Signify is expanding Philips Hue’s smart home reach beyond its current scope of high-quality, convenience-focused mood lighting, with a suite of new home security products. Buy all the new bits of kit in the Philips Hue Secure range and you’ll have what is effectively a light-based home security system.
The new line – which will work seamlessly with existing Philips Hue lights – includes a wired and wireless camera, a floodlight camera, a door/window contact sensor, plus camera mounts (including stake mounts for the garden) and cables.
If an unwelcome visitor enters your home or garden and triggers a camera or contact sensor on an entry point, you’ll get a video clip of the event delivered to the app and the option to call the authorities or a contact from the app’s Security Centre. Crucially, you can set off a sound and light alarm. All your Hue lights will flash together as a warning to any family members, and as a deterrent to intruders.
The idea of all lights within a home flashing in sync as soon as an intruder opens the front door is genius. It’s a grand, filmic image although it may be slightly less impressive if it happens during the day and you don’t have a house crammed with Philips Hue lights.)
For most people, however, the price of the setup will be prohibitive, with the contact sensor priced at £59.99/ €69.99, the wired camera costing £174.99/ €199.99, the battery camera £219.99/ €249.99 and the floodlight camera priced at a whopping £299.99/ €349.99, which makes them more expensive than rival models from even other premium brands.
For reference, the notably expensive Google Nest cam with floodlight (wired) is priced at £269.99 in the UK.
And that’s before you even factor in the subscription you’ll need to use all the features. A basic plan with a 30-day video history costs £3.99/€3.99 per month or £34.99/ €39.99 per year for a single camera. The Plus plan with a 60-day history costs £8.99/ €9.99 per month or £84.99/ €99.99 for multiple cameras.
The feature sets seem comprehensive: the cameras can be used indoor or outdoors and have 1080p video feed with night vision and feature two-way talk, so if the person who triggers a garden camera alert when you’re away from home turns out to be the postman, you can have a chat and request that your package is left somewhere safe.
You can also set up blackout zones in the app to block out filming from given areas like a neighbour’s garden; assign activity zones, where you can filter out unwanted notifications; and choose to filter out motion from pets and cars.
But again, features including filtering out animals and traffic are subscription-only.
Philips Hue
The floodlight has another great security feature. When you trigger an alarm from the app, it floods the surrounding area with light – but in the colour of your choosing.
Privacy is also a selling point, with all cameras featuring end-to-end encryption by default, even for event recognition. This means that your videos can’t be seen by anyone else, even by Philips.
As a day-to-day feature, the contact sensors and cameras can respond to motion by switching on the lights when you come home or enter a room. You’ll also need a Philips Hue Bridge (£49.99/ €59.99) to unlock all the features of the system.
The cameras and contact sensor will be available to buy later this year and the floodlight will be available in Q1 2024.
- Best smart lights
- Best security cameras
Author: Emma Rowley, Deputy Editor, Tech Advisor
Tech Advisor’s Deputy Editor, Emma has been a journalist and copywriter for over 20 years and has been testing and writing about home tech and appliances for seven years. She tries out every appliance she writes about at home, and aims to recommend time- and energy-saving products that will last.
Recent stories by Emma Rowley:
- The essential Oral-B iO guide: Every iO electric toothbrush’s features and price
- Oral-B iO10 Limited Edition electric toothbrush review: The last word in luxury – and price
- Roku rival Aero gets you Freely without a smart TV
