Smart home lighting is one of the key use cases for any smart home platform. There’s nothing that makes you feel like you’re living in the age of The Jetsons than having lights automatically come on and off based on motion control and voice assistants. The Philips Hue Go light is a worthy addition to your HomeKit environment if you want a portable light for an outdoor area.
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A Philips Hue setup is one of the best investments you can make when building your smart home. When I first began to invest in HomeKit products a few years ago, a Hue Starter Kit was one of the first things I bought, and I’ve continued to rely on it daily. I’ve found that the Hue lightbulbs are some of the best-looking LED lights on the market, and the company has been quick to add new HomeKit features like Adaptive Lighting when released by Apple. Philips makes some incredible floodlights that are HomeKit compatible, and they’re a key part of my outdoor HomeKit light setup.
Since the summertime is when many people spend extended time outside, I recently picked up the Philips Hue Go light to use on the porch instead of using floodlights to have outdoor lighting. When you’ve got a Hue Hub on your network, Philips products are an easy add-on because they’re easy to onboard into your Hue bridge, which then automatically show up in HomeKit.
Onboarding to HomeKit
Because my Hue bridge is already connected to HomeKit, once I added the serial number of the Philips Hue Go light into the Hue iPhone app, it was immediately available in HomeKit. It had been a while since I had added any Hue products, so I actually forgot how easy this process was. It seemed like they would be an additional step, but there wasn’t – once I launched the Home app, it was at the bottom of my favorites list where I could rename it and assign it to a room.
Philips Hue Go with HomeKit Automations
Once you charge up the Go light, it’ll be ready to be placed outside. After a full charge, it can last up to 18 hours on the cozy candle setting or 10 hours on the ambient light setting. This product is really useful when used with an outdoor motion sensor paired with HomeKit. Let’s say that you charge it up and place it on your covered back porch. You can then use a HomeKit automation to turn it on when motion is detected after sunset. If you have a door sensor in HomeKit, it could be configured to where when the door is opened after sunset, the light turns on. Even without using it with an automation, you’ll have full access to the light with Siri and the Home app to turn it on, off, dim, change colors, etc.
Wrap up on Philips Hue Go
If you’re in the market for HomeKit outdoor lighting that’s easy to install, portable, and can last for many hours, Philips Hue Go will make a great addition to your home for less than $100. In addition, it supports HomeKit Adaptive Lighting, can easily brighten up a dark area, and is highly reliable.