Does Hue Sync work with music?
What is Hue Sync?
Hue Sync is a feature of the Philips Hue smart lighting system that allows your Hue lights to sync with what’s displayed on your computer screen or TV. It works by analyzing the colors on your screen and instructing your Hue lights to match those colors in real-time. This creates an immersive lighting effect that complements your content.
Hue Sync requires a Philips Hue Bridge, the central hub that controls your Hue lights, as well as a TV, computer, or mobile device running the Hue Sync app or software. Once enabled in the app, Hue Sync will automatically detect what’s on your screen based on HDMI or screen mirroring, and adjust your room’s lighting dynamically.
Hue Sync was designed to enhance gaming, video watching, and other visual media by surrounding you with synchronized, colorful ambient lighting. The effect can make the content feel more engaging and vivid.
Can Hue Sync sync with music?
Philips Hue’s built-in entertainment sync, called Hue Sync, has limited capabilities when it comes to syncing lights with music. Currently, Hue Sync only works directly with Spotify and Apple Music to analyze the music in real time and change the color and brightness of Hue lights based on factors like genre, tempo, lyrics etc.[1]
So if you use Spotify or Apple Music, you can enable Hue Sync in the Hue app and select the ‘Music’ mode to have your Hue lights pulse and change colors along with your songs. However, Hue Sync does not work natively with other popular music services like YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Pandora etc. There is no direct integration or analyze/sync feature for those platforms.
While Hue Sync for music is limited, there are some third party apps that can help expand compatibility to other services. But the default Hue Sync capability only works with Spotify and Apple Music. So if you use other music apps, the light sync won’t be automated and optimized on its own.
Hue Sync and Spotify
You can sync your Philips Hue lights to Spotify using the official Hue Sync app, though the syncing capabilities are limited. The Hue Sync app only syncs lights to explicit content warnings and doesn’t actually analyze and sync lighting to the music in real-time.
To get full music sync capabilities between Spotify and Hue lights, you’ll need to use third-party apps. Some popular options include:
- Hue Disco – Syncs Hue lights with music from Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and more. Works on iOS and Android.
- HueStudio – Syncs Hue lights to Spotify on Windows 10. Has customizable lighting themes.
- WinHue – Another Windows app for syncing Hue with Spotify and other music services.
These third-party apps can analyze the music in real-time and sync your Hue lights to react to the beat, tempo, genre and more. This provides a much more immersive music sync experience compared to the limited capabilities of the official Hue Sync app.
According to users on Reddit, third-party apps like Hue Disco work well for syncing Spotify music playback to Hue lights, with some occasional syncing issues depending on WiFi strength and bridge connectivity (source). But overall they offer the best music sync integration between Spotify and Philips Hue lights.
Hue Sync and Apple Music
There is currently no native integration between Hue Sync and Apple Music. The Hue Sync desktop app only supports Spotify natively. However, there are some third party apps that can enable syncing between Hue lights and Apple Music.
One popular option is an iOS app called iLightShow. This app allows you to connect your Hue lights and sync them to songs in your Apple Music library. It has different lighting modes and effects you can choose from to match the mood of your music.
The downside is that iLightShow requires keeping your iPhone or iPad in the room to act as a bridge between the Hue lights and Apple Music. There is no desktop or standalone option. But for many users, having syncing capabilities directly from their iPhone is convenient.
Overall, Hue Sync does not natively work with Apple Music like it does Spotify. But third party iOS apps like iLightShow provide a decent alternative for syncing the lights to your Apple Music library.
Hue Sync and other music services
With some creativity, you can sync Hue lights to music services other than just Spotify and Apple Music. For example, third party apps like Rainbowify can sync your lights to music from YouTube, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, and more.
Rainbowify works by analyzing the frequency bands in the music playing through your device’s speakers or headphones. It then translates those frequencies into colors and patterns for your Hue lights. This allows the lights to pulse, flash, and change in sync with whatever music you are listening to.
The advantage of using Rainbowify or similar apps is that you aren’t limited to only the music services that directly integrate with Hue. As long as the app can detect the music playing, it can sync the lights accordingly. This provides much more flexibility in the music sources you can use.
Limitations of Hue Sync for music
The native Hue Sync feature has some limitations when syncing lights to music. The biggest limitation is that Hue Sync is not optimized for full music synchronization, only basic effects.
The Hue app only allows syncing up to 10 lights with music. This makes it challenging to get full room coverage during a music sync experience. According to Philips’ website, Hue Sync is designed to provide accent lighting that complements the music, not full room immersion.
There is also a delay in the Hue Sync reaction time to the music. This lag can range from 100ms to 500ms based on testing by users (Reddit). The delay is noticeable compared to optimized third-party apps.
Overall, while Hue Sync provides basic music synchronization effects, it lacks the capabilities for a true full immersive music experience due to the 10 light limit and sync delay issues.
Recommended 3rd party Hue music apps
Since Hue Sync has some limitations for music, many users turn to third party apps to get better music sync capabilities. Some of the most popular and highly recommended apps include:
Hue Disco – This app is one of the top choices for syncing Hue lights with music. It’s easy to setup and connect to music services like Spotify. Hue Disco has several different lighting modes to match the beat and mood of your music. Users praise it for reliable syncing and an intuitive interface. (source)
HueParty – Similar to Hue Disco, this app focuses solely on music sync and has many effects like spectrum, waterfall, and radial modes. It also has scene customization and support for services like Apple Music. The simple controls make it beginner friendly.
Rainbowify – This app syncs Hue lights with Spotify using advanced algorithms to match both the tempo and mood of your music. It has 3D effects and animation for a dynamic experience. Rainbowify also allows for custom color palettes and scenes.
These third party apps provide more advanced and customizable music sync than the native Hue app. They offer features like lighting themes, color palette control, and connectivity with major music services. For those wanting to make their Hue lights dance to their music, apps like Hue Disco and Rainbowify are top choices.
Tips for best music sync experience
To get the most out of syncing your Hue lights with music, here are some tips to optimize the setup and settings:
Positioning
Strategically place your Hue lights around the room to get the full immersive effect. Put some behind or around your TV, others on side tables or shelves, and some overhead or behind you. Spreading out the lights creates a surround effect.
Brightness
Adjust the brightness of your lights to suit the ambience you want. For an energetic party vibe, turn the brightness up high. For a more relaxed mood, lower the brightness. You can adjust this in the Hue app.
Sync settings
Customize the effect you want in the Hue app settings. Choose from solid color, gentle candle, radiant colors, and more. Test out different combinations with your music to see what looks best.
Also adjust the intensity and speed of the light reactions. Faster, energetic songs often look better with quicker color shifting effects. Slower songs can have a more gradual ambience.
Future updates to improve music sync
Philips Hue has indicated plans to enhance music integration in the future. According to the Philips Hue website, “Sync smart light with music”, they are actively working on improving Hue Sync to work better with streaming music services. While current music sync capabilities are limited, Philips Hue aims to add support for synchronizing lights with more music services, improving sync accuracy, and giving users more customization options.
Some potential future updates could include native integration with Spotify, Apple Music, and other popular streaming platforms. More reliable beat and rhythm detection is another area of focus. And greater control over which lights sync, color choices, and effects would allow personalizing the experience. While Hue Sync’s music capabilities remain basic for now, Philips Hue’s roadmap suggests significant improvements are coming.
Summary
Overall, Philips Hue’s native Sync app has limited ability to sync lighting effects to music. While it can pulse lights to the beat of your Spotify playlists, it lacks robust integration with most music services’ libraries and doesn’t analyze the audio to create immersive, reactive lighting. However, there are some good third-party apps like HueDynamic and Huestacean that can provide a much better music sync experience by detecting tempo, beats, frequencies and more. These apps allow you to connect to various music services and create unique lighting scenes that change dynamically with your music.
Currently, the music sync capabilities in the Hue app are basic but show promise as an early iteration of the feature. With some improvements to audio analysis and integration with music services in the future, Hue Sync could offer a seamless way to bring your music to life with colorful, rhythmic lighting effects. For now, third-party apps provide the best results for those looking for a highly responsive, visually stunning music visualizer via their Hue lights.