When comparing Hue-topia vs Meet Hue, the Slant community recommends Meet Hue for most people. In the question“What are the best apps for controlling and automating Philips Hue lights on Macs?” Meet Hue is ranked 1st while Hue-topia is ranked 4th. The most important reason people chose Meet Hue is:
The app allows you to set the color and light intensity to attain your desired mood.
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Pros
Pro Security feature - can trigger a preset if a sound occurs that is louder than a user defined threshold
With listening mode enabled, this app can trigger a preset, then revert to the prior mode after a specified amount of time has elapsed. This was intended to be a security feature. The idea is if someone broke into your house or something and they approached your computer or wherever your microphone is, Hue-topia would register the sound and trigger hue lights of your choosing, and this might be enough to scare them away.
This feature could be used in unintended (hacky) ways as well such as with a virtual audio device such as Loopback. It's a simple feature, it's only good for triggering one preset temporarily and then reverting to the current settings. It can't do Home Kit/Siri kind of stuff.
Pro Dawn and Dusk simulation features
It can be set to a user chosen time or use your geological location.
Pro A free trial is available
The trial is 30 days, the software is not limited in any way AFAIK. A nag screen pops up whenever launching the app.
Pro Has some keyboard shortcuts / hot keys
You can assign function keys 1-8 to trigger presets. You can also turn all lights off (but not on, however you can get around that with the presets + fn keys) and a few other misc keyboard shortcuts.
Pro Can re-order lights groups etc.
More features include hiding individual lights (see only groups).
Pro Can create and alter schedules
Basic handling of repeating events daily, weekly, etc.
Pro The scene is fully customizable
The app allows you to set the color and light intensity to attain your desired mood.
Pro Bridge is capable of controlling 50 light bulbs
A bridge can support up to 50 light bulbs, so you are pretty much able to control every light in the house unless your house is as big as the White House.
Pro 17 beautiful preloaded scenes to choose from
Not only can you choose from 17 preloaded scenes, these scenes accurately and beautifully displays the intended mood as well.
Pro No need to host own server
If the Meet Hue cloud service presets and scheduling capabilities meet your needs, you can avoid the need to have your own server.
Cons
Con Expensive for what you get
This app should be more polished at $15
Con Dawn/Dusk simulation is just white light brightening/darkening.
Other dawn/dusk simulators change color in addition to brightness which more accurately simulates dawn/dusk. There are no options to pick color sequences for dawn or dusk.
The options available is the duration of the dawn/dusk routine, what time the routine should start, and there is a toggle to set the time automatically based on your geographic location and local dawn/dusk times.
Con Standard application - menu bar does not persist
This means the application must be open (in the dock) for the menubar to exist. If you close the application from the dock or Quit by shortcut Command + Q etc, the menubar and FN key shortcuts disappear AFAIK. Scheduled items should theoretically still work. Will contact devs and do some more testing before purchasing.
Con Color picking not as responsive or friendly to use
Color picking in Hue-topia is not as user-friendly as other offerings. You can't click and drag your eyedropper. Wherever you click, that is the spot sample of color that is sampled.
The same applies for using the MacOS built-in color pickers. Sliders don't slide smoothly, they can only jump so much at a time.
Con Requires a working internet connection.
This approach would not work if your internet service provider had an outage. Apps that communicate directly with the bridge would be fine so long as the local network is up, even if the broader internet was down temporarily.
Con "Functionality is only supported with the first generation Hue mobile app"
Some users may get this warning. Not quite sure exactly what it means.
Con Overly basic Dawn/Dusk simulators
Meet Hue app provides one simple preset for dawn and dusk, both just ramp up the brightness to one color with no intermediary colors/brightness like a real dawn or dusk would.