Hue Lights vs SmartCONTROL WiFi
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Hue Lights
Unlock advanced control for your smart lights. Create custom scenes, schedules, and dynamic lighting effects. Enhance your home ambiance with unique features like simulated weather and fire.
- Precise lighting control
- Multi-room scenes
- Customizable schedules
- Dynamic lighting effects
- Hue sensor and switch configuration
- Apple Watch integration
- In-app purchase for special effects
Read full descriptionHide full description
Hue Lights offers full feature support for all of your smart lighting needs: Precise control, multi-room scenes, schedules, sequences, dynamic lighting, and special effects. Create advanced configurations for your Hue motion sensor, Hue dimmer switch or Hue Tap. Check out our sample videos and FAQ at https://huelights.com. Teach your lights new tricks with Hue Lights! Completely customize each button on your Hue dimmer switch or Hue Tap. Control 8 scenes from a single Hue dimmer switch, change brightness speeds, or select groups based on duration of button press. Hue Lights leverages the latest firmware to store scene details directly on the bridge. You can view and edit shared scenes from any device on your network. The UI offers improved visual feedback and easier on/off/brightness controls directly from the home screen. Try the sequences feature to see amazing possibilities at your fingertips. Use your Apple Watch to activate scenes, adjust group brightness and trigger alerts. Escape to the beach with soothing ocean, lake, or creek sounds while your lights gently change and dim (Water In-App purchase). Experience amazing thunderstorms (In-App purchase) with customized controls for lightning strikes, rain density, bird songs, wind speed, sleep timer, brightness and sky color! Simulate realistic fires (In-App purchase) with dedicated controls for fire type, fire size, flare-ups and brightness. If you have any problems with previous In-App purchases, tap "Restore." Please see the comprehensive FAQ and documentation at https://huelights.com for App help. The free version allows control of lights 1 and 2. In-App purchases can unlock all lights and special effects. Hue Lights brings you shared scenes and groups, comprehensive scheduling, sequences and powerful light controls. Create multiple "On" and "Off" schedules per scene. Tap a row to select a light, group, or scene. Use quick controls at the bottom of the screen. Long press a row for quick actions (on, choose color, edit, off). Save scenes from any third-party app and use Hue Lights to activate these on your Apple Watch. Dynamically animate or schedule any scene from third-party apps. All screens are optimized for your favorite iOS devices in portrait and landscape mode. Hue Lights works well with any third-party app that saves scenes or schedules on the bridge. Do you have a favorite scene from another app that you use frequently? With Hue Lights you can turn this scene on or off with one tap! Hue Lights will show every schedule saved on your bridge from any app and give you the option to disable or remove unwanted schedules. Features: • Interactive widgets • Fire and candle effects • Light and group timers • Remote control • Hue motion sensor support • Hue dimmer switch/Hue Tap support • Sunrise/sunset actions • View/edit scenes and schedules on bridge • View/delete rules and sensors • See exact watts used on supported lights • 3D Touch on app icon • TouchLink for finding lost bulbs • Sequences • Apple Watch support • Dynamic animations • Scene themes • Supports multiple third-party ZigBee lights • Light, group and scene schedules • Tap bulb image to apply a favorite color • Localized VoiceOver support • Heuristics for working around common errors • Create transition times up to 90 minutes • Designed to work well with 50+ light deployments Experience multi-track, synchronized and visually appealing light animations and sequences. Requires "Hue Personal Wireless Lighting Starter Set" to operate. "Hue Personal Wireless Lighting" is a trademark owned by Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., see www.meethue.com for more information. LapApps, LLC is in no way affiliated with the Philips organization. Follow @HueLights on X and like our Facebook page for the latest news and updates. See https://huelights.com for more documentation and supported hardware.
SmartCONTROL WiFi
Manage your first-generation WiFi devices with this app. Create a free account to sync settings across devices and build a private, secure network. Your data is protected and used only to enhance your experience.
- First-generation WiFi product support
- Sync settings across devices
- Secure private network creation
- Free account creation
- Data protection and privacy
Read full descriptionHide full description
Designed for the first generation of product. This app provides support exclusively for first-generation WiFi products. - About this app: Creating a free account allows you to: • Sync your settings across multiple devices. Your configuration remains available even if you change phones. • Build a private and secure network of devices. Data Protection: The data collected during account creation (email address) is used solely to provide you with the best possible user experience and service quality. It is never shared with third parties.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: SmartCONTROL WiFi at none against Hue Lights's 9. SmartCONTROL WiFi also leads on rating (4.5 vs 4.1). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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 Lights sells 9 one-off in-app purchases. SmartCONTROL WiFi asks for nothing beyond the download.
SmartCONTROL WiFi holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 393 and 422 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 46% of Hue Lights's written reviews are positive against 41% of SmartCONTROL WiFi's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Hue Lights ships an update every 5 months, SmartCONTROL WiFi every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Hue Lights | SmartCONTROL WiFi |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (393 ratings) | 4.5 (422 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 45.7% of reviews — better | 41.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 393 | 422 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 53 MB | 90 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | LapApps, LLC | AwoX |
Customer experience
Hue Lights
SmartCONTROL WiFi
User reviews
Hue Lights
From 393 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great app for controlling Hue lights
- 👍 Excellent functionality and customization
- 💡 Helpful for connecting older Hue bulbs
- 🚀 Touchlink feature works well
- 👍 Responsive and helpful developer support
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy and unreliable after updates
- 👎 Complicated and unintuitive user interface
- 💰 Expensive in-app purchases required
- 🐛 Compatibility issues with newer Hue bridges
- 👎 Scenes and schedules not working as expected
SmartCONTROL WiFi
From 422 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💡 Easy setup and installation
- 💡 Good color shades and mood setting
- 💡 Long-lasting durability (outside for years)
- 👍 Simple app control
- 👍 Works well with standard light fittings
Room to improve
- 🐛 Setup issues (waiting forever)
- 🐛 Alexa integration problems
- 🐛 Lights don't link well in a room
- 🐛 App requires cloud account/online registration
- 🐛 Random and limited control of lights
Bugs and requests
Hue Lights
Reported bugs
4 issues- Lights not responding to commands
- Scenes not loading or activating properly
- Frequent crashes and connection issues
- Unexpected changes to light groups and settings
Requested features
4 requests- Alexa/Siri integration and voice control
- Ability to run effects/animations in the background
- More customization options for sunrise/sunset scenes
- Better widget and Apple Watch support
SmartCONTROL WiFi
Reported bugs
28 issues- Waiting for device forever during setup
- Will not connect to Alexa
- Override button only does 1 of the two
- Grouping no longer works
- Unable to verify account (no confirmation email sent)
Show 23 moreShow fewer
- Can only control one light maximum, randomly
- Issues with the Bluetooth
- Music stops playing when using 'The lightning mood'
- Keeps forgetting itself
- Lights respond really slowly
- Newest version doesn't let you save a schedule
- Cannot get music to work on iPhone
- Loses connection between phone and bulbs
- App always loses connection
- Timers do not work
- Proximity option never works
- App is completely broken on iPhone 5s
- Cannot connect to light bulb after update
- Proximity sensor not working
- Watch support fails to connect frequently
- Won't let me sign in
- Cannot control the light anymore
- Cannot add light back after removing
- App doesn't work on iPhone 7 plus
- Cannot connect bulb to iPad app
- Disconnects every time phone is turned off
- Can control neighbor's bulbs
- Music disco mode not working
Requested features
12 requests- iOS widgets
- Apple Watch apps
- Better security
- Integration of other brand bulbs
- Customize naming of favorite colors
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- More nuance in themes
- Customizable color streams (duration, sequence)
- Hide room/global on/off buttons
- More flexibility in room naming
- Custom color cycles
- Gradual on/off for alarm feature
- Set different schedules for weekdays/multiple times a day
In-app purchases
Hue Lights
- Unlock 100 ScenesFree
- Thunderstorm$1.99
- Fire$1.99
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- Water$1.99
- Perfect Sunrise$1.99
- Richer Colors and Scenes$1.99
- Premium Actions$1.99
- Premium Sequences$1.99
- Unlock 48 Lights$4.99
SmartCONTROL WiFi
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Hue Lights free?
Is SmartCONTROL WiFi free?
Which has better reviews, Hue Lights or SmartCONTROL WiFi?
Do Hue Lights or SmartCONTROL WiFi have ads?
Which is updated more often, Hue Lights or SmartCONTROL WiFi?
Other comparisons















