With Hue Sync, syncing the content on your computer monitor or laptop with the best smart light bulbs is pretty easy to do. Whether you have regular light bulbs or even a light strip installed behind your monitor, you can create your own light show at home.
Although there are cheaper options, one of the best things about philips hue lights it’s the fact that you can sync them with what’s on your screen using free software. You might be wondering why you would want to do this in the first place – immersion is the main reason.
With the Philips Hue Sync app running on your PC or Mac, you can have your smart lights sync with the videos, games or music you’re currently watching, playing or listening to. This way, what’s on your screen looks like it’s spilling into your room and you’re completely immersed.
With Philips Hue lights, it’s also possible to sync your smart lights with your tv but you will need to have a connected computer or buy a Play HDMI Sync Box separately if you want to use one of the best streaming sticks or a gaming console. For this reason, this guide will focus on syncing your smart lights with content on your PC or Mac using the free Hue Sync app.
Here’s how to get everything set up and working on your PC. If you have a Mac, the process is essentially the same, although you’ll need to install the macOS version of the Hue Sync app.
How to use Philips Hue Sync to sync your smart lights with your screen
- Create an entertainment area in the Philips Hue mobile app
- Add lights and adjust their placement
- Download and install the Hue Sync app on PC or Mac
- Set light sync for video, gaming or music
- Start light sync
Read on for detailed instructions for each step.
1. Create an entertainment area in the Philips Hue mobile app. Open the app on your Android smartphone or iPhone and go to the Settings section on the right side of the toolbar at the bottom of the application. Under the on this bridge section, you will find an option to entertainment areasplay it
If you’ve set up entertainment areas before, you’ll see them all listed here. No, touch the plus button in the upper right corner to create a new entertainment area.
The app will ask you “How will you use your entertaining area?” and it will give you the following options: For my TV, For listening to music and For my monitor. Tap on for my monitor and then give your Entertainment area a name.
2. Add lights and adjust their placement. Once you’ve given your entertainment area a name, it’s time to choose the lights you want to use with it. The application will show you a list of rooms and you must choose which room your entertainment area will be located in along with what lights will be part of it. (Note: Only color capable lights are supported.)
After choosing your lights, you can adjust your position in your room and you can also adjust your height using the app. This step is particularly important as where you place the lights will determine how they will sync up with the content on your monitor or laptop.
3. Download and install the Hue Sync app on PC or Mac. To set things up on your PC or Mac, head over to the Philips Hue Sync website (opens in a new tab) Y scroll down the page.
About a quarter of the way down the page, there is a Hue Sync desktop app section where you can download the required software for PC or Mac. Click on any of the Download for Mac OS or the Download for Windows buttons to download the software. After the download is complete, install it on your system.
4. Set light sync for video, game or music. When you open the app for the first time, it will search your network for your hue bridge. Once it is found, you will have to touch the button at the top of the box to connect your bridge to the Hue Sync app. From here you must choose an entertainment area for use with your smart lights.
When the app starts, you can choose if you want to sync your lights with scenes, Games, Music either Video. Below these options, you can choose the intensity with options for subtle, moderate, loud or extreme depending on your preference. There is also a lever which can be enabled for use audio for effects.
5. Start light sync. With everything set up and configured, just click on the Start light sync button at the bottom of the app to start using Hue Sync. You can always adjust the sync settings if the lights are changing too fast or not fast enough. At the same time, you can also change the type of content the app syncs with if you switch from watching a video to playing a game or listening to music.
Finding the best content to sync with your smart lights
There you go. Now you know how to create an entertainment area and get the Hue Sync desktop app up and running on your PC or Mac. When it comes to getting the most out of Hue Sync, brighter videos or games with lots of colors tend to work best and I recommend also enable the “Use audio for effects” option.
Now that you know how to use Hue Sync, why not check out our other how-to smart home guides, including 9 things you never knew you could do with smart lights, how to set up a smart home routine with the Google Assistant , how to an Alexa smart home routine, how to secure your smart home, and even how to sell your smart home.
