Comparison

Philips Hue vs IKEA Home smart

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

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.

About

IKEA Home smart

Automate your home with smart lighting, speakers, blinds, and air purifiers. Create custom scenes for everyday moments like waking up or leaving home, and control devices individually or in groups. Integrates with popular voice assistants for seamless control.

Highlights
  • Create custom scenes
  • Control devices individually or in groups
  • Schedule scenes
  • Voice assistant integration
  • Personalize rooms and products
  • Remote control options
Features
Read full description

With IKEA Home smart app and DIRIGERA hub, it's easy to create smarter everyday moments with lighting, speakers, blinds and air quality products. Picture yourself waking up as your smart lights gently rise. Your favourite songs play on the speakers and you still haven't gotten out of bed. How lovely, right? Smart products like lighting, speakers, blinds and air purifiers can make a lovely addition to your everyday life. When you improve the IQ of your home, life itself runs a bit smoother. The magic happens when you combine two or more smart products from IKEA, tell them what to do in the app and save it as a 'Scene'. A great scene is one you will use often. Think about waking up and going to bed, cooking and eating, date night and family time, or leaving and coming home. All everyday moments when we can support you with the best lighting, sound that suits your mood, and cleaner air. When it comes to control, we think of everyone, from young to old and even visitors. So while the app gives you total control to customise your smart home, our range of remotes make it easy for everyone to live with and use a smart home. In control • You can control products individually or in groups. You can turn whole rooms on and off or the whole home, all at once. • Dim and change light colours, adjust blinds, speaker volume, and much more. • Set the scenes you need and trigger them with schedules, a shortcut button or use the app. Easy to use • The home screen gives a fast overview of your whole home. Quickly control products, access rooms, or start/stop scenes. This is also where you add new products, rooms, and scenes. Organised and personal • Organising your smart products in rooms gives fast access to the products you want to control. • Personalise the app with your choice of icons, names and colours for rooms and products • Create personal scenes, for example your own combination of cosy lighting and your favourite music. Integrations • Connect to Apple Home, Amazon Alexa or Google Home to use a voice assistant.

Screenshots

Philips Hue4 screens
IKEA Home smart4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Philips Hue at 85% against IKEA Home smart's 34%. Philips Hue also leads on ratings volume (115K vs 1.3K) and rating (4.7 vs 4.4). IKEA Home smart's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Philips Hue sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. IKEA Home smart asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Philips Hue holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Philips Hue has 115K ratings behind it against 1.3K, 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 34% of IKEA Home smart's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Philips Hue ships an update every 2 weeks, IKEA Home smart fortnightly. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Philips Hue versus IKEA Home smart: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPhilips HueIKEA Home smart
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (115K ratings) — better4.4 (1.3K ratings)
Positive reviews84.8% of reviews — better34.3% of reviews
Number of ratings115K — better1.3K
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#170 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size248 MB208 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSignify Netherlands B.V.Inter IKEA Systems B.V.

Customer experience

Philips Hue

All ratings114,802 ratings
Positive93.2%
Neutral1.8%
Negative5.0%
Written reviews8,378 reviews
Positive84.8%
Neutral3.6%
Negative11.6%

IKEA Home smart

All ratings1,325 ratings
Positive85.1%
Neutral3.3%
Negative11.5%
Written reviews300 reviews
Positive34.3%
Neutral13.7%
Negative52.0%

User reviews

Philips Hue

From 115K App Store ratings

What 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

IKEA Home smart

From 1.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy setup
  • 👍 Intuitive app
  • 🔒 Privacy-focused
  • 🚀 Reliable connectivity
  • 👍 Good HomeKit integration

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy app
  • 🔌 Unreliable connectivity
  • 🔌 Frequent disconnections
  • 🐛 Unstable firmware updates
  • 🔌 Alexa integration issues

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

IKEA Home smart

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Inability to remove devices
  • Scenes not working as expected
  • Inconsistent device discovery
  • Shortcut buttons not functioning
  • HomeKit integration problems

Requested features

5 requests
  • Gradual lighting transitions
  • Sunrise/sunset automation
  • Remote access functionality
  • More customization options
  • Improved energy monitoring

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Philips Hue

Subscriptions9
  • 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
Show 6 more
  • 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
One-time1
  • Sync TV-app for LG (Lifetime)$129.99
None

IKEA Home smart

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Philips Hue free?
Philips Hue is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is IKEA Home smart free?
IKEA Home smart is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Philips Hue or IKEA Home smart?
Philips Hue is rated higher. Philips Hue averages 4.7 out of 5 from 115K ratings, while IKEA Home smart averages 4.4 from 1.3K ratings.
Do Philips Hue or IKEA Home smart have ads?
Neither Philips Hue nor IKEA Home smart shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Philips Hue or IKEA Home smart?
Philips Hue ships an update every 2 weeks, and IKEA Home smart fortnightly. Most recently, Philips Hue was updated on September 24, 2026 and IKEA Home smart on September 24, 2026.

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