Comparison

OnSwitch for Philips Hue vs Sunrise Simulator

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

OnSwitch for Philips Hue

Enhance your smart lighting with dynamic scenes and effects. Create immersive experiences for holidays, parties, and relaxation with a user-friendly interface. Features include sunrise alarms, sunset timers, and creative color controls.

Highlights
  • Animated light scenes for holidays and parties
  • Live game-sync events for sports
  • Sunrise alarm and sunset sleep timer
  • Creative color control and discovery
  • Manage and control light groups
  • Hero lighting with cinematic flair
Features
Read full description

LIGHTS! COLORS! ACTION! OnSwitch is the #1 rated companion app for Philips Hue smart lighting systems. Downloaded over 2.5 million times! OnSwitch for Philips Hue has a beautiful, simple user interface but it's also powerful. Your Hue lights come alive with a single click! • Holidays • Party/Disco Lighting • Sports, Including LIVE game-sync events • Sunrise alarm and sunset sleep timer • Fun kids content • Accent Lighting • Color flows • Candle light • Nature Scenes • Lightning • Fireworks Our Hue app connects to your Philips Hue Bridge, creating immersive animated experiences with your Hue lights! Get the best Hue App, get OnSwitch! UNLOCK EVERYTHING With OnSwitch Premium subscription you can unlock our entire content library and more! • Unlock ALL albums (300+ animated light scenes) • Unlimited SIRI Shortcuts • Access exclusive LIVE events. • Amazing NEW scenes added regularly. HERO LIGHTING Our Hue light scenes have cinematic flair. Music sound tracks set the mood while our an animation engine delivers bursts of light and sound where anything can happen. Santa lands on your house! Zombies attack! You are in a spaceship battle! Other light scenes transport you to a Lush Forest, Venice or even Deep Space to chill out in the Orion Nebula listening to superb ambient electronic music. CREATIVE LIGHTING OnSwitch gives you smarter, clearer ways to control your smart lights. Instead of guessing what Hue's "Light Recipes" mean, our Everyday Lighting album presents gorgeous photos of antique and halogen bulbs or a skylight so it's clear what kind of light you are going to get. Our fluorescent tube even flickers on like the real thing! Want Color? Other apps make you drag a pin around a color wheel. OnSwitch makes it easy with curated Pastels and Accent colors. Warm and Cool color flows. And "Color Splat!" our exclusive color discovery feature that's always fun and a surprise. SUNRISE ALARM & SUNSET SLEEP TIMER Wake up with a beautiful sunrise and your favorite music! Go to sleep with a sunset, optimized for better sleep. LIGHT GROUPS Easily create and manage groups of bulbs. Control each group independently. OnSwitch manages groups on your Philips Hue Bridge so it will play nicely with your other apps! IMPORTANT! • You will need LIFX smart bulbs or a Philips Hue bridge and light bulbs to use this app. • OnSwitch requires iOS10 or later to run. SUBSCRIPTION TERMS OnSwitch Premium subscription unlocks all of the app's lighting content. You can preview all of the content for 3 days FREE before your subscription starts. If you choose to subscribe, you will be charged a per month subscription fee according to your country. The subscription fee will be shown in the app before you complete the payment. Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of each subscription term, unless auto-renewal is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the term. Subscription renewals cost the same as the original subscription, and your credit card will be charged through your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase. You may manage your subscription and turn off auto-renewal at any time after purchase by going to your iTunes Account Settings. Refunds will not be given for any unused portion of the term. For additional information, please read: •Terms of Service (https://www.getonswitch.com/terms) • Privacy Policy (https://www.getonswitch.com/privacy)

About

Sunrise Simulator

Wake up gently with a simulated sunrise using your smart lights. Customize duration, brightness, and color temperature. Includes audible alarms with various sounds and a night clock mode.

Highlights
  • Simulated sunrise with smart lights
  • Customizable wake-up time and duration
  • Gradual light brightening and color temperature change
  • Audible alarm with custom sounds
  • Night clock mode
  • Multi-location support
Features
Read full description

Sunrise Simulator allows you to control LIFX and Hue lights as a sunrise alarm clock. You can choose the duration of the sunrise and your desired wakeup time. During the sunrise the app will gradually brighten the lights and increase the color temperature from warm to cool. If you haven't woken up by your set time, the app will play a sound you have chosen. You can control multiple lights from different manufacturers at the same time. You must have a smart lightbulb for the sunrise simulator to be fully functional. If you are in a location without a smart bulb, you can use the phone torch to simulate the sunrise. To do this, you MUST NOT lock your phone. If you do not any smart bulbs you can use the app as an audible alarm. The audible alarm can be any sound from your playlist, or you can choose from a variety of natural sounds such as waves, rain or bird calls. If you are a heavy sleeper you can also choose a siren. The siren setting will also strobe the light after the sunrise if you haven't cancelled the alarm. You can also use the app as a night clock as long as you do not lock your phone. You can adjust the brightness of the display by dragging your finger up or down on the screen. Version 3 supports multiple locations, so you can have different setups for different houses. The app will attempt to determine the location automatically, but you can also set the location manually.

Screenshots

OnSwitch for Philips Hue4 screens
Sunrise Simulator3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: OnSwitch for Philips Hue at 62% against Sunrise Simulator's 17%. OnSwitch for Philips Hue also leads on price (Free vs $4.99) and rating (4.7 vs 1.0). Sunrise Simulator's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10). On ads, device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

OnSwitch for Philips Hue is free to download; Sunrise Simulator costs $4.99 up front. OnSwitch for Philips Hue sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per month. Sunrise Simulator asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

OnSwitch for Philips Hue holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: OnSwitch for Philips Hue has 9.6K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 62% of OnSwitch for Philips Hue's written reviews are positive against 17% of Sunrise Simulator's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

OnSwitch for Philips Hue ships an update every 2 weeks, Sunrise Simulator every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
OnSwitch for Philips Hue versus Sunrise Simulator: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOnSwitch for Philips HueSunrise Simulator
PriceFree — better$4.99
Rating4.7 (9.6K ratings) — better1.0 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews62.0% of reviews — better16.7% of reviews
Number of ratings9.6K — better4
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 10 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size88 MB104 MB
Age rating+174+
DeveloperBuzzhaus, LLCJames Derrick

Customer experience

OnSwitch for Philips Hue

All ratings9,575 ratings
Positive91.6%
Neutral3.5%
Negative4.9%
Written reviews653 reviews
Positive62.0%
Neutral7.8%
Negative30.2%

Sunrise Simulator

All ratings4 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive16.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative83.3%

Bugs and requests

OnSwitch for Philips Hue

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes on launch after update
  • Connectivity issues
  • Lights not responding correctly
  • Scenes not working as expected

Requested features

7 requests
  • Add support for LIFX bulbs
  • Allow customization of light groups
  • Add background mode/automation
  • Add Siri/HomeKit integration
  • Improve interface and organization
Show 2 more
  • Add more scenes and effects
  • Reduce pricing of individual scenes

Sunrise Simulator

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

OnSwitch for Philips Hue

Subscriptions3
  • OnSwitch Premium$12.991 Month
  • OnSwitch Premium3 Days trial$35.991 Year
  • OnSwitch Premium – Family3 Days trial$49.991 Year
One-time7
  • Embers$0.99
  • Fireplace$1.99
  • Lightning$1.99
Show 4 more
  • Aurora$1.99
  • Nature Album$4.99
  • Science Fiction Album$5.99
  • Fireworks Album$7.99
None

Sunrise Simulator

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is OnSwitch for Philips Hue free?
OnSwitch for Philips Hue is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sunrise Simulator free?
Sunrise Simulator costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, OnSwitch for Philips Hue or Sunrise Simulator?
OnSwitch for Philips Hue is rated higher. OnSwitch for Philips Hue averages 4.7 out of 5 from 9.6K ratings, while Sunrise Simulator averages 1.0 from 4 ratings.
Do OnSwitch for Philips Hue or Sunrise Simulator have ads?
Neither OnSwitch for Philips Hue nor Sunrise Simulator shows ads.
Which is updated more often, OnSwitch for Philips Hue or Sunrise Simulator?
OnSwitch for Philips Hue ships an update every 2 weeks, and Sunrise Simulator every 10 months. Most recently, OnSwitch for Philips Hue was updated on November 4, 2026 and Sunrise Simulator on November 2, 2026.

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