MagicHue vs Onkyo Controller
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MagicHue
Transform your Philips Hue lights into dynamic, colorful art. Enjoy relaxing fades or a vibrant music-reactive visual experience for parties or romantic dinners. Control individual lights and customize effects.
- Disco effect for Philips Hue lights
- Music and voice-reactive light effects
- Individual light control
- Brightness and saturation control
- Adjustable fading speed and light position
- Multiple bridge support
- Predefined and custom light presets
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Free for a limited time! You are looking for a new way to experience your philips hue lights? Then meet the hue app that transforms your rooms into living color art: From relaxing smooth fading to a highly dynamic visual music experience. Use it for a romantic dinner setup or your next party at home! This version features: Common functions: ◆ Switch disco bulbs on/off quick button ◆ Each light can be controlled individually ◆ Disable Auto-Lock to keep the app running ◆ Multiple Bridge Support Disco effect functions: ◆ Control any subset of lights for the disco effect ◆ Brightness and saturation control ◆ Free selectable hue (color) fading speed ◆ Selectable light position along the hue fading ◆ Microphone sensitivity can be adjusted ◆ 6 Predefined light presets plus one user defined ◆ Multiple devices can control different rooms according to local acoustic and we are working on a lot of more cool features that will be included with future updates for free! NOTES This app uses the microphone to convert music or voice input to light effects. It does not (yet) listen to music that is played on the iPhone itself. REQUIREMENTS - Requires iOS 8.1 or higher and the Philips hue kit
Onkyo Controller
Control compatible Onkyo network products with this official remote app. Stream music from various sources, manage playback, and operate connected home theater devices. Features automatic sound field correction for compatible products.
- Music playback from streaming services
- Control music library and NAS drives
- Remote control functions (play, volume, input)
- Operate connected Blu-Ray players and TVs
- Automatic sound field correction (Dirac Live)
- Check audio/video formats
- Turn on compatible units remotely
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Onkyo Controller is the official Onkyo remote control application that allows users to conveniently operate compatible Onkyo network products from their iPhone/iPod touch/iPad. The intuitive, user-friendly interface makes it easy to get more from your AV home entertainment experience. Main functions that can be operated through this application. (1) Play music in each room or every room - Lets you play music from music streaming services such as Pandora, Spotify, DEEZER and TIDAL, your music library on your smart device, or your NAS drive on compatible products. - You can play your music via radio, Bluetooth and USB. (2) Remote control functions - You can operate general control functions (play/stop, control the volume, select the input source, etc.) from your smartphone. (3) Operation of connected product（home theater product such as AV amplifier） - Lets you control a Blu-Ray Disc player or TV that is connected to an AV amplifier or home theater product via HDMI. (4) Dirac Live-enabled products measure automatic sound field correction. In addition, filters can be edited. (5) Audio/Video formats of input and output can also be checked. *By setting the “Network Standby” menu item in the unit’s initial settings to ON, you can use this application to turn on the power of the unit. Compatible models Network AV Receivers/Network Audio Player/Home Theater/Wireless Speaker in April 2016 or later ■ Please note ・To use Application it needs to read and agree Terms of Service. ・All models require a firmware update to use Onkyo Controller. ・Available Service depends on regions. ・Why Device's location is needed? Answer: In order to set-up your wireless devices which are located around you, SSID and Access Point info is needed. There is no other purpose to use the information of Device’s Location.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: MagicHue at 3.4 against Onkyo Controller's 2.2. MagicHue also leads on review sentiment (50% vs 26%) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.0). Onkyo Controller's advantage is ratings volume (620 vs 25). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
MagicHue holds the better App Store score, 3.4 against 2.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Onkyo Controller has 620 ratings behind it against 25, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of MagicHue's written reviews are positive against 26% of Onkyo Controller's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MagicHue | Onkyo Controller |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (25 ratings) — better | 2.2 (620 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 49.6% of reviews — better | 25.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 25 | 620 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 80 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Peter Breitling | 11 Trading Company LLC |
Customer experience
MagicHue
Onkyo Controller
User reviews
MagicHue
From 25 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ✨ Fantastic disco sync
- 🎶 Music synchronization works well
- 💡 Great for parties
- 🚀 Fast color changes
- 👍 Easy setup
Room to improve
- 🐛 Does not respond to music
- 🐛 Cycles colors endlessly
- 🐛 No longer shows connected lights
- 🐛 Doesn't work at all
- 🐛 Complex setup and UI
Onkyo Controller
From 620 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Convenient remote control
- 👍 Intuitive interface
- 💡 Supports Tidal and Spotify
- 🚀 Fast and responsive
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent connection issues
- 🐛 App crashes and freezes
- 🐛 Unreliable performance
- 🐛 Compatibility problems with older devices
Bugs and requests
MagicHue
Reported bugs
53 issues- Only shows 0 connected lights
- No longer works
- Doesn't work at all
- App crashes
- Disco effect does nothing
Show 48 moreShow fewer
- Requires a URL
- Found bridge but no lights
- Bridge connection shows yellow
- Doesn't appear to work with a v2 bridge
- Doesn't find all bulbs
- Only found bulbs originally paired to bridge
- App just does not work at all
- Cannot find the bridge
- Doesn't find any of my lights
- Complex and sometimes it doesn't work
- Rubbish doesn't work useless
- App doesn't work
- Only finds 2 of my 23 bulbs
- Doesn't connect to Bridge hue
- Can't get past first page of 'select bridge'
- Can't just start with a scene from the main Hue app
- Can't use feed from iTunes directly
- Can't seem to quit the app
- Color changes only brightness
- Doesn't allow you to play music while running
- Amateur
- Only got this app to work once
- New version constantly crashes
- Crashes after 2 mins
- Constantly crashes
- Crashes after running for a few minutes or with several lights
- App quickly freezes
- iPad becomes completely disabled and a reboot is necessary
- App goes berserk if more than 8 bulbs are activated
- Causes really bad audio feedback on iPad2
- Won't pair
- Poorly written
- Documentation stinks
- Layout buttons and interface is embarrassing
- Can't seem to find a good way to turn off completely
- When I think I have done it and then open my Philips Hue it goe right back to Disco
- Not what you are looking for
- Can't get light to work
- Constant crashing
- Crashes after about 2 minutes running in disco mode
- Baffling
- No noticeable improvements
- Freezes iPad less with update
- Still goes berserk if more than 8 bulbs are activated
- Equalizer bar issue (corrected)
- Bad audio feedback on iPad2
- Won't pair
- Looks Awful
Requested features
17 requests- Pickup music from the same phone
- Strobe like features
- Ability to select a range of colors to cycle through
- More control of which colors it cycles through
- Update for Hue Bridge 2.0 with HomeKit support
Show 12 moreShow fewer
- Ability to play music while running
- More user inputs in color selections
- Strobe button with presets and custom options
- Wave feature moving colors from bulb to bulb
- Interface overhaul for general usability
- Timers added
- More flexibility and control over lights
- Less crashes
- Ability to select specific colors
- Recurring timers
- Sync to turn on lights based on sunset times
- Timed fade to work
Onkyo Controller
Reported bugs
5 issues- App doesn't recognize receiver
- Fails to connect to Wi-Fi
- Loses connection during use
- Doesn't work with iOS 13 and newer
- Causes receiver to enter Direct mode unexpectedly
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for Apple Music
- Improve Tidal and Deezer integration
- Allow customization of input names
- Add sleep timer and power off options
- Improve volume control and speaker balance adjustments
In-app purchases
MagicHue
No in-app purchases
Onkyo Controller
No in-app purchases
