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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.
MotionAware
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).
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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.
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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.
A lot more Philips Hue products
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.
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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.
