Right now the sunrise effect can only be turned on by using either the slow volume ramp or sound start delay features. Three problems with this: 1. It’s not intuitive. Typically you set the alarm for when you want to wake up, and in this case you want to wake up when the light has reached full brightness. I know I could just shift alarm forward and use the sound delay ootion, but this interferes with the app recommending a bedtime. I know I could just shift this as well but why are we complicating it? 2. The screen turns on when the alarm goes off, and wakes me up, when in fact I want to delay wakeup until the light has reached full brightness. 3. The sunrise effect is limited to the times in the sound delay or ramp setting, which maxes at 24 minutes. Typical standalone sunrise clocks can go up to 40 minutes and some studies I’ve read on delayed sleep phase disorder use a time of up to 93 minutes.
My solution is simple. Uncouple the sunrise function from the sound functions and add an option to begin sunrise simulation x minutes before alarm. Let us customize this time it to two hours preferably so we can experiment with different times based on what is used in studies.
Next, the pee light is fundamentally broken for it’s intended purpose. Currently the pee light is triggered by the awake sensors pausing sleep tracking. Just because I’m awake doesn’t mean I have to pee. Roll over in the night? Pee light. Heart rate increase, pee light. Wake up and check the time on your phone, pee light. This is extremely about to a partner who is not awake and suddenly the lights turn on.
I’m not sure how to fix this one, maybe just put a button on the sleep tracking screen. As it is I’ll just turn on the light using the remote I keep on my bedside table when I actually get up to pee and keep this feature off. Also an option to customize the pee light. It’s fairly dim at current settings, and I prefer a bit more orange as it’s easier to see things.
While we’re at it, add an option to customize sunlight colors. Some studies have shown that green light is just as effective as blue light at shutting down your melatonin production, and is less harmful to your eyes. I’d like to pick the starting color, the change to color, and the starting/ending brightness.
Maybe add a sunset option? Hit the sleep tracking button but have it delay by an hour and during the hour the light changes from a color to another color (es yellow to red) as it fades out. Again let us choose starting/ending color and brightness.
Also, the smart light function turns off your lights when sleep tracking starts. I like to read at night and I have to either delay tracking or turn the lights back on after the app turns them off. The problem with not setting a delay is that if the app thinks you’re sleeping cause you haven’t moved and then thinks you’re awake again, boom lights off again. Simple fix here, just let me turn off the lights off at sleep tracking start function. I’d much prefer a sunset feature or just turn off my light on my own with the hue remote when I’m tired. As it is now I set sunset formula to 1 hour in hue app and delay sleep tracking by 1 hour in SAA, but it would be nice to start sleep tracking and have it pause by sensors until I fall asleep. This way I’m not missing a chunk of tracking if I fall asleep before the hour is over.
I have not purchased the app because my intended use just isn’t practical in the current iteration. Fix the sunrise function and I’ll buy it immediately. Right now I’ll just continue to set an alarm time in hue app and in the default Android alarm until I can get both in one app. Heck I may even just buy one of the Phillips wake up light clocks, but I’d so much rather go the diy route and be able to customize it more.