How do I use the App?
The Home Dashboard will show your lighting groups (we like to use these as 'rooms' or 'spaces' to keep it clear and quick to operate without digging into lights too much) and the individual lights within these. It lives in the middle of our 'Home' space on App 4. On the right of this screen is your Schedule (swipe right), and on the left are Actions, where you can find all your 'on demand' presets like Scenes and Effects (just swipe left).
The basics of the Dashboard:
Functions:
- To control your groups and lights, use them to turn your lights on and off and adjust the brightness of groups by dragging the large dimmer switch. (Learn more about Dashboard switches here)
- By clicking on the image area of a group card, you can expand the view to 'open' and show all individual lights in the group.
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Individual lights can be toggled on and off from the Home Screen. For more detailed control or to play with a group of lights, tap the Group Label grey “name tag” of a group of lights to open the Control Screen. Here, you can adjust the color, temperature, and brightness, as well as apply themes to groups with multiple lights or Polychrome products with multiple color areas.
- A Group label gives control for all lights in that group.
Ie 'Bedroom' controls the two individual lamps (Bedside Lamp and Fireplace) in the group. If you wanted to set your whole room to one color, or to turn it on or off, you would use the group name tag.- An individual light label gives control for that specific light.
I.e. 'Bedside Lamp' only controls that light, and not 'Fireplace'. If you wanted to set 'Bedside Lamp' to a pink color but leave 'Fireplace' unchanged, you would use the light label.
- Favorites will move to the top of the dashboard. Individual lights you use frequently or groups you just need off/on at hand immediately are ideal for favorites. Use the 'heart' in the top right of a Light or Group Control Screen to favorite something. (see steps here)
What is the dashboard best used for?
The Home Dashboard is designed for on-the-fly, non-routine light control. We've prioritised group control in App 4 to align this to be an experience like using physical switches, except that you can customise what they affect, and you don't have to be near or even home to use them. This is because we believe the smarts in smarter lighting are to use a blend of three types of control: Spatially relevant switches and dimming, simple everyday automation, and saved or pre-made states you can call up in a single press.
When you set up your home, group your lights in ways that make sense for your spaces and what you need to control all at once, most often. Having fewer groups by zoning lights helps for on-the-fly control, but groups now also have image areas for you to personalize your Dashboard to suit you (see our how-to guide here) and to help with quick recognition without needing to read name labels or hunt through a list.
For things you do consistently, look to automate with schedules for particular days and for saved states you frequently use over lots of groups, you'll find scenes more convenient (having a morning, evening and night scene can be very handy if your routine changes a lot but your general habits don't.)
The App 4 approach to Home and the Dashboard will continue to grow in functionality, customisation, and finer control. This is only the beginning of a new way of looking at smart spaces for us. The three-control view structure is to help us make our lights more powerful and your experience contextual to the task at hand, but we have lots of things in the pipeline to build on this.