Philips Illuminate vs AppLights
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Philips Illuminate
Control and customize your smart lighting system from your phone or tablet. Adjust colors, brightness, and functions, or synchronize lights to music. Network multiple kits for a larger, coordinated light display.
- Customizable lighting control
- Color and brightness adjustment
- Music synchronization
- Create custom light functions
- Network multiple light kits
- Continuous Motion technology
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Create your own light show using the Illuminate™ customizable lighting system. Control your lights from your smart phone or tablet using the Illuminate™ app. The easy to use app allows you to adjust the color, brightness or function of your Illuminate™ lights. Synchronize your lights to music or make your own customized light show. For a more robust display, network several starter kits together and use add on sets. The Illuminate™ starter kit includes one control box and one 25 light string. Connect up to 12 Illuminate™ lights strings (300 lights) to one control box for a fully synchronized light show using the Illuminate™ add on light sets. Only Illuminate™ features Continuous Motion™ technology, ensuring that the functions will travel through the length of all connected strings, keeping your light show perfectly coordinated. Customize your light show: • Choose a color from color wheel or select preset buttons for warm white, cool white or multi lights. • Make colors brighter or dimmer. • Choose from 21 pre made functions for a variety of effects, or create your own functions/colors. • Choose the speed of the function. • Select music from your own device and the lights automatically flash and change colors. Network your light sets: • Using your home WiFi router, network several starter kits together to create a whole house light show. • Each starter kit can be set for a different effect, or set your entire light display to one function. • Continuous Motion™ technology synchronizes colors and functions throughout all connected light strings.
AppLights
Create and control stunning holiday light displays directly from your smartphone. This app offers a wide range of effects, colors, and themes for both indoor and outdoor decorating, making custom holiday lighting easy to manage.
- Smartphone control
- Dozens of effects and colors
- Multiple holiday themes
- Customizable color options
- Easy setup and management
- Indoor and outdoor use
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Put on a dazzling holiday light display–and control it all from your smartphone. The AppLights® app works exclusively with AppLights® holiday lighting products to control dozens of effects and colors directly from your smartphone. It’s super easy to set up and manage. Choose from multiple holiday themes, lighting technologies and color options for each lighting product. Perfect for outdoor or indoor holiday decorating, AppLights® delivers the latest in holiday decorating technology for a custom look that’s a breeze to manage.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: AppLights at 4.0 against Philips Illuminate's 1.9. AppLights also leads on review sentiment (29% vs 9%). Philips Illuminate's advantage is ratings volume (138 vs 3). 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
AppLights holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 1.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Philips Illuminate has 138 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 9% of Philips Illuminate's written reviews are positive against 29% of AppLights's.
Philips Illuminate ships an update every 3 months, AppLights every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Philips Illuminate | AppLights |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 1.9 (138 ratings) | 4.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 9.4% of reviews | 29.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 138 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 9.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 20 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Seasonal Specialties LLC | Gemmy Industries Corporation |
Customer experience
Philips Illuminate
AppLights
Bugs and requests
Philips Illuminate
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
AppLights
Reported bugs
4 issues- Lights not responding to app commands
- Lights stuck in demo/default mode
- Bluetooth connectivity problems
- Incompatibility with newer iOS versions
Requested features
5 requests- Custom color/pattern creation
- Ability to sync multiple strings
- Timer/scheduling functionality
- More lighting effects/modes
- Improved app UI/UX
In-app purchases
Philips Illuminate
No in-app purchases
AppLights
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Philips Illuminate free?
Is AppLights free?
Which has better reviews, Philips Illuminate or AppLights?
Do Philips Illuminate or AppLights have ads?
Which is updated more often, Philips Illuminate or AppLights?
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