Philips Hue Revolutionizes Smart Home Lighting with AI-Powered Motion Sensing

Inside Philips Hue's plans to make all your lights motion sensors

Philips Hue has announced that its smart light bulbs -- both new and existing models -- are being upgraded to feature built-in motion sensing. The new feature, called Hue MotionAware, uses radio-frequency (RF) sensing to detect changes in the Zigbee signal between bulbs, allowing them to respond to movement without the need for separate motion sensors. It's a major upgrade for Hue users, introducing a powerful new capability to existing hardware at no extra cost -- though to activate the feature, you will need Hue's new Bridge Pro ($90), which also launched this week at the IFA 2025 tech show. According to Signify, Hue's parent company, MotionAware will work with all its mains-powered bulbs and fixtures manufactured after 2014, covering 95 percent of its install base. To create a MotionAware motion-sensing zone, you need Hue's new Bridge Pro and at least three Hue devices in a room. It works with all new and most existing mains-powered Hue products via a firmware update. That includes smart bulbs, light strips, and fixtures. Portable devices, such as the Hue Go or Table Lamp, and battery-powered accessories, such as Hue switches, aren't compatible. Neither is Hue's current smart plug. To set it up, select a room in the Hue app, choose the participating lights, and then motion can be detected in and around the area between those lights. The lights should ideally form a large zone, so three track lights in a row wouldn't be optimal. You can only set up four MotionAware zones per bridge. These zones then become motion sensors in the app -- and can trigger automations for any Hue lights or accessories (not just those in the Zone). "All of the functionality you get with our physical motion sensors -- including turning on when motion is detected or off when there's been no movement for a certain amount of time -- can be configured on motion-aware motion events," says George Yianni, Hue CTO and founder, in an interview with The Verge. MotionAware is occupancy sensing, not presence sensing; it requires movement. Yianni says it's comparable to the passive infrared sensing (PIR) Hue's physical sensors use. This means it can be triggered by pets or other motion. A sensitivity slider in the app helps fine-tune detection. According to Yianni, a key benefit over PIR is that a MotionAware zone can cover a larger area than a single PIR sensor, and it's also not limited to line of sight. MotionAware can't sense light levels, which Hue Motion Sensors can, but you can pair a light sensor to a motion zone to feed it that data. The positioning of the lights will also play a role in determining the effectiveness of the motion sensing. "We recommend that the lights surround an area which will roughly define the detection area in which motion will be detected," says Yianni. "It will sense around the lights and in the broader room thanks to reflections, but detection reliability will depend on lots of factors." Beyond lighting automation, MotionAware can also integrate with Hue Secure, Hue's DIY security platform that includes cameras, contact sensors, and a new video doorbell. Motion detection can trigger lights to flash red, activate Hue's new plug-in chime/siren, and send an alert to your phone with a button to call emergency services. The lighting automation is free, but security notifications require a Hue Secure subscription (starting at $40 a year and including video storage). If you don't have cameras, you can enable just MotionAware security alerts for $1 a month. The fee is due to the requirement for cloud connectivity to send alerts, says Yianni, but all motion detection runs locally on the bridge. MotionAware is entirely opt-in; it has to be manually enabled by the user in the Hue app, and motion data stays local unless used for security. Hue has also dropped its previous plans to require a Hue account, says Yianni, and follows strict privacy standards, including GDPR compliance. "We don't have ulterior motives for selling stuff, helping search results, that other companies maybe do," he says. "We will never activate this feature unless a user specifically configures it." MotionAware is built on RF sensing -- a technology that uses wireless signals to "see" a space and detect disruptions within it. The data is then sent to the Bridge Pro, where AI algorithms are applied to figure out what is causing those disruptions, so the system can act accordingly. This is why it's limited to the Bridge Pro, the V2 bridge isn't powerful enough to run those algorithms, says Yianni. Wi-Fi RF sensing has been around for a while. Hue's sister company, Wiz, launched a Wi-Fi version of MotionAware called SpaceSense in 2023, and several Wi-Fi router companies use the tech, but it's not known for its reliability. That may change thanks to a new IEEE 802.11bf standard for Wi-Fi sensing established earlier this year. However, Hue is the first company to use Zigbee for RF sensing. The closed Zigbee mesh network allows for lower false detection rates compared to Wi-Fi, says Yianni. "We've done something that's quite a lot better than what else is out there, including from ourselves on the Wi-Fi side," referring to Wiz's SpaceSense. Yianni says MotionAware was developed using IP from Ivani, a US-based technology company that created Sensify -- an RF-sensing firmware that can be layered onto the radio in any mains-powered device. Sensify supports multiple wireless protocols, including Zigbee, Wi-Fi, Thread, and BLE. Yianni says it took several years to perfect MotionAware to ensure low latency and high reliability in every home. "We found that it's quite easy to make an impressive demo, but it's quite hard to make something that works reliably and fast enough for real use in the complicated mess of our homes." Philips Hue developed its own tech on top of Sensify and implemented strict design constraints to keep the system stable and limit false detections; that's why there are only four sensing zones per bridge. "In time, we may be able to expand that," he says. "But it creates a load on the network." Disappointingly, MotionAware sensing areas can't be used as triggers for automations in third-party platforms like Apple Home or exposed to Matter. "It's a new sensing modality, so we are exploring ways to make it more broadly available," says Yianni. However, it is part of Hue's public API. The possibilities for RF sensing to bring the smart home closer to the dream of ambient control are very real. Ivani cofounder and CTO Matt Wootton told The Verge that it has the potential to be used beyond motion sensing for things like fall detection, sleep detection, and more. "It's foundational tech to achieving an actually smart home," he says. Yianni has been working toward implementing Hue's ambient sensing vision since he invented its first smart bulb in 2012. "There is no industry that is better positioned to roll out unobtrusive, room-level, real-time presence sensing than lighting," he says. By turning existing smart lights into a motion-sensing network, MotionAware takes a big step toward a home that responds to you. "Motion-activated lighting is wonderful," he says. "Combine it with a smarter system that knows the time of the day, knows preferences, so that the light just does the right thing when you walk into a room, and I think you have the ultimate smart home experience."

Philips Hue Bridge Pro just made it easy to add motion sensing to your old smart lights

Philips Hue adds Sonos Voice Control to its smart lighting products. Philips Hue announced a bunch of new products at its IFA 2025 event. From the affordable Essentials range to new smart light strips, there were a lot of cool products, but I was most intrigued by the new Bridge Pro and its ability to add motion sensing to both new and existing Philips Hue smart light products. The Philips Hue Bridge Pro supports a new feature called MotionAware, which uses radio frequency (RF) sensing to detect changes in the Zigbee signal between bulbs, converting them into motion-sensing devices without the need for external motion sensors. The feature will work with 95% of existing Hue products (those manufactured after 2014). Also: The best smart home devices of 2025: Expert tested I got a demo of MotionAware, and it was pretty impressive. Philips says you need at least three Hue lights to make MotionAware work. These don't necessarily need to be smart bulbs but can be light strips or other Hue light products, too. MotionAware won't work with third-party devices or battery-powered Hue lights. It was easy to set up in the demo. You need the Hue app to select the room and participating lights. While calibrating (a 20-second process), they'll blink once to confirm the setup process, and you're all set. MotionAware can be triggered by pets because it can only sense movements and cannot distinguish between humans and pets. The movement data is sent to the Bridge Pro, which analyzes it and applies AI algorithms to find the cause of the movements. You can also change the sensitivity, draw shapes around an area where you want MotionAware to work, and choose if you want to set up security notifications. However, you'll require a Hue Secure subscription to make security notifications work. While the subscription starts at $40 a year (including video storage), you can subscribe to only MotionAware security alerts for $1 per month. Philips Hue also announced a partnership with Sonos, so you can control your Hue products with Sonos Voice Control. It only works in English and French, because those are the only two languages supported by Sonos' voice assistant. Also: These 7 smart plug hacks that saved me time, money, and energy (and how I set them up) As one of the journalists in the room pointed out, it'd be cool if MotionAware could sense which room you're in and shift music to your Sonos room speaker (from another, say, living room soundbar) automatically. This isn't possible yet, but it's a cool idea, and the company says it's working on expanding capabilities in its partnership with Sonos. While we're on voice assistants, it is worth mentioning that Philips Hue has also added an AI assistant within its app. It can be operated with type-in commands as well as voice. You can ask it to set the theme of the room or use generative AI to suggest more lighting options based on your mood. Alongside my favorite MotionAware announcement, Philips Hue also announced its first-ever doorbell. The Philips Hue Secure Video Doorbell is a wired product (rather than battery-powered). It supports 2K video recording with a 180-degree field of view horizontally and vertically. It will go on sale in October 2025 for $170. The company introduced the Hue Essentials product line, which is a budget alternative to the reliable Philips Hue products. The new lineup consists of two light strips, an A19/E27 60-watt equivalent bulb, BR30 downlights, and GU10 spotlights. They are claimed to still deliver good color accuracy, but they don't dim as deeply as their more expensive counterparts. Philips Hue Essentials devices are compatible with the Hue Bridge over Zigbee and support Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, and Google Home connection for voice control. Also: 8 smart home gadgets that instantly upgraded my house (and why they work) As for the Philips Hue Bridge Pro itself, the device is priced at $90. It supports connection to Zigbee devices to add capabilities like schedules, out-of-home control, customized lighting scenes, and more. It packs a more powerful processor, higher RAM capacity, and can connect up to 150 lights and 50 accessories. Moreover, Philips Hue has a new OmniGlow strip light. According to Signify's John Smith, this is "the best light strip" that they've made to date. It can go up to 4,500 lumens in brightness and dim down to 0.5 percent (Hue Essentials products can do 2 percent, while other expensive Hue lights can do 0.2 percent). Pricing starts at $140. There are a bunch of other Philips Hue strip lights, too, including ones in the Flux and Essentials series.

I think it's clear Hue is preparing for a full smart home ecosystem with Hue Bridge Pro | Stuff

"Smart lighting sits at the heart of what we do, but our vision for the smart home goes further," says Hue's chief As every Philips Hue user knows, the Hue Bridge is the essential centrepoint of the system, a control hub for your lights that connects to your router as well as joining Hue to smart home ecosystems such as Apple Home, Amazon Alexa and Google Home. But I think it looks very much like Hue wants to be one of those ecosystems itself. During an event at IFA 2025, Hue owner Signify set out its vision for the next step forward. "Smart lighting sits at the heart of what we do, but our vision for the smart home goes further," says John Smith, leader of Hue at Signify. Smith talked of "offerings that cover security, entertainment and wellbeing, increasingly tapping into the potential of artificial intelligence. Our goal is to make our users' lives more intuitive, personalized, and connected - and to reimagine home itself." Central to this ideal is the new £80/$99 Hue Bridge Pro, which Hues says "lays the foundation for the next era of smart lighting control." The new bridge supports up to 150 lights and 50 accessories and removes the need to have separate Hue Bridges in homes - everything can be controlled from a single Hue Bridge. It's five times more powerful than the original Bridge and now enables users to store over 500 custom lighting scenes and get faster response times across the system. It enables incoming capabilities such as Hue Motion Aware where you can turn on lights when motion is detected. You can easily upgrade from an existing Bridge (or Bridges). Hue also debuted a video doorbell at the show and I think Hue has probably got its eye on being an alternative to Amazon's Ring and Blink systems - after all, it already has some cameras. The Hue Secure video doorbell can do two-way talk as you'd expect, but it can also turn on lights when someone rings the bell or it detects motion. There's also a chime. And as part of this move Hue Secure video history will be free rather than part of the Hue Secure subscription. There will also be some new AI enhancements in 2026 including facial recognition while the cameras can also now recognise smoke alarm sounds. And Hue is also introducing AI-based automations via its generative AI assistant tool, too. As I'd expected there were also stacks of new Hue lights launched at the event, too, including new strip lights, an Essential range that brings the barrier to entry down and more Festavia lights in time for the Christmas period. The globe string lights are designed to be in place all year and can simply be changed to match the mood... or the time of year. And that wasn't all; Sonos and Hue also announced at IFA 2025 that Sonos users will be able to control their Philips Hue lights using Sonos Voice Control. I think many Sonos users would do this kind of thing using Amazon Alexa (including myself) but it gives a different option for those who want to use the more private Sonos assistant. Indeed, Sonos says it "has been the most requested voice feature from our users, and a natural next step for Sonos Voice Control as we continue delivering hands-free ease to customers." You'll be able to turn Hue lights on or off, adjust brightness or colour, or activate pre-set scenes.