Neil Hughes
Smart LED bulb maker Philips on Thursday offered a preview of what its planned iOS 8 Notification Center widget could look like when running on an iPhone.
The image posted to the Philips Hue Dev account on Twitter is only a concept prototype, but it does signal that the company is looking to support the new widget feature coming in Apple's iOS 8 mobile operating system update. The concept shows a dedicated Hue widget with an "All off" button, as well as three light "scenes" that can be quickly selected.
Integrating Hue controls into Notification Center would allow those who own the advanced lighting system to quickly turn the lights on or off, or change their colors, without needing to launch a dedicated app or even unlock the phone.
User customization is a major part of the iOS 8 update, with completely configurable widgets in Notification Center. As part of its iOS 8 unveiling this week, Apple showed off widgets with ESPN sports scores and current eBay auctions.
iOS 8 widgets will come bundled in downloadable applications on the App Store. Compatible apps can then be enabled or disabled through the Notification Center, and users can drag their installed widgets into any order of their choosing.
By default, Notification Center in the first iOS 8 beta comes with the Today Summary, Traffic Conditions, Calendar, Reminders, Stocks, and Tomorrow Summary. All of them can be disabled, while Calendar, Reminders and Stocks can be reordered.
That Philips is planning to support a key new feature of iOS 8 should not come as a surprise, as the company has worked closely with Apple in the past and even launched its lineup of Hue bulbs exclusively at Apple's retail stores.
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40 Comments
Good because the existing app is terrible.
Nice. No menu bar clutter. Future versions could tap into Home Kit and have your favorite HA macros.
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What I want is dimmer switches that are wifi enabled. I want to be able to set moods for each room and preferences for what each room should do based on my location in my home. With this technology and the built-in location technology I should be able to walk through my home and lights go on and off as I'm walking through my home if that's what I wish. I don't want wifi bulbs...give me wifi switches and I'll gladly swap out the light switches in my home.
This "widgets-in-the-notification-center" seems ridiculous - it opens the door for all kinds of widgets that do stuff but have nothing to do with notifying me of something, so why are they lumped together with real notifications? The Notification Center is going to look like a mish-mosh of notifications and widgets.
The Hue widget lets me turn stuff on and off but isn't notifying me of anything.
It looks like Apple is too scared to open up real widgets on home screens, so they gently stuff them out of the way in a place where they really don't belong.
Seems very un-Apple to me.