Philips Hue vs Home
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Philips Hue
Control and customize your smart lighting system from anywhere. Organize lights by room, create custom scenes, and automate your lighting to match your daily routine or enhance security. Sync lights with media for immersive experiences.
- Organize lights into rooms and zones
- Remote control from anywhere
- Explore and create custom lighting scenes
- Home security features with sensors
- Automate lighting schedules
- Sync lights with TV, music, and games
- Voice control integration
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The official Philips Hue app is the most comprehensive way to organize, control, and customize your Philips Hue smart lights and accessories. Organize your smart lights Group your lights into Rooms or Zones — your entire downstairs floor or all the lights in the living room, for example — that mirror the physical rooms in your home. Easily control your lights — from anywhere Use the app to control your lights anywhere you have an internet connection. Explore the Hue scene gallery Created by professional lighting designers, the scenes in the scene gallery can help you set the mood for any occasion. You can even create your own scenes based on a photo or your favorite colors. Set up bright home security Make your home feel safer, no matter where you are. The Security Center lets you program your Secure cameras, Secure contact sensors, and indoor motion sensors to send you alerts when they detect activity. Trigger light and sound alarms, call the authorities or a trusted contact, and monitor your home in real-time. Get the best light for any moment of the day Let your lights change automatically throughout the day with the Natural light scene — so you feel more energized, focused, relaxed, or rested at the right times. Just set the scene to watch your lights change with the sun’s movement, transitioning from cool blue tones in the morning to warmer, relaxing hues for sunset. Automate your lights Make your smart lights work around your daily routine. Whether you want your lights to gently wake you up in the morning or greet you when you get home, setting up customizable automations in the Philips Hue app is effortless. Sync your lights to TV, music, and games Make your lights flash, dance, dim, brighten, and change color in sync with your screen or sound! With the Philips Hue Play HDMI sync box, the Philips Hue Sync for TV or desktop apps, or Spotify, you can create totally immersive experiences. Set up voice control Use Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, or Google Assistant to control your smart lights with voice commands. Turn lights on and off, dim and brighten, or even change colors — completely hands-free. Use Siri Shortcuts for quick control Use the Shortcuts app to create shortcuts that you can place into widgets on your Home Screen for even faster control of your lights. Turn lights on or off, adjust their brightness and temperature, or set scenes — all without even opening the app. Learn more about the official Philips Hue app: www.philips-hue.com/app. Read the Philips Hue Privacy Notice at www.philips-hue.com/privacy. Note: Some features in this app require a Philips Hue Bridge.
Home
Manage and control all your smart home devices from one place. View multiple cameras, automate temperature and lighting, grant guest access, and receive activity history. Voice control with Siri and convenient widgets enhance your smart home experience.
- Multi-camera view
- Adaptive temperature control
- Guest access
- Activity history
- Voice control with Siri
- Widgets for quick access
- HomeKit Secure Video
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Home makes it easy to control, organize, and monitor all of your smart home accessories — right from your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch. Control Your Home . Notification summaries, powered by Apple Intelligence combine related accessory notifications into a single, easy-to-read update. . Siri makes it easy to use your voice to control accessories. Say “Lock the front door,” or create a scene and say “Good night” to turn off all your lights. . Control Center gives you quick access to control your favorite accessories and scenes, with a dedicated and customizable section for additional accessories and scenes. . Home app on Apple Watch surfaces the accessories you’re most likely to need at the top for immediate access, followed by all accessories in favorites, cameras, and rooms. Cameras . Video descriptions enabled by Apple Intelligence let you quickly understand what happened in your HomeKit Secure Video camera recordings. . Camera clip search uses Apple Intelligence so you can find specific moments across your HomeKit Secure Video recordings. . 4K recording captures every detail from compatible HomeKit Secure Video cameras. . HomeKit Secure Video also provides live video, recordings, and a 10-day history from your security cameras and video doorbells, with rich notifications when people, pets, vehicles, or package deliveries are detected. . Multi-camera layout in the Home tab shows up to four cameras at once — scroll to see additional cameras, or tap into any camera for a detailed full-screen view. Climate & Comfort . Adaptive Temperature sets your thermostat to adjust when you’re on your way home, when you go to sleep, or when you’re away for an extended period of time. . Adaptive Lighting lets you set compatible lightbulbs to automatically adjust their color temperature throughout the day — warm colors in the morning, cooler tones midday, and blue light removed at night. Access & Security . Guest access provides date- and time-based access to locks, garage doors, and alarm systems for visitors. . Activity History displays recent history for climate automations, garage doors, door locks, security systems, and contact sensor events. Speakers & Home Hubs . AirPlay-enabled speakers can be added to play music throughout your home. . HomePod and Apple TV act as a home hub — letting you control accessories remotely, run automations, receive accessory notifications, and share your home with others. Energy . Energy support lets you see how much energy compatible accessories are consuming, helping you make smarter decisions about your home. . Grid Forecast uses data from your local electric grid to show when it will be running on cleaner sources, so you can plan when to charge devices or run appliances. (Contiguous US only) . Electricity usage and rate plan information are displayed for eligible customers when connecting their utility account to the Home app. (US only) Feature availability may vary by region and may require a compatible home hub, iCloud+ subscription, and/or compatible accessories. See apple.com/home/accessories for details. Apple Intelligence features require an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone or iPad and a home hub such as HomePod or Apple TV 4K running the latest operating system software. Location services need to be enabled for Home app and Home Accessories.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Philips Hue at 85% against Home's 12%. Philips Hue also leads on rating (4.7 vs 2.2) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 6 months). Home's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and device support (4 vs 2). On price and ads 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
Both are free to download. Philips Hue sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Home asks for nothing beyond the download.
Philips Hue holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 2.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Philips Hue has 115K ratings behind it against 6.8K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 85% of Philips Hue's written reviews are positive against 12% of Home's.
Philips Hue ships an update every 2 weeks, Home every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Philips Hue | Home |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (115K ratings) — better | 2.2 (6.8K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 84.8% of reviews — better | 12.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 115K — better | 6.8K |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 6 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #168 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 10.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 248 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Signify Netherlands B.V. | Apple |
Customer experience
Philips Hue
Home
User reviews
Philips Hue
From 115K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Reliable and stable
- 💡 Flexible lighting control
- 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly
- 🎨 Vibrant and customizable colors
- 🔒 Secure remote access
Room to improve
- 🐛 Connectivity issues after updates
- 🔀 Confusing navigation and UI changes
- ⏱️ Slow performance and lag
- 🤯 Frustrating loss of key features
- 🤖 Incompatible with older devices
Home
From 6.8K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Works well
- 🔒 Secure
- 👍 Intuitive interface
- 👍 Seamless integration with Apple ecosystem
- 🚀 Reliable when it works
Room to improve
- 🐛 Unreliable connectivity
- 🐛 Devices frequently show as 'not responding'
- 🐛 Buggy after updates
- 🐛 Inconsistent performance
- 🐛 Limited compatibility with non-Apple devices
Bugs and requests
Philips Hue
Reported bugs
5 issues- Lights not responding to app commands
- Scenes and automations not working as expected
- Frequent app crashes and freezes
- Inability to log in or sync with account
- Erratic behavior after software updates
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to control lights individually in a room
- More dynamic and customizable lighting scenes
- Seamless integration between multiple Hue bridges
- Improved automation and scheduling options
- Restore removed timer and widget functionality
Home
Reported bugs
5 issues- Automations not working as expected
- Devices randomly disappearing from the app
- Invitations not being received
- Camera playback issues
- Siri commands not recognized
Requested features
5 requests- More customization options
- Improved automation capabilities
- Better troubleshooting tools
- Backup and restore functionality
- Expanded device compatibility
In-app purchases
Philips Hue
- Motion Aware Monthly Plan$0.991 Month
- Sync TV-app for LG (1 Month)$2.991 Month
- Secure Basic for 1 camera$3.991 Month
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- Secure Basic for 2 cameras$7.991 Month
- Secure Plus$9.991 Month
- Motion Aware Yearly Plan$9.991 Year
- Secure Basic for 1 camera$39.991 Year
- Secure Basic for 2 cameras$79.991 Year
- Secure Plus$99.991 Year
- Sync TV-app for LG (Lifetime)$129.99
Home
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Philips Hue free?
Is Home free?
Which has better reviews, Philips Hue or Home?
Do Philips Hue or Home have ads?
Which is updated more often, Philips Hue or Home?
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