Philips Hue vs Command for Philips Hue
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.
Command for Philips Hue
Take full control of your smart lights with advanced features not found in the official app. Create custom scenes, manage multiple bridges, and even sync lights with entertainment.
- Precise color wheel with XY color space accuracy
- Powerful scene builder for static or dynamic palettes
- Circadian rhythm lighting with automatic adjustments
- Remote access and control from anywhere
- Switch and button programming for custom actions
- Energy usage tracking per light and room
- Entertainment streaming for light synchronization
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Command is the fast, dependable way to control your lights. It opens straight to your rooms and responds instantly, and your rooms are one swipe away in Control Center and on the Lock Screen. At bedtime, Goodnight fades any room gently to off. NEW IN 1.2 • Instant: opens straight to your rooms, with lights and scenes that respond the moment you tap • All On and All Off for the whole house • Goodnight: fade any room to off over 1 to 60 minutes. It runs on your Bridge, even after you close the app • Room toggles in Control Center, on the Lock Screen and on the Action button (iOS 18 or later) • Always in sync: reconnects on its own, finds your Bridge if its address changes, shows live sensors and batteries, and tells you if a change fails • Made for iPad and iPhone Duo: more rooms at a glance, a side tab bar and a fold-aware layout • Demo mode: explore every feature before you connect a Bridge COMPLETE LIGHT CONTROL • Precise color picker with accurate XY color • Color harmony overlays: complementary, analogous, triadic, split complementary • Brightness, color temperature and on/off for every light SCENES • Create static or dynamic palette scenes and save them to your Bridge • Set per-light colors visually, then name and save • Activate scenes from room cards or the scene library EFFECTS THAT STAY ON • Candle, Fireplace and other animated effects • Effects that run on your Bridge keep glowing after you close the app ROOMS AT A GLANCE • Every room with its live light status • Quick toggle, brightness and scenes for each room • Sensor and accessory status: motion, temperature, battery CIRCADIAN LIGHTING • Color temperature that follows the day • Sunrise and sunset times based on your location • Presets for wake, focus, relax and sleep ENTERTAINMENT & MUSIC SYNC • Real-time 25 Hz light streaming through the Entertainment API • Music sync with 5-band frequency analysis SWITCH & BUTTON PROGRAMMING • Assign custom actions to dimmer switches, Tap, Smart Button and other switches • Toggle rooms, start scenes or set brightness with any button press GEOFENCING • Start scenes automatically when you arrive or leave • Processed on your device, with a custom radius per location REMOTE ACCESS • Control your lights from anywhere, not just on your home network • Secure OAuth sign-in ENERGY • Estimated energy use per light and per room • Daily, weekly and monthly kWh trends MULTI-BRIDGE • Connect and manage several Bridges at once • Each Bridge keeps its own rooms and scenes ON ALL YOUR APPLE DEVICES • Native apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Vision Pro • Apple Watch companion and Home Screen widgets • One Command Pro purchase works on all your Apple devices Requires Bridge v2 or Bridge Pro. Control Center, Lock Screen and Action button controls need iOS 18 or later. Light and room control, scenes, effects and circadian lighting are free. Command Pro adds remote access, multiple Bridges, automations, switch programming, energy insights and more, with a monthly or yearly subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase. Command is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Signify or Philips. Philips and Hue are trademarks of Signify Holding. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://huecommand.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Philips Hue at 85% against Command for Philips Hue's 0%. Philips Hue also leads on chart position (#195 vs unranked) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 4 weeks). Command for Philips Hue's advantage is device support (6 vs 2). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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 and Command for Philips Hue sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Philips Hue ships an update every 2 weeks, Command for Philips Hue every 4 weeks. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Philips Hue | Command for Philips Hue |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (117K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 85.2% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 117K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 4 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #195 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 247 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Signify Netherlands B.V. | Joseph Leporati |
Customer experience
Philips Hue
Command for Philips Hue
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
Command for Philips Hue
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
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
Command for Philips Hue
- Monthly$2.991 Month
- Yearly$19.991 Year
- Lifetime$39.99
Questions
Is Philips Hue free?
Is Command for Philips Hue free?
Do Philips Hue or Command for Philips Hue have ads?
Which is updated more often, Philips Hue or Command for Philips Hue?
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