Alexa Hue Lights: Setting up smart home lighting has never been easier

What are Alexa Hue lights?

Alexa Hue lights are smart home light bulbs made by Phillips Hue. These Hue Lights have an easy to use integration with Amazon Alexa, and come in white or with multicolor capabilities.

How do Alexa Hue lights work?

Like all Alexa home automation devices, Alexa Hue lights work by utilizing your home wi-fi and Bluetooth. In order to control Hue lights with simple Alexa commands, you’ll first need an Amazon Alexa speaker or smart display. Once it’s installed, you can start adding other devices, such as smart thermostats or smart video cameras.

Learn how to set up Alexa Hue lights

The new version of Hue Lights make setting up smart home lighting a snap. First, screw your lightbulbs into your fixture. Next, make sure the light is turned on via the switch. Now, connect your bulbs to Alexa:

1. Go to the Devices tab in your Alexa app (lower right corner of the bottom navigation bar)
2. Tap the + in the upper right corner of the Devices tab
3. Tap “Add Device”
4. Tap “Light” (under the All Devices section)
5. Tap “Philips Hue” when prompted for the brand
6. Tap the “Discover Devices” button (you can ignore the on-screen instructions for set up with an Echo Show or Echo Plus)
7. You will see an “Alexa is discovering devices…” screen for up to 45 seconds
8. Alexa will discover your new Hue lights!
9. Tap through the 2 set up screens, skipping these steps for now

That’s it!

This version of set-up has just one limitation: you can only connect ten bulbs using this approach. However, if you end up upgrading your entire home beyond the initial ten bulbs, you can easily do so by integrating a Hue Bridge or Echo device with a smart hub — and you can keep your new bulbs, they will easily connect with a Hue bridge or Echo with a smart hub. Confused about the difference between set ups for Philips Hue Alexa without bridge and with bridge? Read the VoiceBrew Ultimate Guide to Alexa Hue Lights.

How do I use Alexa Hue lights?

Control your Hue lights with Alexa Hue commands

Now that your Alexa Hue lights are set up, it’s easy to turn them on and off. Just say “Alexa, turn on living room lights.” Want to dim the lights in the dining room? Just say “Alexa, dim dining room lights 50%.”

Set up an Alexa smart home lighting routine

What is an Alexa routine? Put simply, Alexa routines let you automate specific tasks (like turning off your newly installed Hue Lights) during specific times of day (at bedtime, for example), by using Amazon Alexa commands, when you leave or arrive at a place, or when an alarm goes off.

Our VoiceBrew Guide to Alexa Routines goes into more detail about how to set up routines on your smart home devices, but for now, here’s how to set up a basic morning lighting routine in under two minutes:

1. Open your Alexa app
2. Tap the hamburger icon in the upper left corner
3. Tap “Routines”
4. Tap the + icon in the upper right corner to open up a New Routine tab
5. Tap “When this happens” to choose the trigger. For this example, tap “Schedule,” then, tap “At Time” and select the time you usually wake up. Now, tap which days you’d like to have this routine repeat.
6. Tap “Add action” to set the actions you want to happen in response to the trigger. For our lighting example, tap “Smart Home” and “Lights.” From here, you’ll select which lights you’d like to turn on when you wake up.
7. Tap “Save” in the upper right corner to save your routine

Now, your lights will turn automatically at the time you selected.

Use your Alexa Hue lights as an alarm clock

With Alexa Hue Lights, you can have any light of your choice turn on when your Alexa alarm sounds.

Once you’ve set up your smart home lights, just say “Alexa, set a light alarm for 6 AM with bedroom lights” and your lights will turn on when your Alexa alarm sounds. In order to make this work efficiently, we recommend assigning an easy-to-remember name to your lights or a group of lights (e.g. “bedroom lights”). You can learn how to do this in the VoiceBrew Alexa Hue Lights guide, here.

Change the color of your Alexa Hue lights to set the mood

If you bought multi-colored Alexa Hue lights, get ready to have some fun! Throwing a party? Say “Alexa, turn living room lights to blue,” and when you’re ready to go back to white, just say “Alexa, turn living room lights to white.”

You’re not limited to traditional colors, either, and you can adjust the lights directly within your Alexa app. Simply follow these steps:

1. Tap “Devices” on the right side of the bottom navigation bar
2. Tap the Lights icon at the top
3. Tap the light you want to change color
4. Tap the Set Color button toward the bottom on the right
5. Pick the color of your choice

Have fun!

VoiceBrew: Get more out of your Alexa Device with tips delivered straight to your inbox

VoiceBrew was created to help people get more out of their Amazon Alexa devices. Whether you’re just setting up your first Alexa device, or are a seasoned pro looking for advanced tips, VoiceBrew can help.

I love Alexa but realized that most people weren’t familiar with all of the capabilities available in every device! With VoiceBrew, you’ll have access to comprehensive how-to guides that cover basic set-up all the way to more advanced routines.

Wondering what devices work with Alexa? I cover that, too in VoiceBrew Alexa smart home guides. Ready to get started? Sign up for the VoiceBrew newsletter today.