The new adaptive lighting feature in HomeKit has been spotted in the wild by some Philips Hue beta testers in Germany, German-language blog iPhone-ticker.de reported today.
HomeKit, Apple’s software framework powering smart home devices, is getting a new adaptive lighting feature for smart bulbs with iOS 14, iPadOS 14 and macOS Big Sur. Adaptive lighting was not implemented in the initial releases of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14. According to Apple, the feature will be arriving later in the year via an iOS software update.
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Announced at the online WWDC 2020 presentation in June of this year, it was designed to automatically adjust color of your compatible smart bulbs throughout the day in a manner similar to Apple’s eyesight-preserving Night Shift feature on iOS, iPadOS and macOS.
In the morning, you can have a warmer lighting. Then, as the day progresses, have the light normative. By the time evening rolls around, it reduces the blue light so it’s easier on your eyes.
According to Apple, it lest you eEase into morning with warmer colors, stay focused midday with cooler colors and wind down at night by removing blue light.” This feature requires smart bulbs that support the ability to change their lighting brightness, like the Hue light bulbs.
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Philips has said that its recent firmware update brought support for adaptive lighting to its White and Color Ambiance smart bulbs. At the time of this writing, only their beta testers in Germany were able to install the firmware update.