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Research profile · last verified 2026-07-31Philips Hue Smart Button
Exactly which product this is[3]
- Model number
- 046677605773
- Generation
- v3
- Region this page covers
- Not established
- Also sold or listed as
- Hue smart button v3
“Not established” means we have not sourced that detail yet — not that the product has no model number, generation or regional variant. We publish the gap rather than filling it.
Compatibility
| Ecosystem | Support | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Alexa | InconclusiveWe researched this and the evidence doesn't settle it — the catch explains why[6] | Not established, and the gap is Signify's. This SKU's specification block does list 'Compatibility with 3rd party systems: Alexa, Google Home, Apple Home, IFTTT, Klikaanklikuit, Matter, Samsung Smartthings, Sonos' — but that field appears across Hue's catalogue and describes what the Hue SYSTEM connects to, not what this button does inside those systems. No Hue document we could find states whether a button press can trigger an Alexa routine or touch a non-Hue device: the smart-button setup guide names no third-party platform at all, and Hue's Matter guide says the Bridge 'Supports all Hue products' without addressing accessories. Asserting a level from a system-wide boilerplate list is exactly the kind of sweeping claim that is easier to write than to defend. |
| Google Home | InconclusiveWe researched this and the evidence doesn't settle it — the catch explains why[6] | Not established, on identical grounds to Alexa: Google Home appears in this SKU's system-level third-party list, and in no Hue document that describes what the button itself can do outside the Hue app. |
| Apple Home | InconclusiveWe researched this and the evidence doesn't settle it — the catch explains why[6] | Not established. Apple Home is in the SKU's system-level compatibility list, but Hue's own Apple Home page discusses bulbs and lights and does not address whether accessories such as the smart button, dimmer switch or tap dial are exposed to the Home app. Since the whole value of a button in Apple Home is triggering non-Hue accessories, an unverified 'yes' here would be the misleading answer. |
| SmartThings | InconclusiveWe researched this and the evidence doesn't settle it — the catch explains why[6] | Not established. Samsung SmartThings appears in the SKU's system-level list; Hue's Matter setup guide mentions SmartThings only in passing for multi-admin control and gives it no setup instructions, and nothing addresses accessories. |
| Home Assistant | WorksWorks with this ecosystem[5] | The one platform that documents what the button actually does elsewhere — and it is Home Assistant's documentation, not Hue's. A Hue Bridge is required. HA's official Hue integration treats the button as a stateless device: 'Hue remotes such as the Dimmer Switch are stateless devices, meaning that they do not have an on/off state like regular entities in Home Assistant. Instead, these devices emit the event hue_event when a button is pressed.' Those events are exposed as device triggers, and the battery is exposed as a sensor. It is local push on a V2 Bridge. One documented limit worth knowing before you build a double-press automation: 'The Hue API limits each device to one event per second.' |
? Inconclusive means we researched that ecosystem and the evidence doesn’t settle it — the catch says why, and the sources are listed below. It is a statement about the available evidence, never a verdict on the product. A Setup Check researches your exact setup where the official sources don’t answer.
Protocols: ZIGBEE · BLUETOOTH[1][2][3]
Needs before it works: No for the basic job, yes for anything interesting. Without a Hue Bridge the button pairs directly to bulbs — Signify's setup guide is specific about the ritual: 'Hold the smart button up to the light you want to control. Stay within six inches of the light. Press and hold the smart button for three seconds until the green light starts to blink', repeated for 'up to 10 bulbs'. ⚠ Signify does not say which radio carries that pairing, and we do not guess: its Bluetooth explainer describes Bluetooth as the phone-to-bulb path and lists accessory-to-bulb pairing as a separate method that works 'without using the Bridge or app'. With a Bridge the button reaches up to 50 lights and, critically, becomes configurable: 'A Hue bridge is required to be able to change the way a Hue dimmer switch, smart button, or tap dial switch controls your lights.' So the Bridge is what turns a fixed on-off button into a scene cycler, dimmer or automation trigger.[4]
What it can do[5]
You can tell it to
None documented by the vendor
It reports
- Button pressed
Listed capabilities are what we could establish from vendor documentation. An ability missing here is unestablished — not necessarily absent.
Subscription reality[4]
✓ Works without a subscription: Yes.
Vendor account required: Optional — there is a documented way to use it without one.[10]
No subscription is referenced on the product page or in the smart-button setup guide. Hue's paid tier covers camera and security services, not lighting control, and nothing about this button is gated behind it.
Maintenance reality[3]
- Batteries: CR2032 (one included) — expect roughly 24 months per set
- Works without the internet: Yes — the core function runs on the device or your home network. A vendor cloud may still be involved in remote access.[9]
- 45 mm diameter, rated for 50,000 clicks, operating range 0 °C to 40 °C, one CR2032 included and an expected life around two years on typical use. Two-year warranty. It is battery-powered and portable — magnetic or adhesive placement rather than a wall box — and carries both radios: Bluetooth for direct-to-bulb pairing, Zigbee once a Bridge is present.
- Security updates: No security-update support date is on record for this model yet. We haven't yet checked whether Philips Hue publishes one, so this is a gap in our research — not a statement about the manufacturer.
The catch
The box lists eight third-party systems and Hue's own documentation never says what the button does in any of them. That specification field is a Hue-system list that appears across the catalogue — nowhere does Signify state whether a press can start an Alexa routine, appear in Apple Home, or reach a bulb that isn't a Hue bulb. The one place it is documented is Home Assistant, and that documentation was written by Home Assistant. Beyond that, the ordinary catch is the Bridge: without one the button pairs directly to at most 10 bulbs and does the single fixed thing it shipped doing, because Hue states outright that a Bridge is what lets you change how the button behaves. With a Bridge it reaches 50 lights, cycles scenes, dims on a long press and can start automations. And note the price — around $33 for a one-button remote is not the cheap end of this category.
Who it's for
Hue households with a Bridge who want a physical, placeable button for a scene, a room or a whole-house off — and Home Assistant users, who get the most out of it because a press becomes a trigger for anything. Worth a second look if you are buying it expecting it to work as a button inside Alexa, Google Home, Apple Home or SmartThings: Hue publishes nothing that establishes that, and this record does not assume it.
Sources & method
Numbered sources below back the facts marked with the matching number above. This is a research profile: compiled from manufacturer documentation, certification registries, and published testing — we state facts, not verdicts, and we have not physically tested this unit. How we work →
- [1] FCC instrument validation performed 2026-08-09 across three Signify filings: 2AGBW9290042355X (Hue Essential A19, model 929004235501) and 2AGBW9290038537X (Hue White & Color A19, model 929003853701) each carry Bluetooth LE test reports and a separate Zigbee test report, authorised at 2402-2480 MHz and 2405-2480 MHz; 2AGBW9290030675X (Hue Motion Sensor, model 929003067502) carries 2405-2480 MHz only with no BLE exhibit. This record carries no 929-series model code (modelNumber 046677605773 is a UPC; generation v3 = RDM005), so no FCC ID could be constructed for it. The widely-repeated 'Zigbee only, no Bluetooth' claim for the Hue Smart Button is sourced to ROM001, a different generation, and is not applied here. — registry-lookup, verified 2026-08-09Backs: Protocols
- [2] philips-hue.com/en-us/support/connect-hue-product/accessories/smart-button (read 2026-08-09), 'Connect without a Bridge' instructions: 'Hold the smart button up to the light you want to control. Stay within six inches of the light. Press and hold the smart button for three seconds until the green light starts to blink. Repeat to pair the smart button with up to 10 bulbs.' — no radio named anywhere in the procedure. · philips-hue.com/en-us/explore-hue/faq/controls/how-to-connect-philips-hue-without-a-bridge: method 1 is 'Use the Philips Hue App with Bluetooth'; method 3 is 'Pair with a Hue smart accessory — You can also connect Hue bulbs directly to Hue lighting accessories without using the Bridge or app'; comparison table gives 'With Hue Bridge (Zigbee/Matter): Up to 50 lights + 12 accessories' against 'Without Hue Bridge (Bluetooth): Up to 10 lights'. · philips-hue.com/en-us/p/hue-smart-button/046677605773 FAQ: 'Can I customize the settings of a Hue dimmer switch, smart button, or tap dial switch without a Hue bridge? No. A Hue bridge is required to be able to change the way a Hue dimmer switch, smart button, or tap dial switch controls your lights.' — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-09Backs: Protocols
- [3] philips-hue.com US product page, Smart button v3 — vendor-page research, verified 2026-07-31Backs: Product identity, Price, Protocols, Maintenance, Power source, Installation, App platforms, Market availability
- [4] philips-hue.com support, 'How to set up Hue smart button' — vendor-page research, verified 2026-07-31Backs: Required hub or bridge, Subscription, Service status
- [5] Home Assistant documentation, Philips Hue integration — counterparty-documentation research, verified 2026-07-31Backs: Home Assistant compatibility, Capabilities
- [6] philips-hue.com Apple Home works-with page, the smart-button setup guide, and the Philips Hue and Matter complete setup and support guide (article 000012) — vendor-page research, verified 2026-07-31Backs: Research status, Amazon Alexa compatibility, Google Home compatibility, Apple Home compatibility, SmartThings compatibility
- [7] Philips Hue's Smart Button product page, re-read 2026-08-18 — no sentence about the button or bridge working without an internet connection. — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-18
- [8] Signify's Hue smart-button setup guide and US product page, plus the FCC instrument validation across three Signify filings — all already cited on this record — evidence read against sources this record already cites (BQ-191 provider-side backfill, D-7 bars), verified 2026-08-19Backs: What it provides to your home
- [9] Philips Hue's own 'Philips Hue and Matter: Complete Setup & Support Guide', read 2026-08-21. Its feature-comparison table carries a 'Local control (offline)' row marked ✅ for BOTH the Hue Bridge setup and the direct-Matter setup — Hue stating, about its own system, that control survives the internet going away. — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-21Backs: Works without the internet
- [10] Philips Hue's own setup guide "How to set up a Hue smart button", read 2026-08-21. It publishes two routes for this exact accessory, and the second needs neither the Hue app nor a Hue account: "Connect without a Bridge — Smart button setup instructions: 1. Hold the smart button up to the light you want to control. Stay within six inches of the light. 2. Press and hold the smart button for three seconds until the green light starts to blink. 3. Repeat to pair the smart button with up to 10 bulbs." The other route on the same page is the Bridge one: "Your Bridge should be connected and added to your Hue app… Open the Hue app… Scan the QR code." Signify's own Hue-account support topic (https://www.philips-hue.com/en-us/support/topic/philips-hue-account/100057, read 2026-08-21) answers "What is a Hue account?" with: "A Hue account is your way to manage your Philips Hue system. Additionally, signing in to your account unlocks advanced features of Philips Hue, such as the ability to control your lights while you're away from home." — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-21Backs: Vendor account required
Compatibility and lifecycle information reflects the last-verified date above and can change without notice (firmware updates, cloud-service changes, discontinuations). It is provided as-is, for information — verify with the manufacturer before purchasing. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it. Full terms: Terms of Service.