The original Philips Hue Bridge model - used by the company's popular Hue bulbs to interface with smartphones and digital assistants - loses support for all internet-connected services on April 30, 2020, including Google Assistant and Alexa.

Once this date passes, customers will still be able to use Hue Bridge v1, but only when they are connected to the same local area network using the legacy Philips Hue Bridge v1 application. However, Philips will not provide any new software updates for the application, including security fixes. Due to these security issues, Philips recommends that customers upgrade to the Bridge v2 model, instead of using the limited functionality of v1.

The company actually announced that v1 Bridge would lose support last year, but the move is still significant: most Hue products are not functional without Bridge serving as a hub, and it is the first major impairment of Hue products the company has begun to sell. in October 2012.

Philips first introduced the v2 Bridge model in 2015, as part of an update to add support for Apple's HomeKit smart technology (at the time, Apple asked manufacturers to have a physical hardware authentication chip to work with HomeKit , although since then it has eased. about this restriction.) It is easy to say whether or not you have v1 Bridge: the original model (the one that loses internet support) is a circular one, while the v2 model is rectangular.

In a comment to CNET Explaining the decision, Philips said that "Hue bridge v1 no longer has the resources to guarantee the evolution of the system - from compatibility and quality, to speed and security - so we decided to end support for it."

Philips also tried make sure customers of the current v2 model on Twitter that he should not fear a similar lack of support soon, noting that "there is no planned date when Bridge V2 will no longer be accepted." Another tweet added that "Currently there is no end of life scheduled for the V2 bridge and we are not working on a new bridge at the moment, so we will continue to work with V2."