How do I turn the lights?

Goal

Switch, dim, and color the lamps and rooms of a Philips Hue Bridge by voice.

Before you start

• A Philips Hue Bridge on the same network as the Mac.
• The Expert view. See How do I switch between Simple and Expert?
• AI access is set up.

Steps

1. Settings, Apps & services. Under Connected apps, tap Philips Hue, or type Hue in the search field. In the Simple view the entry is not in the list.
2. Enter the address in the Bridge IP field. Or leave the field empty and press Find bridge. The search only fetches the list of bridges from Hue. No Hue account is needed.
3. Press the round button on the bridge. Then, within 30 seconds, press Pair under Pairing. Connected then shows at the top right.
4. Under Test, All on and All off switch every lamp. Below, Nova shows how many lights and rooms/zones it found.
5. Tell the avatar what you want: a room or a lamp by name, on or off, brighter or dimmer, warmer or cooler, a color, or a scene from the Hue app.
6. Switching lights can be undone. So there is no card. Nova switches and says briefly what it did.
7. Pair again fetches a new key from the bridge. Disconnect removes the pairing.

Example

“Lights in the living room off.” — “Make the lamps warmer.” — “Scene Relax.”

Common problems

• Find bridge finds nothing. The IP is in the Hue app under Settings, Bridge. It goes in the Bridge IP field.
• Pair says the button was not pressed. Press the round button and press Pair again within 30 seconds.
• Without pairing, Nova switches no lamp. The lights are then not available to Nova at all.
• A name does not match. Nova then says there is no light or room by that name. The names come from the Hue app.
• “Brighter” on its own can mean the display. Add light, lamp, or the room.