u/mrwir

I have a fairly large Philips Hue setup. My whole house is basically Hue at this point, so I’ve invested quite a lot into the ecosystem.

The problem is with the Hue Smart Buttons. In several rooms, especially after being away for a weekend or when the lights haven’t been used for a while, the buttons often don’t respond properly. Sometimes I have to press them 4–5 times before anything happens. Sometimes it takes 10 presses. Sometimes they just don’t work for that day.

This is especially bad in a guest room. For the second time in a row, the Hue Smart Button in that room seems to have completely died. My guess is that guests had to press it so many times, and probably harder and harder, that it eventually broke. But I can’t really blame them, because from their point of view the button was already not working.

I understand that sometimes it could be a battery issue, but this has become a recurring pattern. It creates a bad experience: guests press the button, nothing happens, they keep pressing, maybe they force it, and then the physical button fails.

Is this a common Hue Smart Button issue?
Do they go into some kind of sleep state?
Is there a better Hue-compatible physical switch for guest rooms?
Would a Hue Dimmer Switch, Tap Dial, or something else be more reliable?

I was also looking into Hue Clips / QR-code style instructions for guests, but that project seems abandoned too. After spending so much money on Hue, I’m starting to feel like I made a stupid investment — not because the lights are bad, but because the control layer feels unreliable exactly when you need it to be simple.

Hi, I’m having an issue with a few Hue Smart Buttons.

After the lights/buttons have not been used for a few days, the button often does not respond on the first press. Sometimes I need to press it several times before the lights turn on. Occasionally it seems completely unresponsive for a while.

This has happened with more than one button, so I’m trying to understand whether this is expected behavior, a battery/contact issue, a connection problem, or something else in my setup.

Has anyone experienced something similar with Hue Smart Buttons?

Would switching to the Hue Dimmer Switch v2 or another Hue-compatible physical switch be more reliable?

Also do you know of any web app that I can have guests use to control lights?

I’m looking for a specific kind of MagSafe adapter, but I’m not sure what the correct search term is.
I do not want to stick anything to the back of my iPhone.
What I want is the opposite: a sticker / adhesive magnet / magnet array that I can stick to the back of another object, so that the object itself becomes a MagSafe-style accessory and attaches to my iPhone.
In my case, the object is a small e-ink reader, the Xteink X4. It physically fits very well on the back of my iPhone 17 Pro Max, but its built-in magnets are basically unusable: it slides around and does not stay aligned.
Everything I find online seems to be either:
a metal ring for the back of a phone case
a non-magnetic ring to make a case work with MagSafe accessories
a phone-side adapter, not an accessory-side adapter
What should I search for if I want an adhesive magnetic ring / magnet array / mounting plate that goes on the object, not on the phone?
Would something like a “MagSafe magnetic wall mount sticker” or “adhesive MagSafe magnet array” work for this?
Any specific product names, links, or search terms would be appreciated

I just got an Xteink X4 because I wanted to use it attached to the back of my iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Size-wise, it actually fits almost perfectly on the back of the phone, which is exactly why I chose the X4 over the X3. But the magnetic attachment is basically unusable for me: it slides around and moves away no matter what I do. I’m using the phone without a case, so it’s not a case issue.

Now I’m wondering if the X3 would have been the better choice, even though it’s smaller than the back of the Pro Max.

Since I still really like the idea of using the X4 this way, has anyone found a way to make the X4 more “MagSafe compatible”?

I was thinking of some kind of adhesive magnetic ring / magnet array / MagSafe sticker to put on the back of the X4 itself — not on the iPhone — so that the X4 attaches more securely to the iPhone’s MagSafe magnets.

The problem is that everything I find online seems to be either:

• a metal ring meant to stick on the back of a phone or phone case
• a non-magnetic ring for making a case compatible with MagSafe accessories
• or an official Xteink accessory from their website, which would take a long time to arrive and I’m not even sure would solve the problem

What I’m looking for is basically a sticker or adhesive magnet that would turn the X4 into a stronger MagSafe-style accessory for an iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Has anyone tried this? Any specific product names or search terms that actually worked?