Question on using Hue Scene as trigger

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1

Qn from a user:
Hello,

I am trying to set up a Logicblock as follows:

IF Philips Hue Lights are set to SCENE X
AND if the time is 10:00am
THEN turn Philips Hue Lights to SCENCE Y
IF NOT, no change

I am able to easily set the Condition of the 10:00am time, however I am unable to set the Condition for the current state (i.e. Scene) of my Philips Lights. I tried to do this via a Boolean variable using IFTTT but in the IF section, you cannot select Philips Hue as it has supports no Triggers. As such I cannot send a “update a variable to Apilio.”

If what I am trying to do possible?

Thank you,
A

2

Hi there,

yes, as far as I know this is currently not possible.
There is a new Philips Hue API in the works that may eventually enable integrators to have a trigger on a scene change, but is still in beta: https://developers.meethue.com/new-hue-api/
Once it is fully functional, we will assess whether we can integrate it with Apilio.

3

So Hue don’t let us access their devices to use in conditions yet. That’s annoying.

4

I guess it’s not first priority for a bulb company :smile: The main use case is receiving commands, not delivering status info.

5

Actually I rather disagree, they are doing a good job of their PIR sensors (and switches) and lots of work in their app to make their own interpretation of how people want to use their products but clearly they don’t envisage tinkering around anything like we all do : )

6

Thanks to this question, I started investigating if one can send sensor data from Apple HomeKit to a web hook (=Apilio). I tried with the “Home” app on Mac OS, but did not succeed. But on the iOS App it worked?
This is a great discovery, because it means one can link any HomeKit- (and probably Matter-) Device with Apilio!
I will write a separate article about it.

@Dan if only we had an iOS app to make the linking between HomeKit and Apilio easier :thinking:

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7

So here’s what the user did in the end…

"I realized I could create an Apple Shortcut as follows:

IF “Phillips Hue Light X” is “ON”
THEN Set “Scene Y”
IF NOT, no action

The above requires Apple Home to be set up.

I then created an Apple Automation to Run the above shortcut I created at 9:30am everyday.

It’s not a fancy solution but it does the job. Ideally I would have liked the script to tell me IF a specific “Hue Scene” is set at a certain time, then change the Scene. However, Apple Shortcuts doesn’t allow you to do that. It only let’s you control a Scene or get the state of a specific smart appliance (in my case one of the light bulbs in my living room). So, for my use case it works since all the bulbs would either be on or off at that specific time, and if they are off then no action is needed.

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