I can see why manufacturers opt for iPhone apps as the remote controls for their gadgets. A small touchscreen device is a familiar form-factor for a remote, and it’s likely to be easily to hand. But if happen to be in front of your Mac at the time, it can seem a bit awkward to have to pick up your phone, open an app and then use a smaller, fiddlier device.
Philips seem to have recognised this, with a new Mac app on the way to control its range of Hue smart LED bulbs. The app sits in the menu bar, providing a convenient way to control any of your Hue lamps.
Philips updated the iOS app back in May, with geofencing, schedules and a wide variety of triggering actions, including support for the popular IFTTT (If This Then That) app.
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Can Mac app makers just stop inundating the menu bar like there’s no tomorrow? We really don’t need apps that for some reason always run in background and take up a precious space in your menubar. This Philips Hue app could have easily been a mini app that doesn’t stay in the menubar or, even better, just a Dashboard widget. This is just superfluous.
I must confess I’m a bit of a fan of the menubar for this type of thing. I agree it can be overdone (I only have eight third-party menu items myself) but this seems a good use of it.
In the headline you are saying “new app coming soon”.
Do you have more information on that? I could find anything in the article.
Apologies, Ronny, had a bit of a browser/Wordpress glitch and the link seemed to vanish – now added back in
There’s no sign of this App actually being connected with Philips in any way, unless you know something I don’t? It looks like advertising for a ripoff of the App “Colors for Hue”, admittedly well done, but still a ripoff.
I’ve already got a menu bar app to control my Hue’s. It’s Colors for Hue (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/colors-for-hue/id581915465?mt=12)
How do you know this app is made by Philips? The site doesn’t look that official at all.
Also, there is already a free app in the Mac App Store that does exactly the same. It’s called “Colors for Hue” and is available here: https://itunes.apple.com/nl/app/colors-for-hue/id581915465?mt=12
There is already a great Hue app for Macs. It is called “Colors for Hue” and it works from the menu bar perfectly. And it is Free!
Looks pretty much like “Colors For Hue” already in the Mac App Store combined with the open source “QuickHue”, but either way, I always welcome new Hue apps!