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Home can't add Philips Hue bulb.

reddot96
Community Member

Got my first set of Philips hue bulbs. Just the bulbs, no extras. Having trouble adding it to Google Home to use Assistant for voice control. The lights and app set up seamlessly, it's just adding it to Google home. Either "can't reach philips hue" or 'loads' and goes back to home app without adding the bulb to the home app.

Account emails are both same, app store email was the same, WiFi is same network, tried turning phones and lights off for two minutes and retrying, tried deleting and reinstalling everhthing, updated my lights, updated Google home app which was pending, tried holding phones right next to bulb, tried another phone to set up. No joy.

22 REPLIES 22

Princesss
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi reddot96,

 

Thanks for visiting the Community.

 

If you're using the Philips Hue (Bluetooth enabled), you can follow these steps.

 

  1. Open the Google Home app.
  2. Tap the plus icon (+) in the top left corner.
  3. Tap Set up device.
  4. Under New devices, tap Set up new devices in your home.
  5. Choose the home in which you’d like to set up your light.
  6. Once the app has discovered the light, tap it to select.
  7. Choose a Room.
  8. Name your light. (Note: A unique name will make it easier to recall, e.g. “desk light.”)
  9. Wait for the setup to finish. Your light will blink when it’s ready.
  10. Your light(s) will now appear in the Home app and can be controlled with Google Assistant.

Hope this helps.

 

Best,

Princess

I have the same problem. Google Home will not add Hue lights. Done everything you said several times. Reset and reinstalled everything. Google home says Hue lights linked and 5 seconds later says something went wrong- very frustrating 

Princesss
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there,

 

Chiming in to see if you still need assistance with this. Hope the previous post helped. Let us know if you have additional questions, otherwise we’ll be locking the thread.
 

Best,

Princess

Trace55555
Community Member

I have the same problem. Google Home will not add Hue lights. Done everything you said several times. Reset and reinstalled everything. Google home says Hue lights linked and 5 seconds later says something went wrong- very frustrating 

Yeah that's exactly what happens! No issues with other devices generally with google home just this one. 

Dan_A
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi folks,

 

We know that you've been down this road before and doing the factory reset hasn't made a difference but, it would help a lot if you could do a sequential reboot. Doing so will refresh all your devices connection to each other. Unplug the power cord of your router followed by your Nest speaker. Unplug all your Philips Hue bulbs. Plug them back in after 3-5 minutes starting with your router. Restarting your phone might also help.

 

To setup Philips Hue Bluetooth-enabled lights, follow the steps below:

 

  1. Plug in the Bluetooth-enabled light in the same room as the Google Nest or Home speaker or display, then turn it on.
  2. Open the Google Home appGoogle Home app.
  3. At the top-left, tap Add Set up device New device.
    The Bluetooth-enabled light appears as an option in the Google Home app.
  4. Select the bulb from the app. The physical bulb blinks when selected.
  5. Choose a room for the bulb.
    If the customer wants to create a custom room, tap Add custom room and then type in room name and then tap Next.
  6. Type in the desired name for the bulb.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Kind regards,

Dan

reddot96
Community Member

Hi. This works but then after a few hours I have to do it all over again. 

Princesss
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi folks,

 

Thanks for trying the steps. Could you please try to reboot your router simply by unplugging it from the power source for a few minutes? As soon as it is plugged in, try saying "OK Google, sync my devices".

 

Let us know how it goes.

 

Best,

Princess

Princesss
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi Leslie43,

 

Thanks — we got your form and we've escalated it over to our higher level of support for further review. Please keep an eye on your inbox as someone will get back in touch with you soon. 
 

Best,

Princess

Princesss
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there,

 

Due to inactivity, I'll go ahead and lock this thread in 24 hours. Feel free to start a new thread if you need assistance with your Google Nest speakers and we'd be glad to assist you further.
 

Best,

Princess

Trace55555
Community Member

No- still can’t find them. I even tried deleting Hue light from their app and starting again- no joy- extremely frustrating 

I am having the same problem. Google Home cannot find the bulbs, I cannot "link" with Philips Hue, and through the philips hue app, when I try to select google for my voice assistant it says to update the bulbs, but the bulbs are already up-to-date. Very frustrating indeed. 

Princesss
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi Leslie43,

 

We appreciate all your efforts. We'd be happy to take a look into this for you. Please fill out this form with all the needed information then let me know once done.

 

Best,

Princess

Thank you for the reply. I was able to get it to work by resetting the lights through the Philips Hue app and then doing the reboot advice from Dan_A above making sure to go through the Home app to add the lights first and not adding them in the Philips Hue app. 

Princesss
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi folks,

 

@Leslie43, thanks for the update. Glad to know that it's already working. Please keep on monitoring your device's behavior and let us know if you happen to experience the same thing.

 

@everyone, can someone confirm if you have already tried the steps suggested by Leslie? Let us know by responding to this thread.

 

Best,

Princess

I am having an issues with one of the bulbs. It stopped responding so I deleted it from my Home devices and I am not able add it back again (Home can't find it). I will try to do the router/wifi reboot again tonight, but I hope this doesn't happen often. Since it's not connected to the Hue app, I don't seem to be able to do a factory reset on the bulb. Deleting it from my Home devices didn't seem to reset it.

Additionally, it seems I am only able to add/control the bulbs on either Google Home or Phillips Hue app, but not both. They don't seem to be working well together. If I want to use the voice assistance, I have to set them up through Google home, but then I can't use the scenes and transitions that are available in the Hue app. But if I use the Hue app, then I can't use the voice assistance. 

I was able to fix the wayward bulb, but I had to do it in a strange way. I had to add it back to the philips hue app just so I could reset it. Then google home was able to find it again. There definitely seems to be some bugs that need to be worked out between the two apps. I wish they worked together like they are supposed to.

LucidD
Community Member

Nice....

LucidD
Community Member

At least you found a way to make it work, an order and process the technologies could back each other up and you got it done! Kudos²!

LucidD
Community Member

Just. "OUCH!"

Princesss
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi LucidD,

 

Thanks for responding. Have you already filled out the form?

 

Best,

Princess

Princesss
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi LucidD,

 

Chiming in-- have you had the chance to fill out the form? Let us know so we can check it.

 

Best,

Princess