The color wheel
Open any color-capable light and you get a round color wheel. Colors run around the edge, and the center fades to white, so moving toward the middle gives softer, paler shades. Drag the marker anywhere on the wheel to pick a color.
- Live updates. The light changes while your finger is still moving, not only when you let go. There is no Apply button for single lights.
- Room color. You can also color a whole room at once. Lights in a room start out linked, so dragging recolors the group. Double-tap a light, or double-click on Mac, to unlink it and give it its own color.
- VoiceOver. The wheel has adjustable controls for color and saturation, so you can change them by swiping up or down with VoiceOver.
On Apple TV, where there is no touch screen to drag, HueCommand shows a grid of preset colors instead of the wheel.
Warm to cool white
For lights that support color temperature, switch to the temperature control to pick a shade of white. The slider runs from about 2000K, a warm amber, to about 6500K, a cool daylight white, and labels the current value as Warm White, Neutral or Daylight. Buttons at each end nudge it warmer or cooler in small steps.
Want white that follows the time of day? See the free circadian presets.
Color harmony guides
If you are not sure which colors go together, turn on a harmony mode. HueCommand places extra markers on the wheel that show matching colors for the one you picked:
- Complement: the color directly opposite
- Analogous: the two neighbors on either side
- Triadic: two colors spaced evenly around the wheel
- Split: the two colors either side of the opposite
- Off: no guides
In the room color picker, with two or more color lights, tap Apply Harmony to Room to spread your main color and its harmony colors across the room's lights.
Gradient lights
Hue gradient lights can show more than one color at a time. For these, HueCommand shows a marker on the wheel for each gradient point, and you can drag each one on its own.
- Add or remove points, up to the number the light supports as reported by your Hue Bridge.
- Choose how the colors are laid out when the light offers more than one style, such as Smooth, Mirrored, Pixelated or Segments.
- Tap Apply Gradient to send the set of points to the light.
Requirements
- A Philips Hue Bridge on your network.
- Hue color lights for the color wheel and harmony modes; lights that support color temperature for the white slider.
- The color wheel, white slider, harmony guides and gradient controls are free. No Pro needed.
HueCommand runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro and Apple Watch, and is listed on the App Store as Command for Philips Hue.
Frequently asked questions
Is the color wheel free?
Yes. Color, white temperature, harmony guides and gradient controls are all part of the free app.
Does the light change while I drag?
Yes. HueCommand sends color updates while you drag and limits how fast they reach the bridge, so the light follows your finger without flooding the bridge with commands.
What range does the white temperature slider cover?
About 2000K (warm) to about 6500K (cool daylight). It appears for lights that support color temperature.
Can I color each part of a gradient lightstrip?
Yes. For gradient lights, each gradient point gets its own marker on the wheel. You can add or remove points up to what the light supports, then tap Apply Gradient.
How do I give one light in a room its own color?
In the room color picker, lights start out linked. Double-tap a light, or double-click on Mac, to unlink it and set its color separately.