How to configure Hue dimmer switches for HomeKit

Updated: 18 November 2020

All Philips Hue accessories support HomeKit in some form, and some even include hardware features that can only be accessed in HomeKit. Specifically looking at switches and buttons, the accessories include the Hue Tap Switch, Hue Dimmer Switch, and the Hue Motion Sensor. Once your Hue bridge is added to HomeKit, any Hue accessories you have installed in the Hue app will be available to sync with HomeKit under Settings > HomeKit & Siri. Once done, the accessories will be present in the Home app under the Default room.  

Note that when using HomeKit to configure the switch you can't use the dimmer buttons in the normal way. Instead these can be assigned to different scenes. You could assign scenes or accessory settings for different brightness presets if you wish. This may appear to be a pointless exercise if you can't use the dimmer function, but the advantage of using the HomeKit configuration over the normal Hue App method is that you can also control other lighting products with the switch (such as LiFX), and you can also more easily control specific lights, rather than a whole room.

Setting Up A New Switch

If you want to add a new switch to HomeKit, you’ll need to add it in the Hue app first. 

Tap Settings, then Accessory Setup. 

Press the Add Accessory button in the top left corner. 

Select the type of accessory and follow the pairing instructions. 

Once added, you’ll be prompted to configure the accessory. Select “Configure in another app later” 

You'll need to make the switch available to HomeKit by syncing the device under Settings > HomeKit & Siri.

Go back to the Accessory Setup page.

Now select the switch from the list again, and at the bottom tap Set up in Apple Home at the bottom.

This will open the App Store view of the Home app, so just tap the Open button.

Jump down to the Configuring in the Home app section to continue.

Setting Up an Existing Switch

If you’ve already configured your switch through the Hue app you’ll need to reset it. While the accessory is still configured on the bridge any HomeKit setup will be overridden by the bridge settings. 

Go into Settings > Accessory Setup and select the switch to configure. 

Scroll to the bottom and click the Reset button. 

When prompted to Select room(s) to control, scroll to the bottom and tap "Configure in another app later".

Now select the switch from the list again, and at the bottom tap "Configure in Apple Home app".

This will open the App Store view of the Home app, so just tap the Open button.

Finding the Apple Home setup in the Hue app

Configuring in the Home app

Go to the room that contains your switch. If you haven't associated a room with it yet, it will be under the Default room.

Tap the dimmer icon to bring up the settings page.

The Dimmer Switch will present with 4 button options with 'Single Press' actions to be assigned. You can also assign a room while you're here if you haven't yet.

For each button action, you can select a Scene or Accessories to control as with other trigger actions or automations on devices.

The 4 buttons correspond to the 4 buttons on the Dimmer Switch in order from top to bottom. (On, Brightness up, Brightness down, and Off respectively).

Once you have assigned accessory actions or scenes to all 4 buttons,  tap Done at the top right.

You'll need to wait a few minutes for iCloud to update, and then an important step: you will most likely need to restart your Home Hub.

Once the Home Hub (be it iPad or Apple TV) has restarted, the new configuration should be working. I've found without the restart, the switch simply doesn't fire off the assigned actions, although it does show the button presses being registered in the Home app.