Philips Hue vs Magic Glasses
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 lights and accessories from anywhere. Organize lights into rooms, set moods with pre-designed or custom scenes, and automate your lighting to fit your daily routine. Enhance home security with motion detection and real-time monitoring.
- Organize lights by rooms/zones
- Remote light control
- Hue scene gallery
- Home security features
- Natural light automation
- Sync lights with media
- 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.
Magic Glasses
This app allows you to control LED display screens, customizing text, effects, patterns, and even music synchronization. Create unique visual experiences with personalized graffiti and diverse playback options.
- Change display text
- Customize display effects
- Set pattern effects
- Music rhythm synchronization
- Custom graffiti creation
- Diverse playing methods
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Magic glasses is a cool app that controls the LED display screen. It can change the display text, display effect, pattern effect and music rhythm effect in the app. You can customize the graffiti and display effect as you like. With cool and diverse playing methods, your LED display device is unique. 魔幻眼镜是一款控制LED显示屏的酷炫App,实现在app中更改显示文字以及显示效果,图案效果,音乐律动效果,可以随心所欲自定义涂鸦及显示效果,酷炫多样的玩法,让您的LED显示屏设备独一无二。
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Philips Hue at 85% against Magic Glasses's 39%. Philips Hue also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.1) and ratings volume (118K vs 45). Magic Glasses's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and iOS requirement (9.1 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. Philips Hue sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Magic Glasses asks for nothing beyond the download.
Philips Hue holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Philips Hue has 118K ratings behind it against 45, 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 39% of Magic Glasses's.
Philips Hue ships an update every 2 weeks, Magic Glasses every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Philips Hue | Magic Glasses |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (118K ratings) — better | 3.1 (45 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 85.3% of reviews — better | 39.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 118K — better | 45 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 8 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 9.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 248 MB | 147 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | +4 |
| Developer | Signify Netherlands B.V. | Shenzhen Heaton Technology Co., Ltd. |
Customer experience
Philips Hue
Magic Glasses
User reviews
Philips Hue
From 118K 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
Magic Glasses
From 45 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 App works well
- 👍 Easy to use
- 👍 Good concept
- 👍 Amazing product
- 👍 Connects easily (sometimes)
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes frequently
- 🐛 Connection issues
- 🐛 DIY/Graffiti mode not working
- 🐛 Animation gallery previews removed
- 🐛 Glasses not working without charger
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
Magic Glasses
Reported bugs
14 issues- App crashes on startup
- Graffiti mode menu display incorrect
- Graffiti mode zooms in
- DIY broken on iPhone iOS 16
- App crashes on iOS 13/iPhone 11
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- App crashes consistently after initial use
- App crashes on startup with Bluetooth enabled
- Glasses not working without charger
- App doesn't connect with iPhone 8
- App crashes sometimes
- App crashes and doesn't connect again
- App prone to crashes
- Bluetooth hardly connects
- App shuts down sometimes
Requested features
7 requests- Add custom animation creation
- Changeable colors
- Custom music for Rhythm mode
- Soundboard for quick changes
- Allow microphone to work with other apps
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- Share user creations
- Add blinking animation to DIYs
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
Magic Glasses
No in-app purchases









