Try before you buy: you can now use AR to preview how Philips Hue lights will look in your home

October 11

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You can now use augmented reality (AR) to see how Philips Hue lights will look in your home before you invest in a full setup. A new update for the Philips Hue app will help you picture how your rooms will look equipped with color-changing bulbs, plus lamps like the Philips Hue Twilight and Philips Hue Bloom.

Philips Hue fixtures are some of the best smart lights around, but they’re not a small investment, particularly if you’re planning to install them in several rooms. Not only do you need the bulbs or lamps, you also have to buy a Philips Hue Bridge to connect to your home Wi-Fi network and control them all.

If you don’t have one of the best smart speakers, you’ll also want to pick up one of those to control the light with your voice – and maybe some motion or contact sensors, or a security camera so that your lights turn on when you get back from work. It all adds up rather fast.

If you’re on the fence about going smart, the Philips Hue app can now help you decide. As The Verge explains, the updated app offers an AR tool that lets you see how the brand’s various smart lights will look in your home, complete with different effects and colors. You can even see how a particular fixture would look with the rest of your lights switched off, so you can get an impression of the type of ambience it will create.

Hue goes there?

There are, however, a couple of catches. First of all, because the app’s AR feature uses 3D mapping rather than simply superimposing images of products over a video feed from your phone’s camera, it only works with the iPhone Pro and iPad Pro with LIDAR for the time being. Secondly, as The Verge discovered, it’s not quite perfectly polished yet, and sometimes you may see a lamp seemingly floating rather than securely anchored to a floor or table.

Still, it seems like an excellent feature for anyone who’s not sure about switching their lights to Hue bulbs, and whether it’ll be a benefit for their particular space.

If you’ve decided that a Hue setup is right for you, or you’re thinking of expanding your existing system, we’ve rounded up today’s best deals on Hue bulbs and lamps for you below. Alternatively, you might choose to wait for next month’s Black Friday deals, which usually include deep discounts on all kinds of smart lighting.