Edit: If this is actionable, I would be interested in participating in a class action suit against Philips for materially altering a product’s functionality after purchase. This is like buying a normal car and being told a year later it was given a remote update and now can only use Ford ™ brand gasoline which costs $10/gallon.
If you do have an existing investment in Hue products, I suggest reaching out to them to request a refund because your purchase was made under a different policy, and this policy change is going to render your products useless without consent on your part. If they’re going to force a significant change that compromises the functionality of what might be hundreds of dollars worth of equipment without permitting recourse for legacy users, they should have to accept returns on what essentially is now a product you did not purchase and would not have purchased.
If you have home assistant, you don’t need a zigbee hub, just a ZigBee USB stick. There’s a whole bunch of them, I think they’re all pretty similar, a few have Z-Wave also.
I’m 100% Z-Wave so I can’t say personally what is the best stick to use… Just check the forums and whatnot.
I started the email thread with them on Friday. So far I’ve only received canned messages like they told the HA folks.
Guess I can sell that Hue hub after I move my Hue devices over to my HA/Zigbee config — what wasn’t broke and didn’t need fixing… will now finally be fixed and finished.
and this policy change is going to render your products useless without consent on your part.
Useless as a smart light yes, but the bulbs still work as normal lights even without internet connection. As a HUE customer, however I’m not very happy about this. I have been using them without an account for over 7 years.
Edit: If this is actionable, I would be interested in participating in a class action suit against Philips for materially altering a product’s functionality after purchase. This is like buying a normal car and being told a year later it was given a remote update and now can only use Ford ™ brand gasoline which costs $10/gallon.
If you do have an existing investment in Hue products, I suggest reaching out to them to request a refund because your purchase was made under a different policy, and this policy change is going to render your products useless without consent on your part. If they’re going to force a significant change that compromises the functionality of what might be hundreds of dollars worth of equipment without permitting recourse for legacy users, they should have to accept returns on what essentially is now a product you did not purchase and would not have purchased.
Or just get a ZigBee hub and keep using the bulbs without the Hue hub
Indeed I’ve never even installed the hue app, always assumed it was just a zigbee thing anyway. The hardware is just a basic zigbee bulb.
Mostly I’ve been moving to using the ikea ones though as they’re much cheaper.
Any recommendations for a Zigbee hub to use with HomeAssistant? I’m planning to make the switch now that Hue is doing this
If you have home assistant, you don’t need a zigbee hub, just a ZigBee USB stick. There’s a whole bunch of them, I think they’re all pretty similar, a few have Z-Wave also. I’m 100% Z-Wave so I can’t say personally what is the best stick to use… Just check the forums and whatnot.
More like thousands, Hue is way overpriced
If someone does this let me know. Every bulb in my house is hue.
I started the email thread with them on Friday. So far I’ve only received canned messages like they told the HA folks.
Guess I can sell that Hue hub after I move my Hue devices over to my HA/Zigbee config — what wasn’t broke and didn’t need fixing… will now finally be fixed and finished.
Useless as a smart light yes, but the bulbs still work as normal lights even without internet connection. As a HUE customer, however I’m not very happy about this. I have been using them without an account for over 7 years.