Your LG TV will now synchronize with Philips Hue lights without a pricey HDMI Sync Box

• The Philips Hue Sync app is now available for LG TVs
• The app lets you sync smart lights with your TV without an HDMI Sync Box
• It works with HDMI devices plus native apps like Netflix and Disney+

The Philips Hue Sync app is now available for LG TVs, letting you sync your smart lights with movies, games, and TV shows on your screen, without the need for a Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box. Your Hue lights will react instantly to whatever's currently on screen, whether it's from an external source like a games console, or a native smart TV app like Netflix and Disney+.

Signify, the company behind Philips Hue, announced that the app would be arriving on LG TVs at CES 2025 in January, but didn't give an exact date for its arrival, only saying that it would be available early this year, but now it's officially here.

At CES, Signify explained that the app would work with all LG TVs using webOS 24 or later, which includes many of the best TVs you can buy today. If you're not sure whether yours is compatible, you can search for your model on LG's website to see which apps it supports.

To use the Philips Hue Sync app, you'll need at least one color-compatible Philips Hue light (the Philips Hue Play Gradient Strip and Philips Hue Play Light Bars work particularly well), plus a Philips Hue Bridge, which creates a mesh network that connects your Hue devices to each other, and to your home Wi-Fi network. You can then download the Philips Hue Sync app through the LG Content Store. There's a one-off to install the app, plus a monthly subscription, which you can pay via your TV.

Hue Sync alternatives

If you don't have a TV compatible with Hue Sync, you can still synchronize your smart lights with your screen using a Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box. It's easy to set up, and works with any form of HDMI input, including Blu-ray players, set-top boxes, and games consoles. However, unlike the Hue Sync app, the Sync Box won't work with native apps on your smart TV.

It doesn't come cheap, either. Last year Signify launched a version of the Sync Box that supports 8K TVs and HDMI 2.1, making it ideal for gaming, but with a price tag of $349.99 / £299.99 / AU$699.95, it's a big investment (and much more than the initial outlay for the Hue Sync app).

If that's outside your budget, take a look at our guide to the best Ambilight alternatives, which aim to create a similar effect by using a camera to capture what's on your TV screen, then mirroring the colors using an LED light strip mounted behind your TV. These systems aren't perfect (they have some latency and can be affected by reflections on the screen) but are usually much more affordable.

You might also like

• Got Philips Hue lights? A free software update could turn them into motion sensors
• Forget AI, there's only one thing I want from Philips Hue this year
• Nanoleaf's Ambilight alternative is now even easier to install – no more corner brackets