Hue Entertainment Streaming

What Is the Entertainment API?

The Hue Entertainment API is a completely different protocol from the standard REST API your Hue apps normally use. Instead of sending individual HTTP requests (limited to ~10 per second), Entertainment mode opens a DTLS encrypted UDP stream directly to your Hue bridge.

This stream updates your lights at 25 frames per second — fast enough for smooth color transitions, beat-reactive effects, and real-time music visualization. It's the same technology that powers the official Hue Sync app and the $300 Hue Play HDMI Sync Box.

HueCommand brings this capability to your iPhone. No extra hardware needed. The stream goes straight from your device to your bridge over your local network, so you need to be at home on the same Wi-Fi as your bridge — it doesn't run through remote access. It isn't available on Apple TV, which has no microphone.

Music Visualization with 5-Band FFT

HueCommand analyzes audio in real time using a 5-band FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) that splits the frequency spectrum into distinct ranges:

• Bass (20-250 Hz) — Kick drums, bass guitar, sub-bass. Drives the deepest, most impactful color pulses.
• Low-Mid (250-500 Hz) — Warmth and body of instruments. Fills in mid-range color transitions.
• Mid (500-2000 Hz) — Vocals, guitars, piano fundamentals. Controls the core of the visual palette.
• High-Mid (2-4 kHz) — Presence and clarity of instruments. Adds brightness and edge to the lighting.
• Treble (4-20 kHz) — Cymbals, hi-hats, sibilance. Triggers sparkle and high-energy flashes.

Each frequency band drives its own color in the stream — bass in warm reds, mids in greens, treble in blues — so your lights don't just pulse to the beat. They respond to the full complexity of the music.

Mic-Based Audio Analysis

HueCommand listens through your iPhone's microphone to capture whatever audio is playing in the room — speakers, turntables, live instruments, a TV. There's no need to route audio through the app or connect to a specific music service.

Play music from any source — Spotify, Apple Music, vinyl, Bluetooth speakers — and HueCommand picks it up and translates it into light in real time.

Entertainment Area Setup

Before streaming, you need to configure an Entertainment Area in the official Hue app. An entertainment area defines which lights participate in the stream. HueCommand lists the areas you've created and streams to the one you pick.

The Entertainment API can send different colors to different lights simultaneously within the same frame. HueCommand gives each of the first five lights (channels) in the area its own frequency band, so a bass hit can flash one Play bar red while another stays blue on the hi-hat.

• Up to 10 lights per entertainment area

Replaces the $300 Hue Sync Box

The Hue Play HDMI Sync Box costs $300 and only syncs with HDMI video input. HueCommand's entertainment streaming gives you music-reactive lighting using hardware you already own — your iPhone and your Hue lights.

• Same 25Hz update rate as the Sync Box
• Same Entertainment API and DTLS protocol
• Works with any audio source — not limited to HDMI
• No extra hardware to buy, plug in, or configure
• Local and fast — the stream stays on your home network, straight to your bridge

For music sync specifically, HueCommand delivers the same core experience at a fraction of the cost.

Pro Feature

Entertainment streaming is a HueCommand Pro feature. Subscribe to Pro to unlock 25Hz streaming to your entertainment areas with 5-band audio analysis. Simpler music sync (no entertainment area needed) is free.