Smart home devices are starting to require a lot of connectivity. This is because it has solved a few problems that have become increasingly noticeable in the smart home ecosystem. ZigBee technology has become incredibly popular when it comes to smart home devices. Just like Wi-Fi, it’s essentially a different way of implementing the same technology behind AM and FM radio. ZigBee is a type of Wireless Communications technology. Rather than having to look up complicated technical details, or just guessing, you can just look at the packaging of your smart device to try and find the “Friends of Hue” logo: “Friends of Hue” is a convenient shorthand for being able to find out which smart devices can work with Philips Hue technology. That’s why they’ve come up with their “ Friends of Hue” protocol to determine which devices can, and can’t, work with this smart ecosystem. However, this company has had the foresight to see that there’s going to be plenty of other companies making these devices. Hue has cornered the market when it comes to smart lighting. Hue devices can also be controlled through Google, Apple Homekit, and Amazon Alexa. On the human side of things, you can control all of the Hue devices through the Hue app.

The Bridge itself is connected to the internet via a wired Ethernet connection. They all use the ZigBee communication protocol to send signals back and forth to the central bridge. The Philips Hue bridge is needed to control all of the devices in this ecosystem (apart from some newer bulbs that also support Bluetooth, albeit with less features). This is an impressive array of products that are all based around a central Philips Hue bridge. You’ll be able to find everything from smart LED light strips all the way over to smart light switches. There are countless products in the Philips Hue ecosystem.

My Philips Hue v2 Bridge in my loft (I already have a home network in my loft).

Phillip hue party mode