Connecting Philips Hue smart bulbs toGoogle Homeallows you to control them using voice commands or through the Google Home app. You can issue a voice command like “Ok Google, turn my living room lights purple”. This guide shows you how to use Google Home with Philips Hue.
A Word About Philips Hue and Google Home
Philips Hue smart bulbs have been around for a couple of years and remain the most popular among other smart lighting solutions in the market. They can be controlled remotely over Wi-Fi either through the companion Philips mobile app or through a smart speaker (AmazonEcho or Google Home).
Google Home is the second most popular smart speakerin the market. You can use Google Home as a standalone voice assistant or as a hub to control other smart devices in your home. Anything compatible with google home including TVs, thermostats, kitchen appliances can be added to the list of devices in Google Home and centrally managed.
Are Phillips Hue Lights Compatible with Google Home?
Some earlierversions of the Philips Hue smart bulbs used a proprietary protocol that was only compatible with the Amazon echo hub. However, it’s still possible to connect and control these lights via Google Home. Google recently addeda new feature into Google Home that now allows you to connect and control Philips Hue lights using Google Home.
How to Use Google Home with Philips Hue- Set Up Guide
Requirements
- Active Wi-Fi -connection
- Google Home mobile app
- Google Home- Configured and ready to go
- Philips Hue - To use Philips Hue with Google Home, you’ll need to sign intoyour existing Philips Hue account using on the Google Home app. To follow this guide, you should have already set up your Philips Hue account and configured your Philips Hue hub. Refer to the manufacturers guide if you haven’t done so already.
Once you have all these requirements, follow these steps to configure Philips Hue on Google Home side.
Step 1- Make sure both Google Home and Philips Hue hub are plugged in and turned on.
Step 2- Launch the Google Home app on your smartphone or tablet to start the set-up process.
Step 3- Locate the menu icon on the app’s home screen icon (three horizontal lines) and tap on it.
Step 4- In the menu that appears, find the Home control option- the one with a bulb as an icon- just below the Music option and tap/select it.
Step 5- Tap on the blue plus (+) button on the bottom right of your screen to add new devices to Google Home.
Step 6- Locate Philips Hue in the list of devices that appear on the next screen and tap/select it. This will take you to a webpage on your default browser.
Final Step- Sign in to your existing Philips hue account to complete the set-up process and agree to the usage terms to finalize the set-up process. Congratulations! You have successfully set up Philips Hue to work with Google Home.
Using Philips Hues with Google Home- What You Can Do
Some of the things you can form Google home for your Philips Hue lights include:
Assigning and labelling bulb in the app- To make it easier when issuing voice commands for individual commands, you can assign rooms and names to individual lights on the Google Home app. You can then issue voice commands like “Ok Google, turn on my bedroom lights”.
Configuring and activating scenes- Scenes are a unique feature available in Philips Hue that allows you to set colors that match a specific theme, such as sunset, gold, etc. There are several default scenes that come with the lights, but you can also come up with your own and configure them using Google Home.
Changing colors- Through the Google Home hub and assistant, you can change individualcolors on for your active Philips Hue lights. Using the app, locate the smart light bulb icon and choose the room or bulb you want to configure and change the colors as you wish.
Voice Control- Say, “Ok Google, turn on the lights in my living room and set them to Chinatown scene”, or “Ok, Google, dim all the lights in my study to 35%”. Connecting Philips Hue to Google Home enables these and many other voice commands.
Final Remarks
Linking Philips Hue to Google home gives you the convenience of managing your smart lights from a single point. You will never need to launch the Philips Hue app ever again unless you decide to delink them from Google Home for some reason. Have fun!