OnSwitch for Philips Hue vs Softflame
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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)
Softflame
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Softflame brings a real candle glow to the smart bulbs you already own. Matter bulbs can switch on and off, dim, and change color — but they have no way to flicker like a flame. Softflame gently moves their brightness and color, step by step, so a room fills with candlelight, a slow breath, or the drift of an aurora. When you stop, every light goes back exactly as it was. EVERYDAY PRESETS • Candle — warm white that wavers like a flame. Set the base brightness, how deep it flickers, and the color temperature (2,000–3,500K). • Breathe — slowly brighter and dimmer, six breaths a minute. • Aurora — green, teal and violet, drifting round. • Under the Sea — blue and teal, with a gentle swell of light. • Rainbow — slowly round every color. CHRISTMAS • Tree — red, gold and green in turn, dimming between colors. On Apart, every light is a different ornament. • Snowfall — snow white drifting into a pale blue, with a soft sparkle now and then. • Silent Night — a deep blue and a warm gold, slowly taking turns. • Frost — blue-white, ice blue and pale lavender, like a string of LED tree lights. HALLOWEEN • Pumpkin — yellow to orange, like a jack-o'-lantern. • Twilight — purple fading into a dark blue. • Lightning — darkness, then a blue-white flash, once or a few times in a row. New seasonal presets arrive with updates. EASY TO USE Tap a preset, check the lights you want, and press Play. Each light can run its own preset — Tree in the living room, Frost by the window. Every preset can move its lights together or each at its own pace, with a brightness setting, and speed for Aurora, Rainbow and Frost. Every preset has a moving preview, so you can see it before you try it. MADE FOR YOUR HOME • Works with bulbs that are already in the Home app: Matter over Thread or Wi-Fi, and bulbs behind a bridge. • Thread bulbs change about every quarter second; bridged and Wi-Fi bulbs every half second to a second, so the flame stays smooth instead of lagging. • Color presets need a color bulb. Candle, Breathe and Lightning work on any dimmable bulb; Pumpkin and Snowfall also run on tunable-white bulbs. • Your lights are put back — power, brightness and color — the moment you stop or leave the app. FREE AND PRO Every preset is free to try, on up to 2 lights for 30 seconds at a time. Softflame Pro is a one-time purchase, with no subscription: up to 10 lights, no time limit, and the screen stays awake while your lights are running. Softflame runs while the app is open. It has no account and collects no data; your settings stay on your iPhone. Made by the developer of HomeMonitor.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: OnSwitch for Philips Hue at 16.0 against Softflame's 27.0. 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. OnSwitch for Philips Hue sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per month and Softflame sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
OnSwitch for Philips Hue ships an update every 2 weeks, Softflame monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | OnSwitch for Philips Hue | Softflame |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (9.6K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 62.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 9.6K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 27.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 88 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | +17 | 4+ |
| Developer | Buzzhaus, LLC | Kentaro Saito |
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
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- Add more scenes and effects
- Reduce pricing of individual scenes
Softflame
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
OnSwitch for Philips Hue
- OnSwitch Premium$12.991 Month
- OnSwitch Premium3 Days trial$35.991 Year
- OnSwitch Premium – Family3 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Embers$0.99
- Fireplace$1.99
- Lightning$1.99
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- Aurora$1.99
- Nature Album$4.99
- Science Fiction Album$5.99
- Fireworks Album2 variants$7.99
Softflame
- Softflame Pro$4.99
Questions
Is OnSwitch for Philips Hue free?
Is Softflame free?
Do OnSwitch for Philips Hue or Softflame have ads?
Which is updated more often, OnSwitch for Philips Hue or Softflame?
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