The 8 Best Alexa Hue Commands

Illuminate your environment quickly and easily

Updated on September 24, 2019

Turn The Lights On/Off In Your Entire House

The outside of a beachhouse — Martin Barraud / Getty Images

"Alexa, turn off [on] all the lights."

It's common to turn off all the lights in a single room like the kitchen or living room, but you can easily ask Alexa to turn all your lights on and off. This is handy at night as you head off to bed and can't remember which rooms have lights on.

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Dim Any Hue Light Without a Slider Control

Two children looking at a tablet — Klaus Vedfelt / Getty Images

"Alexa, lower [room name] brightness 60 percent."

We tend to think of lights as binary, either turning them on or off. It’s easy to forget that all Hue lights are dimmable. Even if you don’t have the color changing bulbs, you can always dim or brighten the lights to suit your context and needs.

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Control the Visual Temperature

A modern looking living room — Jacek Kadaj / Getty Images

"Alexa, make [room name] light warmer."

While adjusting the brightness is helpful, did you know you can also adjust the temperature quickly with the help of Alexa? Adjusting the temperature is perfect for different activities in a room. For example, the cool blue hues of light tend to stimulate our eyes more than a warm orange glow. During the day is perfect for a more energizing temperature, while at night you could activate an amber ambiance.

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Make Your Lights a Very Specific Color

A child's bedroom illuminated with blue light — CLM Images / Getty Images

“Alexa, turn the lights Tomato.”

If you have color-enabled bulbs, you’ve probably tried changing the color, but did you know you can ask Alexa for specific colors? Philips has some suggestions which might seem weird at first, but the company is an expert at color.

Using Alexa to change your Hue color bulbs only works if you have a second generation Hue bright. It will not work with the first gen bridges.

Go ahead and ask Alexa to activate some of these colors:

Say “Alexa, turn the lights Peru” to get a nice at-home champagne color.
Say “Alexa, turn the lights Firebrick” to be treated to a dark red, warm color scene.
Say “Alexa, turn the lights LightSalmon” to change to a warm, light, pinky red color.
Say “Alexa, turn the lights Dark Khaki” for a simple dark green color.

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Start a Party Instantly With This Light Show

To get the most out of your Echo and Hue color light bulbs, you’re probably going to want to sign up or connect to IFTTT. The first applet you should try is a show of color. This is a fun way to show your guests the range and benefits of connected light bulbs.

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Blink Lights When an Echo Timer Goes Off

screenshot of message from Phillips abuot blinking lights

This one isn’t voice-enabled, but still utilizes your Echo and Hue bulbs. With this applet enabled, you can ask Alexa to set a timer, then when it’s done your Hue lights will blink. This means you can be in another part of the house and still get the notification, even out of ear range.

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Flash Bedroom Lights Red With an Alarm in the Morning

Message from Philips about flashing the lights when an alarm goes off.

Activate this IFTTT applet to flash red Hue lights in your bedroom when your Echo alarm goes off; you'll not only have the sound, but the visual to go with it.

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Close Out the Night With Sexy Time

screenshot of Philliips message about sexy time

Nothing quite says "sexy time" like turning your lights to 75 percent brightness and hot pink. If you're up for it, this applet on IFTTT might be just the smart home trigger you've been looking for.

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