IKEA Home smart 1 vs Hue Essentials
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
IKEA Home smart 1
Control your home's lighting, blinds, audio, and air quality with customizable scenes and voice commands. Set schedules for different times of day to automate your environment.
- Control lights (dim, color, temperature)
- Adjust blinds (raise, lower, position)
- Manage audio (play, pause, volume)
- Control air purifier
- Create custom lighting and audio scenes
- Set timers for morning and evening
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The IKEA Home smart 1 app supports the TRÅDFRI gateway and older range of smart products by IKEA. We are no longer actively improving this app, however existing features and products already connected to a TRÅDFRI gateway will continue to function as usual. Smart products by IKEA continue to evolve and the new range uses Matter technology. The TRÅDFRI gateway and IKEA Home smart 1 app are not compatible with Matter, so we recommend the DIRIGERA hub and IKEA Home smart app instead. It’s easy with the IKEA Home smart 1 app and TRÅDFRI gateway. Use one setting for early morning lighting and music, another for late evenings and a third for cooking or working at home. You can dim, turn off, turn on, change colours and switch from warm to cold light. Raise or lower blinds. Turn on your music – then turn it up, turn it down or pause it. And you can even control your air purifier to improve the air quality at home. With the IKEA Home smart 1 app, you can also connect to Apple Home, Amazon Alexa or Google Home and control it all with your voice. What you’ll get with the IKEA Home smart 1 app and TRÅDFRI gateway: • The ability to control your lights and blinds from the app • The ability to turn audio on and off, pause it and control volume • Customisable settings, including changing the position of blinds, light colours and choosing warm or cold light • Timers with morning and evening options • The ability to turn your air purifier on and off, and set it to a fan speed that suits the needs of your home
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.
- 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
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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
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: IKEA Home smart 1 at none against Hue Essentials's 8. IKEA Home smart 1 also leads on ratings volume (3.5K vs 138). Hue Essentials's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months) and review sentiment (38% vs 24%). On price, rating, ads and iOS requirement 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. Hue Essentials sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. IKEA Home smart 1 asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.2 for IKEA Home smart 1 against 4.2 for Hue Essentials. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: IKEA Home smart 1 has 3.5K ratings behind it against 138, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 24% of IKEA Home smart 1's written reviews are positive against 38% of Hue Essentials's.
IKEA Home smart 1 ships an update every 2 months, Hue Essentials every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 20, 2026.
| Parameter | IKEA Home smart 1 | Hue Essentials |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (3.5K ratings) | 4.2 (138 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 24.3% of reviews | 37.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3.5K — better | 138 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 136 MB | 271 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Inter IKEA Systems B.V. | Thomas Vos |
Customer experience
IKEA Home smart 1
Hue Essentials
User reviews
IKEA Home smart 1
From 3.5K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Cheap and affordable
- 🔒 Secure local network communication
- 👍 Easy to set up and use
- 🚀 Works well once connected
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy app with frequent crashes
- 🐛 Connectivity issues, devices randomly disconnecting
- 🐛 Unreliable timers and scheduling
- 🐛 Poor integration with other smart home platforms
- 🐛 Unintuitive user interface and navigation
Hue Essentials
From 138 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent Hue lighting control
- 👍 Works well with multiple bridges
- 💡 Customizable remote controls
- 🚀 Faster than official Hue app
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy and crashes frequently
- 🔒 In-app purchases required for key features
- 👎 Poor execution and user experience
- 🔋 Widgets and Apple Watch app not working
Bugs and requests
IKEA Home smart 1
Reported bugs
5 issues- App constantly asking to add new devices even when none are added
- Devices disappearing from the app and needing to be re-added
- Timers not working as expected, turning lights on/off at incorrect times
- Inability to move devices between rooms in the app
- Pairing issues with remotes and other accessories
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for more color temperatures and full color spectrum
- Improve timer functionality with more granular controls
- Implement remote access and out-of-home control
- Add support for user profiles and device sharing
- Improve integration with popular smart home platforms like HomeKit and Google Home
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
IKEA Home smart 1
No in-app purchases
Hue Essentials
- Effects: Christmas$0.99
- Effects: Universe$0.99
- Effects: Wonders of nature$0.99
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- Effects: Romantic$0.99
- Effects: Floral fantasy$0.99
- Effects: Spooky$0.99
- Multiple bridges$4.99
- Premium$7.99
Questions
Is IKEA Home smart 1 free?
Is Hue Essentials free?
Which has better reviews, IKEA Home smart 1 or Hue Essentials?
Do IKEA Home smart 1 or Hue Essentials have ads?
Which is updated more often, IKEA Home smart 1 or Hue Essentials?
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