Comparison

OnSwitch for Philips Hue vs Command for Philips Hue

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

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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

OnSwitch for Philips Hue4 screens
Command for Philips Hue4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: OnSwitch for Philips Hue at 62% against Command for Philips Hue's 0%. Command for Philips Hue's advantage is device support (6 vs 2). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. OnSwitch for Philips Hue sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per month 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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

OnSwitch for Philips Hue ships an update every 2 weeks, Command for Philips Hue every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
OnSwitch for Philips Hue versus Command for Philips Hue: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOnSwitch for Philips HueCommand for Philips Hue
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (9.6K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews62.1% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings9.6K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 4 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size88 MB46 MB
Age rating17+12+
DeveloperBuzzhaus, LLCJoseph Leporati

Customer experience

OnSwitch for Philips Hue

All ratings9,573 ratings
Positive91.6%
Neutral3.5%
Negative4.9%
Written reviews652 reviews
Positive62.1%
Neutral7.8%
Negative30.1%

Command for Philips Hue

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

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

Command for Philips Hue

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

9 purchases

OnSwitch for Philips Hue

Subscriptions2
  • OnSwitch Premium$12.991 Month
  • OnSwitch Premium3 Days trial$35.991 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 Album2 variants$7.99
3 purchases

Command for Philips Hue

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Yearly$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$39.99

Questions

Is OnSwitch for Philips Hue free?
OnSwitch for Philips Hue is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Command for Philips Hue free?
Command for Philips Hue is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do OnSwitch for Philips Hue or Command for Philips Hue have ads?
Neither OnSwitch for Philips Hue nor Command for Philips Hue shows ads.
Which is updated more often, OnSwitch for Philips Hue or Command for Philips Hue?
OnSwitch for Philips Hue ships an update every 2 weeks, and Command for Philips Hue every 4 weeks. Most recently, OnSwitch for Philips Hue was updated on October 26, 2026 and Command for Philips Hue on October 24, 2026.

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