In Hue Essentials you can configure your smart controls to do whatever you want. Below you can find an explanation of all the available features when configuring your switches and sensors. Note that not all features are available on all devices.
Events
Before you can add actions you first need to select the event for the actions. Buttons have button events, motion sensors have motion sensor events. See the available event depending on your smart control below. Note that not all events are available on all devices.
Button events
Press
The actions of this tab are activated when a button is pressed.
Hold
The actions of this tab are activated when a button is held for about a second. On some switches like the Hue Dimmer Switch the actions are repeated if you keep holding the button.
The Hold actions are executed in addition to the Press actions. If that is not what you want, remove your actions from Press and add them to Release (Press).
Release (Press)
The actions of this tab are activated when you release a button after a (short) press. Note that the Press event is always sent before the Release (Press) event.
Release (Hold)
The actions of this tab are activated when you release a button after holding it. Note that both the Press and Hold events are always sent before a Release (Hold) event. However, the Release (Press) event is not sent when holding the button.
Motion sensor events
Motion
Actions are triggered when movement is detected during darkness. Please adjust daylight sensitivity if needed.
No motion
Actions are triggered when movement is no longer detected. The actions for Motion are always executed before the No motion actions are triggered.
Actions
Below you can find an explanation of all the available actions. Note that not all actions are available on all smart controls.
Activate scene
This action will activate a scene in a group. First create a scene, then you can add this action.
Start effect
Start an Effect that you created in Hue Essentials in a group. Make sure the effect was saved to the bridge before using this action. See for more information about the effects: How to use the Effect Creator?
Stop effect
Stop any effects created in Hue Essentials that are running on the bridge. Note that this will not stop effects that are running from the phone.
Stop entertainment program
Stop any entertainment programs that are running. This will stop all entertainment programs in all apps. That includes the Hue Essentials programs like Dance Sensation and also other apps like Hue Sync.
Set group color / Set light color
Color
Switch on your lights to a selected color and brightness.
Increase color temperature
This will increase the color temperature by the configured value.
Decrease color temperature
This will decrease the color temperature by the configured value.
Stop color temperature change
This will stop a current color temperature change which is in progress.
Set group brightness / Set light brightness
Set fixed brightness
Use this action to switch on your lights to a certain brightness percentage.
Increase brightness
Use this to increase the current brightness by a certain percentage. This will only change the brightness of lights that are already on
Decrease brightness
Use this to decrease the current brightness by a certain percentage. This will only change the brightness of lights that are already on
Stop brightness change
This will stop a current brightness change which is in progress.
Toggle group / Toggle light
Use this action to either switch on or switch off your lights.
If you are looking for a real toggle which does both, see Toggle group under the Wizard.
Blink group / Blink light
Use this action to blink your lights once.
Toggle sensor
Use this action to either switch on or switch off a sensor. For example a Hue Motion Sensor. See for more information: Motion sensor activate/deactivate?
Cancel motion sensor actions
The action “cancel motion sensor actions” is intended for those situations when you want to temporarily suppress a motion response when there is no movement. See for more information: How to use "Cancel Motion Sensor Actions"
Return to first press
This action will return the state of multiple presses to the first press. First set up multiple presses on a switch button. After that you can use this action.
For example, you could use Multiple presses on one button to cycle through your scenes. And on another button you could switch off your lights and use the Return to first press action. That is helpful in case you switch off the lights and press the cycle scenes button immediately after. With this action the cycling through scenes will always start at the first scene.
See for more information: Hue Dimmer Switch: Reset counter for multiple key presses
Dim & switch off (motion sensor only)
Used for motion sensors as an action to first dim lights followed by switching off the lights.
Return to previous state (motion sensor only)
Action to return the state to the state before motion was detected.
Increase brightness (Lutron Aurora only)
A special action to increase the brightness when rotating the Lutron Aurora.
Decrease brightness (Lutron Aurora only)
A special action to decrease the brightness when rotating the Lutron Aurora.
Conditions
You can add conditions to your smart control to only execute actions if a certain condition is met. See the possible conditions below.
Multiple presses
Use this to execute different actions when the button is pressed multiple times. For example, you could use this to cycle through scenes when pressing the button multiple times.
You can use the Return to first press action to reset the counter from another button.
Day and night
Use this to split actions for day and night time. This uses the bridge location to determine whether it is day or night.
Time
Use this condition to execute different actions based on time frames. You can add as many time frames you want.
Group on state
Use this condition to only execute actions if a group is on or off. This can be used to create a toggle lights button. See also: Toggle on/off depending on lamp state and Smart Button - Toggle.
Device state
Use this condition to only execute actions depending on a device state. For example, only execute actions if the temperature is above a certain level or if it is dark. See also: Light level measurement from motion sensor as variable in other rules?
Wizard
Use the wizard to set up your smart control easily. See the possible wizard actions below.
Set up / Set up all buttons
This will set up all of your switch buttons or a motion sensor to control a group. Use this if you would like to set up your smart control quickly.
Set up dim buttons (Hue Dimmer Switch only)
This will set up the brightness up/down buttons on your Hue Dimmer Switch to control a group.
Set up selected button
Use this wizard action to set up your currently selected button. See the possible actions below. All of these actions can also be set up manually using conditions/actions, but that will take more time.
Toggle group
This will set up your button to toggle a group when presses. So when the group is off, it will switch the group on. When the group is on, it will switch the group off. See also: Toggle on/off depending on lamp state and Smart Button - Toggle.
Switch between scene/off
Similar to Toggle group, but instead of just turning on the group it will always activate a scene.
Cycle through scenes
This will set up your button to cycle through scenes you select. The wizard will use Multiple presses and Activate scene actions to do this.
Reset / Reset all buttons
This will reset the complete configuration of your smart control. All the configured conditions/actions for this smart control will be removed. After that you can configure it again. The smart control will not be deleted from your bridge.
Reset selected button
This will reset a single button of your smart control. All the configured conditions/actions for the currently selected button will be removed.