Philips Hue Bridge Professional Evaluate – A improbable and lengthy overdue improve for Hue

After practically a decade of ready, Philips Hue has lastly delivered what many good lighting fanatics have been begging for – a bridge that may deal with the calls for of a contemporary good house. The Hue Bridge Professional represents the primary main {hardware} improve to the Hue ecosystem’s spine since 2015, when the model 2 bridge launched. For these of us who’ve progressively expanded our Hue techniques over time, hitting the irritating 50-device restrict has grow to be an all-too-familiar expertise.

The brand new Bridge Professional addresses this limitation head-on, supporting as much as 150 lights and 50 equipment – 3 times the capability of its predecessor. However uncooked capability isn’t the one enchancment right here. With a 1.7 GHz quad-core processor changing the outdated 600 MHz single-core chip, 8GB of RAM as an alternative of 256MB, and built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, this bridge has been rebuilt from the bottom up for the calls for of 2025 and past.

Philips Hue has been type sufficient to supply me with quite a lot of samples to overview over time, however I purchased the Hue Bridge Professional myself, as I used to be wanting to improve my house and overview this new bridge.

Associated Evaluations

Specification

• Processor: The earlier bridge used a modest 600 MHz single-core processor. The Hue Bridge Professional is provided with a 1.7 GHz quad-core “Hue Chip Professional”. It is a substantial improve in processing energy, permitting the bridge to handle extra gadgets, course of complicated scenes quicker, and run new software program like MotionAware.
• Reminiscence (RAM): The outdated bridge functioned on simply 256 MB of RAM. The Hue Bridge Professional contains 8 GB of DDR4 RAM. This huge improve in accessible reminiscence means the bridge can deal with much more concurrent instructions, retailer extra complicated automations, and handle a a lot bigger system listing with out lagging.
• Storage: The Professional mannequin contains 8 GB of eMMC flash storage, a big soar from the minimal storage on the outdated mannequin. This permits for the storage of as much as 500 mild scenes, in comparison with the a lot decrease restrict on the earlier bridge.
• Mild Capability: The outdated bridge had an official restrict of fifty lights (with a tough technical restrict round 63). The Hue Bridge Professional formally helps 150+ lights, with some experiences suggesting the {hardware} might deal with much more. This successfully triples the dimensions of a single Hue system.
• Accent Capability: The outdated bridge supported round 10-15 equipment (dimmers, sensors, and so on.). The Hue Bridge Professional will increase this to 50+ equipment. It is a welcome change for customers who depend on Hue’s bodily controls.
• Connectivity: The earlier bridge was famously Ethernet-only, requiring it to be bodily tethered to a router. The Hue Bridge Professional now contains each an Ethernet port and Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz). This offers customers new flexibility in inserting the bridge centrally of their house for optimum Zigbee mesh protection, quite than being caught in a cupboard or basement.
• Energy: The Professional mannequin has been modernised to make use of a regular USB-C port for energy. The outdated bridge used a proprietary barrel connector. This small change is a superb comfort, permitting for extra versatile energy choices, together with the flexibility to run the bridge from a USB-C battery pack throughout an influence lower.
• Design: Bodily, the 2 items are nearly equivalent in measurement and form, retaining the acquainted white, rounded-square design. The Professional has a barely totally different button and a brand new two-light indicator system on prime, in comparison with the three lights on the older mannequin.

Options

he new {hardware} within the Hue Bridge Professional allows a set of recent options that weren’t doable on the older mannequin. Whereas the headline function is capability, the supporting additions are additionally important.

First is the massively elevated system capability. Supporting 150+ lights and 50+ equipment on a single bridge is the first purpose for this product’s existence. For customers who needed to run two, three, or much more bridges to handle their house, this can be a profound quality-of-life enchancment. It re-centralises your entire house system, permitting for scenes and automations that span all rooms with out the clumsy workarounds the outdated multi-bridge interface required.

Second is the inclusion of Wi-Fi connectivity. Whereas connecting any good house hub through an Ethernet cable continues to be the advisable technique for max reliability, the Wi-Fi possibility is a sensible answer for a lot of. It permits the bridge, which is the center of the Zigbee mesh community, to be positioned in an open, central location in the home. This will dramatically enhance the vary and reliability of your entire lighting system, particularly in giant or unconventionally formed houses the place the router is commonly positioned in an inconvenient nook.

Third is the brand new flagship software program function: Hue MotionAware. That is an unique function for the Bridge Professional, because it requires the brand new processor to carry out real-time evaluation. MotionAware makes use of the present Hue mild bulbs as a type of movement sensor. It really works by detecting refined disturbances within the Zigbee radio frequency indicators that journey between the bulbs. When an individual strikes by means of a room, their physique disrupts these indicators, and the Bridge Professional can interpret that disruption as movement. This permits customers to create motion-based automations with out buying devoted movement sensors.

Fourth is the combination of an AI-powered assistant throughout the Hue app. This function, which continues to be in its early levels, permits customers to kind or converse pure language instructions to create scenes or, in principle, automations.

Lastly, the Bridge Professional is constructed with Matter help from the bottom up. Whereas the earlier bridge obtained a Matter replace, the combination with the Professional feels extra native. This permits the bridge to behave as a Matter gateway, exposing all of its related Zigbee lights and equipment to different Matter-compatible platforms like Apple Residence, Google Residence, and Residence Assistant.

Unboxing

The unboxing expertise for the Hue Bridge Professional is simple and displays a transfer in the direction of extra fashionable requirements. The system is available in a compact field with sustainable-feeling paper wrapping for the primary unit, a departure from the moulded plastic of earlier merchandise.

Contained in the field, you will see that:

• The Hue Bridge Professional unit itself.
• A USB-C to USB-C energy cable.
• A USB-C energy adapter block in your particular area.
• A brand new, flat-style Ethernet cable, which feels extra premium than the usual spherical cable included with the outdated bridge.
• The standard paperwork and quick-start information.

Evaluating the outdated and new parts side-by-side, probably the most notable distinction is the ability provide. The transfer from the outdated, proprietary barrel connector to the common USB-C normal is a really welcome one.

Set Up and Migration from Hue Bridge V3

The migration course of isn’t excellent however it may very well be a lot worse. Your mileage will differ relying in your arrange.

The primary hurdle I had was that each one gadgets you need to improve have to be on the newest firmware, and that is fairly a gradual course of to do. With 75 lights in my system, updating every one took a number of hours of preparation earlier than I might even start the migration. The Hue app handles this moderately effectively, however it could have been useful if the bridge might have queued firmware updates mechanically in a single day.

The precise migration wizard is simple and well-designed. After connecting the brand new bridge to your community (I selected Ethernet for reliability), the app detected my present bridge and supplied to switch every thing throughout. The method took roughly 20-Half-hour for my giant system, throughout which period the app displayed a reassuring progress bar and estimated time remaining.

Most of my Philips-branded lights, equipment, rooms, zones, and scenes transferred with out difficulty. The app maintained all my rigorously configured room layouts, scene settings, and automation guidelines. Even complicated leisure zones for my Hue Sync bins got here throughout intact, although I did must re-authenticate the Sync bins with the brand new bridge.

Nonetheless, the migration isn’t fully seamless. The app warned me upfront that some gadgets won’t switch mechanically, and this proved correct. Buddies of Hue gadgets, third-party Zigbee lights, and a few equipment required guide re-addition after the migration accomplished. The app does present clear directions for this course of, strolling you thru the particular reset procedures for various system sorts.

Migration of three^rd Celebration Units

One of many greatest points with the migration was that it didn’t mechanically migrate third-party lights you will have added.

It’s essential to re-add them to the system, however I discovered that after added, all of them labored as they did earlier than.

Fortunately, I didn’t have too many in my system, however I discovered my Paulmann gadgets problematic to reconnect because of the unnecessarily troublesome option to put them again into pairing mode. Every Paulmann mild required a particular sequence of energy biking to enter pairing mode, and the timing needed to be exact. What ought to have been a five-minute job changed into a irritating hour-long means of repeatedly trying to pair every mild.

My Innr out of doors globe lights introduced related challenges. Whereas Innr merchandise usually work effectively with Hue as soon as configured, their pairing course of includes holding a small button on the system for precisely the correct amount of time – too brief and nothing occurs, too lengthy and it enters a unique mode fully. The dearth of clear suggestions throughout this course of meant a number of makes an attempt for every mild.

The silver lining is that after re-paired, all third-party gadgets retained their earlier performance. Dimming curves, color copy, and response instances all matched their efficiency on the outdated bridge. The Bridge Professional doesn’t appear to discriminate towards non-Philips gadgets by way of efficiency, even when it gained’t migrate them mechanically.

Matter and Residence Assistant Integration

Whereas Residence Assistant can combine with Hue with out Matter, I opted to do it this manner.

It’s precisely the identical because the earlier mannequin, as soon as added, it imported all my gadgets with the proper names. The Matter integration offers quicker response instances in comparison with the cloud-based integration, and native management stays accessible even when your web connection drops. That is significantly essential for important automations like motion-triggered hallway lights or scheduled wake-up routines.

Establishing Matter requires scanning the QR code on the underside of the bridge along with your cellphone’s digital camera. The Residence Assistant app instantly recognised it as a Matter system and started the import course of. Inside minutes, all my lights appeared in Residence Assistant with their appropriate names, room assignments, and capabilities intact.

Subjectively, the elevated processing energy of the Bridge Professional seems to translate to higher efficiency when utilizing Matter. Instructions despatched by means of Residence Assistant execute nearly instantaneously, with no perceptible delay between urgent a button within the interface and the lights responding. Group instructions, which generally struggled on the outdated bridge when controlling many lights concurrently, now execute easily and synchronously.

Aqara Integration

I’ve closely invested in Aqara and use quite a lot of their mild switches and I just like the use the automations throughout the Aqara app vs Residence Assistant only for simplicity (plus I maintain breaking Residence Assistant by messing round with Proxmox on a regular basis).

The Matter integration course of works about the identical as Residence Assistant or different platforms. The irritating half is that Aqara imports all of the gadgets with a generic mannequin title, and it isn’t clear what system the mannequin title is.

For instance, I’ve a number of RWL021, search signifies this can be a Dimmer, however a few of them should not as simple to determine. I had to enter the system settings and click on determine system whereas wandering round my house, hoping to work out what’s what.

As soon as correctly configured, although, the combination works flawlessly. Aqara’s automations execute reliably, and the response instances are glorious. I significantly recognize with the ability to use Aqara’s presence sensors to regulate Hue lights with minimal latency. The mixture of Aqara sensors and Hue lights creates a sturdy and responsive good lighting system that doesn’t depend on cloud providers for primary operation.

Scenes and Automations

The elevated scene storage capability – as much as 500 scenes in comparison with the earlier restrict – means you now not must rigorously handle which scenes to maintain. I can now have a number of scenes for various instances of day in every room, seasonal differences, and special day settings with out worrying about hitting limits.

Automations additionally profit from the improved processing energy. Complicated guidelines involving a number of situations and actions execute reliably, even when a number of automations set off concurrently. Time-based fades, which may very well be jerky on the outdated bridge, now progress easily. The dawn and sundown automations I take advantage of for progressively adjusting color temperature all through the day now not trigger occasional stutters or delays in guide management.

The Adaptive Lighting function, which adjusts color temperature primarily based on time of day, works extra easily on the Bridge Professional. The transitions are imperceptible, sustaining the pure feeling of the lighting whereas making certain it’s all the time applicable for the time. This function had all the time been considerably hit-or-miss on my outdated bridge, generally failing to replace for hours at a time. With the Professional, it really works constantly and reliably.

Hue MotionAware / Movement Areas – Utilizing Philips Hue Bulbs as Movement Sensors

Aside from the massively elevated system capability, the standout function of the Bridge Professional was the flexibility to make use of your lights as movement sensors.

Sadly, I’ve discovered this disappointing, however I perceive why it doesn’t work how I’d like.

Getting this working successfully requires a number of components:

• Three accessible bulbs/gadgets in a room
• Bulbs at totally different heights for dependable efficiency
• Philips Hue bulbs, no third-party gadgets
• Some Hue gadgets don’t help it, together with the Go Desk lamp, Hue Go, and most switches and sensors.

This precipitated points for me, as a result of the rooms the place I’ve probably the most Hue gadgets that will meet these necessities are rooms I don’t need movement sensing, corresponding to my TV/Lounge and bed room.

In my kitchen, I’ve 10+ GU10 spotlights, however these are third-party and all on the similar top.

Within the hallways, the place I actually wished to make use of this, I’ve the Philips Hue Surimu panelsas they labored out cheaper than the Hue GU10 bulbs and on the time I used to be making an attempt to restrict the general gadgets in my Hue system.

So, the top result’s that I’ve solely been capable of arrange a check for this in my front room.

Hue AI Powered Assistant

I really feel just like the AI options are only a box-ticking train as a result of every thing else has put AI into their app or system. The implementation feels primary and considerably disconnected from the subtle lighting management system it’s meant to reinforce.

Once you open the AI assistant, it presents pattern questions which might be surprisingly primary – issues like “flip my bed room lights blue” or “dim the lounge lights to 50%”. These are all duties that may be achieved simply as rapidly, if not quicker, utilizing the common app interface or voice assistants. The AI doesn’t appear to grasp complicated requests or multi-step automations that will really profit from pure language processing.

One semi-useful function was asking it to recommend scenes, however I don’t actually really feel like it’s that a lot use over simply shopping the scene gallery. The solutions are usually generic and don’t bear in mind the particular traits of your room or your previous preferences. After utilizing the system for years and creating dozens of customized scenes, I anticipated the AI to study from my patterns and recommend genuinely helpful mixtures.

I assumed it is perhaps doable to create difficult automations with it. I requested it to show the lights on in my workplace at 3 am after which off once more at 7 am. It advised me it didn’t perceive. It is a comparatively easy automation that the common Hue app can create in seconds, so the AI’s incapability to parse this request is disappointing. Extra complicated requests, like creating conditional automations primarily based on a number of triggers, had been utterly past its capabilities.

I get why they’ve launched this function; each firm feels compelled so as to add AI, whether or not it’s helpful or not, and I’m certain it would enhance with time, however in the mean time, it is rather underwhelming. The processing energy of the Bridge Professional might allow genuinely clever lighting management – studying from utilization patterns, mechanically adjusting scenes primarily based on climate or time of 12 months, or creating complicated automation flows from easy pure language descriptions. As an alternative, we now have what quantities to a primary voice interface with restricted understanding.

Worth and Different Choices

The Philips Hue Bridge Professional has an RRP of £80. It’s accessible for barely much less on Amazon, however imported from the Amazon EU retailer.

The prevailing bridge is £50 however accessible on Amazon for £37.27.

Different techniques exist, however I don’t assume it’s comparable right here. The perfect choices would probably be issues like Residence Assistant and Homey, which let you use totally different manufacturers and applied sciences to create a sensible house.

General

My overview seems to have quite a lot of destructive factors, and it’s true, this isn’t an ideal product. However many of the destructive issues I’ve stated had been to be anticipated when you think about it. It basically boils right down to Hue not supporting third-party gadgets to the identical degree as their very own merchandise, MotionAware being a promising expertise however restricted, and the development of everybody shoving AI into every thing.

Wanting past these points, the Philips Hue Bridge Professional does precisely what a big variety of Hue customers have been begging for over a few years. Triple the official capability of the earlier era and improved total efficiency.

I’m certain issues like MotionAware and the AI options will enhance over time.

Fortunately, Philips Hue haven’t taken the piss with the worth of this. It’s simply £30 greater than the RRP of the outdated mannequin, which I believe is completely affordable for the rise in capability and sure a smart enterprise determination by Hue.

Folks trying to get into Hue can nonetheless go for the older Bridge, which, contemplating the worth of Hue merchandise, is extremely reasonably priced. Then, as soon as they get you hooked (like me), you inevitably improve to the Professional, it’s low cost sufficient to make it a suitable impulse purchase, and you find yourself shopping for two bridges off them.

Then, for anybody who has quite a lot of Hue merchandise, the Professional is only a no-brainer if you wish to proceed increasing your system.

I’m not usually a fanboy of issues, and I discover it annoying when individuals are, however within the case of Hue, I believe I’m. I haven’t used a lighting product that may compete with them, and the Hue Bridge Professional facilitates me increasing my system additional (probably changing all my GU10 bulbs).

So, as a person with an intensive variety of Hue merchandise, regardless that it isn’t excellent, I really like the Philips Hue Bridge Professional and might totally advocate it to anybody wanting whole-home good lighting.

I’m James, a UK-based tech fanatic and the Editor and Proprietor of Mighty Gadget, which I’ve proudly run since 2007. Obsessed with all issues expertise, my experience spans from computer systems and networking to cellular, wearables, and good house gadgets.

As a health fanatic who loves working and biking, I even have a eager curiosity in fitness-related expertise, and I take each alternative to cowl this area of interest on my weblog. My numerous pursuits enable me to convey a novel perspective to tech running a blog, merging life-style, health, and the newest tech traits.

In my educational pursuits, I earned a BSc in Data Methods Design from UCLAN, earlier than advancing my studying with a Grasp’s Diploma in Computing. This superior examine additionally included Cisco CCNA accreditation, additional demonstrating my dedication to understanding and staying forward of the expertise curve.

I’m proud to share that Vuelio has constantly ranked Mighty Gadget as one of many prime expertise blogs within the UK. With my dedication to expertise and drive to share my insights, I intention to proceed offering my readers with partaking and informative content material.

Final replace on 2025-10-24 / Affiliate hyperlinks / Photographs from Amazon Product Promoting API