Brandon Fletcher
Highlights
- New Feature: Hue SpatialAware creates lighting scenes based on the spatial relationship of lights in a room.
- Camera Use: The feature utilizes a phone’s camera and LiDAR scanner for accurate light positioning.
- Scene Variations: Users can select different lighting scenes, including dramatic sunset effects and energizing daylight simulations.
- Availability: SpatialAware will be launched in spring this year.
Signify’s Philips Hue line of colorful smart home lights is getting a new feature called Hue SpatialAware, a feature that uses an algorithm and a quick phone scan to understand where your lights are in relation to one another and consider that when displaying lighting scenes. That means if you have a room full of Hue lights, some overhead, some on the floor, and some on shelves, you can create a full sunset scene without having to deal with complex settings.
In a press briefing room at CES 2026, I was able to, guided by the Hue app, point an iPhone camera at various lights in the room to let the app know where they are in relation to each other, then trigger a lighting scene to see a result that’s more consistent throughout the room, from floor to ceiling.
The app does this using the phone’s camera and LiDAR scanner. (It works with phones that lack LiDAR, but Hue reps told me you have to tag each light from multiple angles to triangulate their location.) Once pinned, you can walk around the light with the camera pointed at it to make sure it’s properly anchored in space.
Check this short clip for more details.
Users can then tap a version of the scene that has a small star icon below it to get the SpatialAware version of it. The effect, in person, can be dramatic, as in the oranges and pinks of a sunset scene, or subtle, as in an “Energize” scene that’s meant to simulate daylight, and in which the higher the light is, the higher its actual temperature is. It didn’t actually make me feel like I was outside, but it was certainly bright in a way that I’m certain I will never want any single room in my house to be. What can I say? I like cozy lighting.
SpatialAware will be available in spring this year.
Besides the Spatial Aware feature, Hue also announced that its Hue Secure cameras now work with Apple Home, although they won’t have the full HomeKit Secure. That means, for instance, that you’ll be able to do things like view their footage in the Hue app, have their live feed pop up on your Apple TV when they detect something, but you won’t get free recordings saved to iCloud.
Finally, Signify announced that Hue users can now create automations using the app’s built-in cloud-based AI assistant—for instance, one of Hue’s representatives asked the assistant to turn off all of their lights at midnight. The assistant thought a moment, then returned that exact automation. Unlike the similar Google Home feature that rolled out last year, Hue’s AI assistant is free to use.
Ethan Carter
