How screwed are we with Signify announcing a login requirement for Hue hubs moving forward?
Some good responses (including Robert's) in this thread.
I've had a Hue account ever since Hue's early days since I never knew you didn't really need one all this time.
If they get squirrelly with it in the future, I'll figure something else out. But I'm losing zero sleep over this move as it stands now.
Not at all. Signify/Hue has publicly commented that they plan to keep the local API. See:
- Philips Hue users will need to sign up for an account by next year to use the smart lighting company’s app - The Verge and
- https://twitter.com/tweethue/status/1704731415508623442
Additionally, it looks like this requirement might only apply to new setups (but elsewhere looks like it might eventually be required for existing Bridge users using the official Hue app as well), but existing setups should continue to work as-is regardless.
But as I mentioned elsewhere, I'd guess most people who use a Hue Bridge already have an account and are signed in (because it lets you use neat features many users want to have, like native voice assistant integration or out-of-home control)--a separate issue from this theoretical concern but of little practical difference to most people given this reality, I suspect.
Thank you so much for all of the work you’ve put into this integration!! I was really excited when I saw that you have support for prestaging color temp and levels, but I’m seeing that there’s still some amount of “staleness” when turning on a prestaged bulb. If, for example, a bulb is at 50% when I turn it off, and I run presetLevel(1), it will very briefly turn on at some level above 1 before quickly dimming down to 1. This doesn’t seem nearly as severe as trying to call setLevel(1) on a bulb that had been turned off at 50, which will brighten all of the way to 50, hang out there for an instant, and then finally (relatively slowly) dim to 1, so this is still a significant improvement, even if this is all that the Hue API allows! I was mostly just wondering if there was any way I could mitigate this brief stale flash, or whether this is indeed a limitation of Hue’s API.
Thanks again for building and maintaining this!!
This. There isn't really pre-staging at all; it's faked in the driver (and thus also has some limitations, like a group won't filter down to individual bulbs). To some extent, I regret doing it. 
One way around this is to create a scene, then activate that scene.
Got it, that’s what I’d been doing before, so no worries. Totally understand the limitations at play here; thank you for everything regardless!
Any idea when the new hue contact sensors will be supported?
"If" unless someone can show me that events are getting sent over the v2 API (the only way I'd probably consider doing it at this point). 
Assuming it is, and from a quick search it looks like they might be, seeing debug output from the Bridge with the event stream data for open/close events would be the most helpful thing for someone to give me to try without actually having one.
(I normally like to have Hue hardware, but they're kinda veering out of their lane lately. If it weren't $40 USD, I might try one just to find out, but...)
Ha, no kidding... Those things are both ginormous and silly expensive -- neither being a redeeming quality in the realm of contact sensors.
I'll pay the Hue tax on bulbs and motion sensors, but not for stuff like this.
I'm happy to pay what I am paying now for your excellent support before paying for new devices...
Odd question: but would using this app allow me to have a Hue Tap Dial integrated with Hubitat but still be able to use the dial? I have some rooms where not all devices es are Hue Devices and I like to be able to control them both together. I have one integrated now using another community driver but I can’t use the dial with it.
Thanks.
By "use," do you mean "use with Hue" (and Hubitat at the same time)? If so, yes -- it works similarly to how bulbs, groups, etc., are brought into the hub. Events and commands are sent between the two systems, and adding Hubitat does not change the functionality on Hue (similar to how adding Alexa, Google, or HomeKit/Siri does not affect usage if you are familiar with those integrations on Hue).
I think I follow.
So the dial would be setup in Hue, but HE would see it and be able to respond to events? So it would fire whatever Hue scene I configured but I could also trigger an action in HE like change the temperature on a thermostat.
I’m guessing I can’t have a button only trigger an HE event then.
That is mostly correct--but I think you'll get events on Hubitat even if you don't have any scenes, etc., configured on that button press for Hue (just as long as the device is added).
I have a Dial, and if I'm following, it's not going to work they way you are thinking. If you set a scene from either the Hue app or the Dial that has been programmed in the Hue app, Hubitat does not see the scene activation. It sees the events on the lights themselves, but has no idea about what scene you set.
Now, the way to work around this (and what I do), is set up the Dial in Hubitat by bringing everything in through CoCoHue. By doing this, you can then use Button Controller (which I use but there are other options), to both activate the scene and do other actions at the same time. The one catch to this is the Dial itself. You'll lose the dimming function that happens with the Hue app. However, CoCoHue allows you to use setLevel or startLevelChange command to help get around this limitation. The Dial itself becomes buttons 5 and 6 and can be used to set the dimmer value in a roundabout way.
Got it.
I figured I had to choose using the wheel and only accessing hue features or sync to Hubitat and lose the wheel. I may try to see what I can do with coco and the wheel. From what I’ve read I can run it side by side with the default integration to find out. Assuming it does what I want I can move everything over.
I have rooms with a single hue light where I’d prefer to use the other buttons for other accessories. Scenes don’t mean much in those scenarios (hah!)
I also have rooms with only a single bulb and nothing. I’d love to give users the ability to set a few scenes and dim the lamp. I think in those rooms, leaving the dial in Hue mode makes the most sense.
Thanks for the replies.
I have replaced the built-in Hue with Cocohue and got it to work fine. However I added an old spare GE LinkX bulb to my hue and it originally the Cocohue app saw it added it to my Hubitat devices. I don't know what happened but I can no longer see it anywhere in my Devices list on Hubitat C-8 hub. I have a workaround because it is part of a Cocohue group of another GE LinkX bulb that was also ported over but I lost individual bulb control for that old spare bulb since I no longer see it as an individual device. I tried to rediscover it in the app but it is not showing up any longer in the dropdown box of the Cocohue App. FYI the individual bulb controls fine in the Philips Hue app which is how I have to control it individually now for the time being.
Any thoughts on how I can get this bulb discovered again in Hubitat?
Chances are are it's already added, maybe with a different name. When you add bulbs (or any device), you'll see a list of what's been added with both the Hue and Hubitat names, which can be different. Check there.
Thanks for replying. I think I am following you. I looked in my 192.168.xx.xxx/devices/list/ showing all my current devices which has a little over 100. I sorted the list by DNI so that all the Cocohue CCH/1188 devices all grouped together. This is where I do not see the old spare GE LinkX bulb listed with the other working Phillips Hue bulbs and GE LinkX bulbs with DNI assigned as CCH/1188/Light/1 thru 16.
Then I trigger the Cocohue Group and the spare bulb is actually being controlled On/Off from Hubitat even though it is not anywhere in the devices list. Nothing is showing up in the Hubitat Live Logs either for this "hidden" spare bulb. I am wondering if I will need to completely remove the Cocohue app and all its associated devices and start all over?
