Philips Hue Bulbs Now Work with Two Smart Home Systems at Once

Signify has partnered with Silicon Labs to let select Philips Hue bulbs use both Zigbee and Matter over Thread at the same time. Until now, users had to choose one protocol or the other, according to The Verge (June 24, 2026) and the Signify press release (June 23, 2026).

The Philips Hue A19 bulb is the first to get this dual-protocol capability, supporting Matter over Thread. For anyone with a mix of different smart home systems, this matters: the bulb can keep working with an existing Hue Bridge using Zigbee, while also connecting directly to Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Assistant, or any other Matter-compatible controller — no switching required.

How This Works Technically

The Hue Bridge runs its own Zigbee mesh, a private 2.4 GHz wireless network designed specifically for lights and accessories. This approach gives Signify tight control over which devices work together, how they get software updates, and how reliably they stay connected. The trade-off: devices on the Hue network weren't directly visible to other smart home systems without translation happening at the Bridge level.

Thread is different. It uses the internet protocol IPv6 and creates a mesh that Matter — a newer smart home standard — prefers to use. A Thread border router, built into devices like HomePod mini, Apple TV 4K, and some Amazon Echo and Google Nest devices, connects Thread bulbs to the rest of your home network. This makes them controllable by any Matter-certified app or device.

The Silicon Labs partnership lets a single chip handle both Zigbee and Thread at the same time. That means one Hue bulb can chat with an old Hue Bridge on Zigbee while also joining a Matter setup via Thread, without you having to do anything special.

What This Means in Practice

If you already own a Hue Bridge and lights, nothing changes about how those work. A new A19 bulb with this dual capability can operate your old Zigbee setup as normal, while also showing up in Alexa, Apple Home, or Google Home if you use those systems. It works in both places simultaneously — no bridge replacement, no configuration layer to manage.

Hue bulbs sold without a Bridge have used Bluetooth for quick setup and local control. Matter over Thread adds a third wireless option, with better range than Bluetooth and the open-standard interoperability you don't get from Zigbee alone.

The wider story here is that Matter has moved slower than expected to deliver on its main promise: a single standard that works across all smart home brands and platforms. Wi-Fi and wired connections appeared on early Matter devices, but Thread — which excels at low power and mesh networking — took longer to spread into actual products. Lighting is where Thread makes the most sense: mains-powered bulbs can stay on all the time, making them natural relay points in a Thread mesh. When a major product line like Philips Hue adds Thread at scale, it puts more relay nodes into homes, which strengthens the entire mesh for battery-powered devices like sensors, smart locks, and motorized blinds that depend on nearby routers to reach home.

The real win here is that a single bulb now bridges two systems instead of forcing a choice between them. Smart home hardware has fragmented in the past when users had to replace working devices to switch standards. A bulb that speaks both Zigbee and Matter removes that tension, making it easier for the millions of people already running Hue to dip into Matter without abandoning their existing setup.

What remains to be tested is how well this dual-protocol chip performs when many devices crowd the same 2.4 GHz frequency — the same band used by Wi-Fi, microwaves, and other wireless gear. Silicon Labs has supplied Zigbee and Thread chips to the smart home industry for years and has dual-protocol operation on its roadmap, so the engineering foundation is solid. The market will show whether it holds up in real homes.