- Philips Hue gets a new Sports Live function for the World Cup
- It will sync Hue smart lights to the action during gaming
- You don’t need any additional hardware, just the lights and the Hue app
As a long-time Philips Hue user and big fan of this brand of smart lights, I’m looking forward to trying out a recently announced Sports Live feature during the World Cup – as long as it doesn’t signal goals before they actually happen.
Philips Hue lights have long been able to change color and brightness based on what’s happening on a TV screen, but you’ll need a compatible television or an HDMI Sync Box to get the feature. With Sports Live, the lights change in real time based on “live match data” with no additional hardware required.
This is evident from the announcement from the Philips Hue parent company Signify. Apparently, the lights will change for “key moments” such as goals, yellow cards and red cards during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“Easy to set up and in time for the world’s biggest soccer event of the year, soccer at home has never felt so real,” Signify says, although it sounds like the feature will only be available for this one upcoming tournament, which kicks off on Thursday, June 11. It is a disappointment.
No spoilers please
It will also be interesting to see how it works. The live match data comes directly from the web to the Hue app, so presumably you’ll need to tell the app when you’ve actually started watching it—and give your smart lights a heads-up if you decide to pause or rewind the action at any point.
I don’t want to be in a situation where my smart lights are flashing to tell me that England have scored (or conceded, which is perhaps more likely) while the action on my TV screen is still several seconds behind.
“The system allows users to fine-tune timings to account for minor broadcast delays,” according to Signify. “If users choose to pause the action, the lighting effects are also paused and – upon resumption – synchronized with current, live match events for a consistent and accurate real-time experience.”
Sports Live will apparently support an unlimited number of smart lights, and there will be some level of customization on offer: you’ll be able to select your favorite team and its main strip color will be used as part of the suite of smart lighting effects.
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