 138 ratings.
Do emblazee or Hue Essentials have ads?
Neither emblazee nor Hue Essentials shows ads.
Which is updated more often, emblazee or Hue Essentials?
emblazee ships an update every 7 months, and Hue Essentials every 2 weeks. Most recently, emblazee was updated on September 23, 2026 and Hue Essentials on October 3, 2026.

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