I Control My Philips Hue Lights Lights With This Tiny, Must-Have Device, and It’s Not My Phone
I love the Philips Hue smart lights in my home and I have multiple ways to control them. The simplest way is probably my cell phone or a smart speaker or exhibit. In most cases, this approach should be sufficient. But I’ve been looking for another way to manage the lights in my home that’s easy and gives me more control. I’ve now found what I’m looking for and I basically use it to control my Hue lights.
Although I can find Other brands of smart lights now – and at a much cheaper price — Philips Hue is probably the most well-known And provides a rich lineup of indoor and outdoor smart lighting products. Whether I want to hide my lights or I’m looking for unique lights intended to show offPhilips Hue has them.
It’s not just about the light bulbs, though. The Hue range also has a wide range of accessories. For me one of the best accessories is Philips Hue Hue Tap Dial. Available in black or white for $50, the Tap Dial is a small disc-shaped light controller that you press and rotate, giving it a “smart analog” vibe.
Although Philips Hue Tap Dial is not for sale black fridayit’s a solid gift for the right person, and you can still get some great deals on some other Hue lighting options. For example, both Signe Gradient Table Lamp and Sing gradient floor lamp On sale at a discount of over 25%. If you’re looking for a more typical light bulb setup, for Black Friday, Amazon has one 3-pack of 60W A19 bulbs for only $75originally priced at $135 (44% off). After all, you need some lights to control with the Tap Dial.
Don’t miss the best Black Friday deals under $100 and Amazon’s Best Black Friday Deals.
On the surface, the Tap Dial is a simple but expensive way to control lights
Although spending $50 for a fancy light switch seems a bit much, especially when I consider that it costs almost the same as a single light switch Philips Hue 75W white and color mood light bulbs. That said, if you’re like me and firmly immersed in the Hue ecosystem, you’ve probably come to terms with the fact that it’s an expensive ecosystem. That said, tinkerers will be excited about the customization options on this little guy, and I believe it’s definitely worth the money.
The dial itself looks like a hockey puck, with four buttons on the surface and an outer wheel that spins to brighten or dim the lights. Each of the four buttons has little dots numbered 1 to 4, so you can feel which button you press, even in the dark. It’s fairly small and moving it to another room isn’t a chore if you choose. You can place it on the wall inside the included wall mount and use it like a typical light switch. And it’s magnetic, so you can stick it on your refrigerator or other metal surfaces.
Tap Dial’s customization options are extensive.
Under the hood, Tap Dial customization options are excellent
You might think that setting up this little device is simple and involves only a few options, but you’d be wrong. Tap Dial can be a bit complex to set up and may require some tinkering to get just right, especially if you want to go through multiple scenes.
In fact, either I completely missed the feature in the app, or Philips’ watch faces have addressed my major complaints in almost two years. I’m not sure which one is true, but my biggest pet peeve is that I believe you can only use the Tap Dial for one room or “area” in your home. Again, while this may have always been the way the device works, it’s now fixed (in my opinion) and you can assign each button to a different room or area in your home. However, the rotary dimming function can only be assigned to one room at a time, which makes sense.
To set it up, you’ll go to the Hue app and then go to set up > Accessories > and select your click-to-dial. From there, you can assign functions to each button. First, you need to choose whether the button controls lights or automation. If you choose the former, you’ll need to choose what to do when the button is pressed:
- time based light: Lighting based on the time of day or according to a customized schedule of your choice.
- scene loop: Select the main scene that always starts when the button is pressed. Continue pressing to cycle through other lighting scenes.
- single scene: There is always only the same scene when the button is pressed.
- Turn off the lights: When the button is pressed, the selected light turns off.
By default, holding down any button turns off the lights assigned to it, but you can choose to turn off all lights throughout your home or do nothing. There’s also an advanced “Smart On/Off” option that I haven’t dabbled with yet.
After customizing the buttons to your liking, your last stop is to choose what the rotary dial does—or something other than brightening or dimming the lights. There are only two options here, and both are easy to adjust. The first is to choose whether you want to be able to turn the light off completely with the knob, or only reduce the light to its lowest brightness when you turn it to dim it. The second option gives you the option to set a specific scene that will turn on if you turn the dial when the lights are off.
You can make the settings as simple or complex as you want, making Tap Dial easy for anyone to use.
The Hue Tap Dial makes a great gift
There’s a good chance someone won’t run out and spend a fortune on a Hue light after receiving this as a gift. While Tap Dial is easy to use, the value it brings comes from the customization you can do with it. You don’t have to jump into all the settings to make Dial worth your money, though. As I said above, it’s an easy-to-use device for anyone because you can make it as simple or complex as you want.
If you know someone who already has Hue in their home, this would be a great addition. Also, if they like to dig into settings or are a self-proclaimed tinkerer, this is definitely something to consider. If you’re not sure if someone has a Hue light, a Tap Dial paired with a new bulb would be a better gift.
Will Tap Dial have any Black Friday deals?
It’s hard to say. Since Amazon’s Black Friday sales are already in full swing and there’s no discount in sight on the Tap Dial, my guess is that it will stay at the same price of $50.
However, heading to the official Philips Hue website, the Hue Tap Dial is on sale, but there’s a catch. Dial is not sold as a stand-alone item; Mix and match offers on selected products. Adding any two items from the page to your cart automatically applies a 30% discount, which is nice too. In fact, adding dial faucets and Standard dimmer switch After discounts, adding it to your cart only costs about $55. Pair the Tap Dial with a light bulb to inspire recipients to start building their smart home.
Want more? Don’t miss it Video roundup of the best Philips Hue lightsa Tap Dial will appear so you can see it in action. here it is Smart Home Devices for Black Friday Sale.
