Palette Lights vs Command for Philips Hue
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Palette Lights
Design custom color flows for your Philips Hue lights to create dynamic ambiances for any occasion. Explore a gallery of ready-made palettes or build your own with full creative freedom. Transform your lighting experience with ease.
- Custom color flow design
- Dynamic ambience creation
- Palette gallery with curated collections
- Speed and brightness control
- Room and Zone compatibility
- No paywalls or locked content
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Palette Lights - Dynamic Color Flows for Your Hue Lights Set the perfect vibe for any moment. Palette Lights lets you design custom color flows for your Philips Hue lights and play them across Rooms and Zones with smooth, dynamic ambience. Create your own palettes, choose speed and brightness, and instantly change the mood for relaxing evenings, parties, gaming, or movie nights. Palette Gallery Explore curated ready-made palettes for instant inspiration - including Featured palettes, Mood, Holiday, and Sports collections. Use them as-is, remix them, or build something entirely your own. No paywalls or locked color packs. Try Everything for Free All features are unlocked while you test. Free playback lasts up to 2 minutes. Upgrade to remove the time limit. Why Users Love It • Simple, minimal interface • Total creative freedom • Works seamlessly with Rooms and Zones Requirements • Philips Hue Bridge v2 • Philips Hue color-capable lights Transform your lighting experience. Download Palette Lights and start creating.
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 update cadence: Palette Lights at every 2 days against Command for Philips Hue's every 4 weeks. Command for Philips Hue's advantage is device support (6 vs 1) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.1). 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. Palette Lights sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per year 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.
Palette Lights ships an update every 2 days, Command for Philips Hue every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Palette Lights | Command for Philips Hue |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (6 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | — | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 6 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days — better | Every 4 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.1 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Jacob Jerrard | Joseph Leporati |
Customer experience
Palette Lights
Command for Philips Hue
In-app purchases
Palette Lights
- Palette Lights: Annual Access$4.991 Year
- Palette Lights: Annual Access$9.991 Year
- Palette Lights: Lifetime Access$12.99
Command for Philips Hue
- Monthly$2.991 Month
- Yearly$19.991 Year
- Lifetime$39.99
Questions
Is Palette Lights free?
Is Command for Philips Hue free?
Do Palette Lights or Command for Philips Hue have ads?
Which is updated more often, Palette Lights or Command for Philips Hue?
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