Philips Hue

Philips Hue rolling out ‘Natural Light’ scene to some that changes color temperature through the day

Ben Schoon | Dec 20 2022 - 9:03 am PT

After showing up earlier this year in a false start, the Philips Hue app seems to now be rolling out its “Natural Light” scene to more users with the ability to change the color temperature of lights in your home throughout the day.

Philips Hue has been working on its “Natural Light” scene for a while, with the scene enabling the bulbs in your home to shift their color temperature throughout the day. The feature first showed up for some users earlier this year, but was quickly removed and not seen again, until now.

A number of users on Reddit this morning have reported that the latest updates to the Philips Hue app on Android and iOS have unlocked “Natural Light.” The feature appears in the Hue Scene Gallery as a new default option as reported by SmartLights.de.

So far the option appears to be showing up for most folks in other countries, but there are at least some reports of “Natural Light” appearing in the United States with newer versions of the Hue app. Personally, I’m not seeing the option, even with the latest app and Hue Bridge firmware updates.

For those who are seeing the scene available, the app explains how the feature works before allowing users to set up the times at which color temperatures change, with the temperature changing slowly between those time intervals. Or, that’s how it was though to work. Users report that the change is actually quite abrupt, which is disappointing to say the least.

The general idea is to have cooler temperatures first thing in the morning through the early afternoon, with temperatures gradually getting warmer through the evening and night.

This is all based on how color temperature affects the body. It’s been proven time and time again that “blue light,” cooler color temperatures, trick our bodies into thinking it is daytime, while warmer temperatures before bed can help us get to sleep. This new feature from Philips Hue could help deliver on this throughout any room in your home with the appropriate lighting setup – we hope to see a wider launch soon!

Thanks Daniel!