Philips Hue is embracing Siri Shortcuts this autumn.

The popular smart lights brand is partnering with Apple once again. If you recall, it was one of the first brands to sync with Apple HomeKit, enabling you to control your Hue smart home lights via Apple's Home app or Siri voice controls. Now, with the new Siri Shortcuts feature, you can customise those Siri voice commands to your preference, and you can even program them to trigger multiple actions at once.

Apple used the WWDC 2018 conference this past summer to announce a big update for its smart assistant, Siri, which will arrive with iOS 12 this autumn. Called Siri Shortcuts, the new feature lets you assign custom phrases to various supported apps so that you can quickly get information. Apple used Tile as an example during its live demo. When you open the Tile app, you'll get a button that says "Add to Siri".

If you click that button and then record a custom phrase, such as "I lost my keys," when you activate Siri, you'll just have to speak your phrase, and then Siri will automatically begin ringing the Tile connected to your keys. Go here to learn more about how Siri Shortcuts work.

So, with Philips Hue and Siri Shortcuts, you could say, for instance, "Hey Siri, let's go to bed" to trigger your Hue smart home lights to fade off while also triggering some nighttime music to play through your phone or through an AirPlay speaker like the Apple HomePod. Saying, "Hey Siri, It's Saturday" as you wake up, could turn your lights on and send your friend a text to let them know you're free.

Hue smart home light owners will essentially be able to add lighting recipes to various Siri Shortcuts. Philips demoed how you would be able to adjust your dining room to a certain colour with a Siri voice command like "dinner time". Just remember that Siri Shortcuts is designed to allow users to create multi-step shortcuts using first- and third-party apps that can be activated by Siri voice commands. 

It's hugely customisable, and third-party apps like the Hue app are able to develop quick actions for Siri that can be integrated into Shortcuts recipes. When this Hue integration launches, you'll see options will be available in the dedicated Shortcuts app. Philips made this announcement at IFA 2018 in Berlin last week, so go here to learn more about what else we saw at the consumer electronics show.

We'll keep you posted as we learn more.