These are the most common problems with your Philips Hue

1. How to set Up your lights
2. Philips Hue bridge can't find all my lights
3. Some Philips Hue lights look unreachable
4. How to factor reset my hue bridge
5. Do I need the internet connection to control my lights?
6. Can I control multiple Hue Bridges at the same time?
7. Can I use another app to control my lights?
8. Can I have two Philips Hue bridges or more on the same network?
9. How can I know my Philips Hue bridge IP address?

Keep reading the blog post to find the solution

1. How to set up your lights

1. Turn the Philips Hue lights on

Firstly, take your Philips Hue lights, connect them and turn them on.

Once you have done this the Philips Hue bridge will be able to discover and connect to them. 

2. Connecting your Hue Bridge to your network

By default, all Philips Hue starter kits contain a Philips Hue bridge. This is the device that will control all your lights.

When you use your phone to control the Philips Hue lights you are communicating with that bridge and then it will tell lights what to do (change color, turn on/off…)

Connecting the bridge to your network is as easy as taking an ethernet cable and then connect it to your bridge and your router.

Once you have connected your Philips Hue bridge to your router you will see some lights start blinking and turn on:

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1 - First light means your bridge is getting power. If this light isn’t on, make sure your bridge power adapter is plugged in.

2 - Second light means that your Philips Hue bridge is connected to the home network. At the beginning, it will start blinking but it must be fixed. That means it has been successfully connected to the network

3 - The third light means that your Philips Hue has internet connectivity. As the one above it must be fixed meaning it has the internet connection. Internet connection is not necessary if you don’t want to control your lights through the cloud.

4- This is the sync button. You have to press it to allow apps to control your lights. This is a security system to avoid rest of people controlling your lights without permission. If you use Yeti - Smart Home Automation app, it will let you know when you need to press that button.

3. Connecting the hue lights to your bridge

Open the Philips Hue app. We will use it to connect your lights to your bridge. After this, you can use Yeti - Smart Home Automation to control your lights.

If you have bought a Philips Hue starter kit all lights will be synchronized and connected with the bridge automatically. So that, you don't need even to download the Philips Hue app, you can directly get Yeti and start controlling your lights with it.

In case you buy new lights or the bridge doesn’t recognize all your lights, follow these steps to add the lights to your bridge:

1 - Open the Philips Hue app

2 - Go to settings

3 - Click on light set up

4 - Click on the + button and then search

5 - It will search for your lights automatically. Lights must be turned on

If the app says that there are some lights “unreachable” it means that they are turned off. Please turn them on or you won’t be able to control them through the app.

If the app is not able to find all your lights please go to the common issues section.

‍Apps to unblock you Philips Hue potential

Now all your lights are connected to your Philips Hue bridge and you can use a third party app to control all of them. Here we show you some of best!

Yeti

Yeti will let you control your Philip Hue and other brands of smart home such as Nest, Wemo, Sonoff, Sonos, Tp-Link and many more from a single intuitive interface!

With Yeti you will be able to change the color and the warmth of the bulb, create a loop of colors and also lets you create charms, routines and organize your devices by rooms.

‍Hue Party for Philips Hue

This app allows you to have complete control over your Philips Hue. You will be able to sync music with your lights, customize them and is free. It is only available for iPhone.

Hue Disco

This app will turn your house into a real disco. It is an essential app for those who like to party at home!

You can buy it for 3.99$ for iPhone or Android.

2. Philips Hue bridge can’t find all my lights

If the automatic method can’t find all your lights you will need to do it manually. Follow these steps:

1 - First be sure all your lights are connected and turn on.

2 - Open the Philips Hue app

3 - Go to the setting section

4 - Click on “Add serial number”

5 - Take your bulb and then enter the 6 character you need to introduce. After that click on “Ok”

6 - Your lights are now all connected to the Philips Hue bridge

3. Some of my Philips Hue lights look unreachable

Sometimes, some of your lights will look unreachable if you turn them off without using the app.

Fixing the problem is as easy as switching on all your lights.

If this doesn’t seem to work:

1- Open the Philips Hue app

2- Go to the setting section

3 - Click on light setup

4- Look for the light you can’t control. Click on the info icon.

5 - Delete the bulb and now go back and try to add it again to the bridge.

4. Factory reset to your Philips Hue Bridge

If your Philips Hue bridge doesn’t work and you can’t find it with the original Philips Hue app you probably need to do a factory reset.

1- Go to your Philips Hue bridge. Don’t disconnect it.

2 - Look at the back of your Philips Hue bridge and then look for a small gap next to “restore factory setting (See photo)”

3 - Take a small stick and introduce it through the hole. Press for 5 seconds

4 - After that, your bridge will have been restored to the factory settings.

5 - Now go you need to connect all your lights with your bridge again. 

6 - Go to the  “Connecting the hue lights to your bridge” section.

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5. Do I need the internet connection to control my lights?

No, all you need to have is your Philips Hue bridge connected to a local network and then connect your phone to the same network. It doesn’t require internet connection unless you want to control your lights outside the network.

6. Can I control multiple Hue Bridges at the same time?

Yes. If you have multiple Hue Bridges you can control all your lights without switching between them. We wrote a post that covers this issue, check it out.

7. Can I use another app to control my lights?

Yes, you can. There are some third party apps to control your Philips Hue Lights. Take a look at the Yeti - Smart Home Automation app

8. Can I have two Philips Hue bridges or more on the same network?

Yes, you can. Go to this post where you can see how to control your lights without switching between bridges with the Yeti - Smart Home Automation app

9. How can I know my Philips Hue bridge IP address?

If your Philips Hue bridge is connected to the internet you can check its IP address visiting this link:

https://www.meethue.com/api/nupnp

You can also check the Ip Address on the application setting section.

Final Thoughts

If you want to know more about smart lights, check out our post on how to turn yout phone into a remote light control.

Did you find the guide useful? Leave us a comment below.

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