LightLayout

The problem it solves

Smart lighting apps hand you a list of names. Someone in the household typed those names once, months ago, and now everyone has to translate "Lamp 3" and "Corner" back into a place in the house. Finding the one light you meant takes longer than walking over and using the switch.

Light is spatial, so the controller should be too. LightLayout draws your home as a floor plan and puts each lamp on it in its real position. Nothing needs to be remembered, because the interface looks like the place you are standing in.

What it does

• Shows a plan of your home that glows where the lights are on.
• One tap switches a whole room; opening it gives brightness, colour and scenes.
• Guides you through building the plan room by room, with no measuring, drawing skill or architectural experience needed.
• Talks directly to your Hue Bridge on your own network.
• Shares the plan with your household, so everyone controls the same layout.
• Runs on the Mac in a window you can leave open beside your work, with the same plan and the same taps.

Who it is for

Households with more than a handful of Hue lights, where the official app has become a scrolling list. It is most useful in homes where several people control the lights and nobody agrees on what the lamps should be called.

How it is built

LightLayout is a React Native and Expo app with native Swift modules for the parts that need to sit close to the platform, including CloudKit sync between the devices in a household and a live connection to the Hue Bridge. It runs on every Apple silicon Mac straight from the App Store, and one purchase covers iPhone, iPad and Mac.

An Android version is in progress. Details and privacy information are on lightlayout.app.