Smart home market pioneer Philips Lighting just overhauled its signature Philips Hue smart home lighting apps. Philips simultaneously boosted the iOS and Android app customization options app and simplified user navigation and control, according to the New Jersey-based company.

“We’ve made our smart home lighting even smarter. Our new-look app is easier to use than ever,” said Jasper Vervoort, head of marketing for Philips Hue.

“New features include shortcuts which make setting up rooms a breeze, new color pickers, as well as 30 new scenes that allow instant scene setting to match your mood or that special moment,” Vervoot continued.

A crazy-rich feature set that’s hard to navigate, set up, and manage loses appeal quickly. That’s why the Philips Hue smart home lighting software update focused on simplifying navigation and user control in the app, as well as building a larger box of tricks.

New “look-and-feel” control techniques and shortcut let you select and set the lighting you desire. The app remembers your last four lighting scenes and cycles through them with a single press on the app. You can use this feature for an entire room or just one light.

Picking the exact color or shade of white with new Philips Hue color pickers also lets you group or ungroup sets of lights easily.

Lighting scenes, or light combinations, that resemble famous settings or places you’ve visited are enhanced with the new Philips Hue apps. Philips lighting designers included 30 new scenes with the app. Recreate a captivating Honolulu sunset or London’s edgy and exciting Soho district with a single tap on the app screen.

In addition to a wider selection of preconfigured lighting scenes, the new app promises to make customizing your own scenes easier than ever. Do you want room lighting that highlights the color of a decorative accessory, a new dress, or the color of anything at all in a room? The new Philips Hue app helps you match the colors of existing objects to accent and accentuate whatever you’d like.

By making the Philips Hue control app even more powerful without complicating the controls, the company is enabling more smart homes owners to develop mad design skills. As those skills grow, it’s only natural the homeowners would want even more app-responsive lights with which to exhibit their new talent.

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