This free Philips Hue feature upgrade makes your wake up light redundant

Great news for users of a Philips Hue smart light – a new feature has been spotted for a handful of users, which should help you to get up on those darker days. Yes, here in the UK, we may well have passed the Winter Solstice yesterday, but the seemingly endless supply of long, dark evenings is a long way from over.

To combat this, many people invest in a wake up light. These lamps gradually change brightness and shade to mimic the appearance of a rising sun. The idea is that your body will wake up in a more natural way, which helps you get up without feeling as groggy.

And now, the feature has been spotted by a number of Philips Hue users around the world. It's called Natural Light, and can be found in the Hue Scene Gallery on the Philips Hue app. The feature is designed to mimic the feature set of a wake up light, by adjusting to different tones at different times of the day.

Long time fans of the Hue may have seen this before. The feature was briefly leaked a few months ago, but was quickly removed. Now though, it looks to be a more fully fledged release, with users in parts of Europe and North America all able to access the update.

Early reviews are somewhat underwhelming though. One Reddit user reported an abrupt change between different scenes, saying, "Tried it. At 06:30, warm, dimmed light. At 07 abruptly switched to a bright, cold and harsh light. Not a fan."

That's not the kind of performance you'd expect from what is arguably the best smart light on the market. Hopefully, another update in the near future will bring the ability to morph from one tone to the next in a more natural way.

If they can make that happen, it sounds like a brilliant free addition. Users of Philips Hue lights are already getting a decent package, but the addition of a great new feature like this would add even more value on top.