Philips will take the hard work out of complex Hue Lights scenes with new update
By being spatially aware of the exact positioning of each compatible smart light.
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Jonathan Feist / Android Authority
TL;DR
- An upcoming Philips Hue update will soon let you scan various compatible smart lights spread across a room.
- You will then be able to create nature-inspired scenes that automatically manage colors and brightness for all lights.
- In addition, Philips Hue video doorbell and Secure camera will soon also support Apple Home.
If you have multiple smart lights and mingle with their different color settings for the perfect mood lighting, Philips Hue has an update that will excite you. Signify, the company behind Philips lighting, has announced a new feature, called “SpatialAware,” at CES 2026 that will let you set different scenes by using multiple Philips Hue-compatible light sources together.
You can use your phone’s camera to scan the various Philips Hue smart lights spread across any room. The app will create a spatial map of the different placements and automatically design lighting scenarios. In its announcement, Signify says that the feature aims to recreate lighting scenarios inspired by nature. It will automatically manage the colors and intensity of the light to create a harmonious blend.
The initial setup can be a bit tricky. Gizmodo notes that you must capture each light from multiple angles to help the app determine its exact position in physical space using triangulation. It may be slightly easier if you use an iPhone or iPad Pro with a LiDAR scanner, though phones without LiDAR will work too.
Once you’re done, you can also choose from the lighting presets available in the Signify scene gallery, or from user-created combinations. That means you can mimic daily events, such as dawn or sunset, or specific scenes inspired by lakes or mountains. The company further elaborates:
In a SpatialAware enhanced room, light scenes feel much more immersive and truer to life. For a sunset scene, for example, the lamps on one side of the room show warm yellow tones to mimic the setting sun, while the ceiling lights on the opposite side of the room would be cast in darker shades.
Besides new lighting features, Signify has confirmed that its wired Hue Secure camera, Secure doorbell, and contact sensors will soon work with Apple Home, letting you stream from these cameras directly on your Apple devices, including Apple TV.
It has also opened up the route to migrate devices from older Bridge hubs to the newer Bridge Pro from 2025. Additionally, Hue’s new AI assistant, which is now available in the recently updated Google Home app, lets you create custom automation requests laced with multiple commands. And unlike Google Home, you can do it without having to pay for a subscription.
Signify says SpatialAware will be available to Bridge Pro users in Spring 2026, while Apple Home support is due in Q1 2026. Meanwhile, the multi-Bridge migration and the AI assistant are already available to use.
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