Title: Photon: free app that dims your lights when Plex starts playing (a HelloHue replacement)
Hey everyone,
Long time Plex user here. A lot of you probably remember HelloHue, the plugin that dimmed your Hue lights when a movie started and brought them back up when you paused. It stopped working when Plex dropped plugin support, and ever since, the usual answer has been “set it up in Home Assistant.” That’s great if you already run HA, but plenty of us just want the lights to do the right thing without building automations.
So I built Photon. It does what HelloHue did, and quite a bit more.
What it does
- Each room’s lights follow what’s playing: dim on play, come up on pause, dim again on resume, and go back to exactly how they were when you stop. You can also ease them up near the end for the credits.
- You decide what every event does, and rules can depend on the time of day (for example, leave the lights alone during the day).
- Works with Plex without Plex Pass. Photon watches your server’s live sessions, so it catches casting from your phone too. If you do have Plex Pass, it sets up the webhook for you so it reacts a little faster.
- Only reacts to people in your Plex Home if you want, so a friend watching your shared library won’t dim your living room.
- Lights: Philips Hue (and the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box), Govee, LIFX, WiZ, Nanoleaf, IKEA, Wyze, Treatlife and other Tuya / Smart Life devices, Lutron Caseta, and Home Assistant if you do have it.
- Mix brands freely. A single room can have Philips Hue and Govee lights (or any combination of the above), and they all dim and come back up together, no bridging or extra setup needed.
- Also works with Jellyfin and Emby, and can follow the TV itself (Roku, LG, Android TV / Fire TV / Shield, Chromecast, Kodi, Vizio, Samsung) for apps that aren’t Plex.
- You pick which lights and which player go with each room. There’s also an optional floor plan and 3D view for each room. You don’t need them for anything, they’re just a nice way to see each room on its own and where its lights are.
Where it runs
Windows, Mac, Docker, or an old Android phone or tablet you have lying around. The Android app runs the whole thing on the phone itself, so you can leave an old phone plugged in on a shelf and forget about it. It’s password protected, and on Android you can sign in with your fingerprint.
One heads up on Android: this is a personal project, not an official app, so it isn’t on the Play Store. You download the APK from the Releases page on GitHub and install it yourself. Android will ask you to allow installs from your browser, and Play Protect may ask you to confirm since it doesn’t recognize the app. That’s normal for apps from outside the Play Store.
Cost
The app itself is free. If you get some use out of it, donations are always welcome and help with further development, but there’s no paywall and no features held back.
Downloads, setup guides and screenshots are on GitHub:
The Windows and Mac installers and the Android APK are on the Releases page there. If you run into anything or want support for a light or player I haven’t covered yet, reply here or open an issue on GitHub. I’d love to hear how it works in your setup.
