Philips Hue expands smart home ecosystem with Matter support

Philips Hue added Matter support through a software update to the Hue Bridge in September 2023, giving households with Hue hardware a way to link existing and new lights to Matter-compatible smart home devices and apps without buying a new hub. Philips said products connected only by Bluetooth could not use Matter, a reminder that even in a premium system, the bridge still determines whether the setup works cleanly or stalls out.

That choice sits at the center of Hue’s appeal. Signify says Philips Hue is the world’s leading smart home lighting system, and it has pushed the line far beyond the starter kit that launched with a bridge and two bulbs. The company says the platform now works with all major smart home platforms and more than 750 third-party apps, a breadth that helps explain why a higher-priced ecosystem can survive in a market crowded with cheaper bulbs and switches that often trade away stability, interoperability or easy setup.

Hue first arrived on October 29, 2012, and went on sale in Apple Stores the next day. The brand started with a simple promise, app-controlled lighting that did not require a remodel, but it became part of a much larger corporate structure after Signify was spun off from Royal Philips and separately listed on Euronext Amsterdam in May 2016. The Philips brand remains licensed to Signify for lighting products, keeping the name on a system that now stretches from bulbs to luminaires, switches, sensors and apps.

The Matter move also sharpened the divide inside the product line. Philips said all Hue products, new and existing, would work with Matter if they were connected through the Hue Bridge, but Bluetooth-only products were excluded. That makes the bridge more than an accessory; it is the gatekeeper for compatibility, the point where the smart home either becomes easier to live with or turns back into a pile of disconnected devices.

Signify has kept widening the platform. In 2026, the company said a new Hue Bridge Pro would support up to 150 lights and 50 accessories, a scale that shows how far the system has moved from a novelty bulb pair to a whole-home infrastructure. Signify has also added security-related products and new switches, reinforcing a strategy built less on spectacle than on making everyday automation work across brands, rooms and routines.