If you’ve been holding off on upgrading your first-gen Hue Bridge, you might want to start looking for deals on the second-generation model. Parent company Signify has announced that after April it will no longer be supporting the Hue Bridge V1.
The original circular hub was discontinued in late 2015 after a sleeker square model launched with support for Apple’s HomeKit, but Signify has continued to regularly update it with new features for the past four years. That won’t be the case in a few weeks, as Philips Hue tweeted Friday that “no software updates will be made available for the Hue Bridge v1 and compatibility with our online services will be terminated” after April 2020. Customers will be able to continue using the first-gen bridge to control their lights locally using the Hue app.
In a response to a concerned customer on Twitter, Hue support said the V1 bridge “no longer has the resources to guarantee the evolution of the Hue system—from compatibility, speed, and security. We want to be able to dedicate more time and effort to maintaining and developing the current bridge and system.”
On the Hue site, the End of Support policy reads: “Signify intends to continue to support the Hue Bridge with required security, quality and interoperability updates as well as maintaining compatibility with our online services and the latest version of our mobile Hue application for a minimum total of three (3) years from the date of your purchase from an authorized reseller.” Since the V1 bridge stopped being sold in 2016, Signify fulfilled its obligation.
A rep on social media also noted that “there is currently no scheduled end of life for the V2 bridge” and no plans in development for a successor, so your purchase should be safe for years to come. Plus, the newest Hue bulbs support Bluetooth, so they don’t need a hub for home control.
Still, it’s yet another reminder that building out smart homes comes with a huge caveat: one day everything inside of them will be obsolete.