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Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

defcon.social

151–160 of 338 posts

Re: Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

#151
post #104

For any app that does this, go to the App Store and give them a one-star rating and a comment on why you’re doing this. In this case, they have a canned copy/paste answer saying that it’s for “security”, so feel free to try to debunk that in your initial comment.

lol, the homekit provides said security.

Re: Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh come on - don't you want for all your bulbs to be turned on already _before_ you get back home? It's a gamechanger!

Being able to remotely make sure the coffee machine isn't powered is the true game changer. Having the lights turn off automatically when there's nobody home is also nice though.

Coffeemakers usually turn themselves off? My $12 one does.

Re: Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

#155
When I bought my no-brand coloured smartlight a few years ago I explicitly passed up on Philips Hue because it now seemed to require some smartphone app, and I just wanted to use a remote control. It's simpler to use, faster to use, has a lot less moving parts, and generally "always works". While there are some use cases where an app might be a bit more convenient, I'm willing to bet that if you asked people on the street that the majority would prefer to use just a remote (I admit I have no data to back this up).

Security and privacy concerns don't even come in to play (although these do make the apps even worse)

This is a shame, because I had good experiences with my old Hue, when they still did remotes.

Re: Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

#156
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is a game changer is to be able to just turn off everything in the house when I leave, and know the iron will be off, along with all the lights. It's not critically important, but the many individually small conveniences add up.

Seems like cheap auto off timers and simple motion detector lights would solve all those problems with 1970s technology and no network connections at all.

I thought about putting in motion detectors for my lights.

Then I remembered I have cats.

Re: Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you basically need to recreate the scenes in home assistant and use the hue bridge as as dumb of a bridge as you can. There should be little to no things that home assistant scenes can't do that hue scenes can. I'll still probably recommend hue light bulbs with the caveat that I don't recommend their bridge/app, compared to the other bulbs I've used they are much more reliable and handle color changes much more smoot…

I haven't used anything but Hue, but I've been looking to get off them because they're so unreliable. Like clockwork, one or two bulbs go bad every year and will still be dimly lit even when "off", or worse still they will start flickering constantly when "off". It's kind of depressing if something with such poor quality is the most reliable option out there. :(

Caseta stuff isn't perfect for every use case, but I have had absolutely 0 problems with mine.

Re: Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

#158

And next you'll have a subscription to indoor lighting. What can be turned into a subscription next! I can't wait to find out. Maybe I'll become a survivalist who builds his own lightbulbs, computers, etc. Once I figure the off-grid lifestyle out, maybe I can launch a paid newsletter about it...

You have a subscription for the indoor lighting through the electricity bill already. It’s more pay-as-you go though.

Re: Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

#159
post #155

When I bought my no-brand coloured smartlight a few years ago I explicitly passed up on Philips Hue because it now seemed to require some smartphone app, and I just wanted to use a remote control. It's simpler to use, faster to use, has a lot less moving parts, and generally "always works". While there are some use cases where an app might be a bit more convenient, I'm willing to bet that if you asked people on the s…

They still do switches, what remotes are you referring to?

Re: Philips Hue will soon force users to create an account

#160

I'm surprised they didn't already require this, but I think it's probably safe to say it was a likely and foreseeable outcome in any case. That, combined with a dearth of use cases that made sense (for my life) is what's kept me from using these products. About the only reason I could think of to buy smart lightbulbs would be to suddenly turn all the lights in the house red, and yell "torpedoes in the water, brace fo…

Smart lights are incredibly useful with infants/pre-verbal toddlers in the house. E.g. a quick "hey Google, set kids room lights to 20%" whilst trying to convince an energetic 2 year old to get ready for bedtime.

They become rapidly less useful when the toddler learns to say "hey Google" and decides to make all lights green all the time.

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