Philips Hue Play Wall Washer review: drench your boring walls with innovative light, but it’ll cost you

Philips Hue has come a long way since it first launched back in 2012. Entering the market as not much more than a simple smart bulb you could control with your phone has evolved into what’s now one of the most popular and expansive smart lighting ecosystems you can get your mitts on.

Whether you’re after ambient mood lighting, full-on colour scenes for movie or gaming nights, or motion-triggered security lights outside your home, Hue pretty much has the lighting for it, whether that’s inside or outside your home. And if anyone should know, it’s me – I remember attending the first Hue press launch in London in my early years of journalism and have been using and reviewing everything from the brand – including its bulbs, strip lights and smart plugs – ever since.

The latest addition to Hue’s smart lighting line up is the Philips Hue Play Wall Washer – a compact lamp designed to project large, seamless gradients of colour up and down your wall. It’s not just for adding a bit of colour to your lounge, though. With the right setup, it can also sync with your TV or gaming screen to add immersive lighting effects that extend beyond the screen.

I’ve been testing this oddly named gadget over the past few weeks as part of my wider Hue setup. Let’s delve into how it performed and if it’s really worth your hard-earned dosh.

Philips Hue Play Wall Washer review: PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

The Philips Hue Play Wall Washer is available to buy right now, either directly from Philips Hue’s official website and other retailers like Amazon. In the UK, a single Wall Washer will set you back £169.99, or £299.99 for a twin-pack. In the US, the same device costs $219.99 individually or $384.99 for two. In both markets, you can choose between black or white colourways to match your decor.

With this price tag, the Wall Washer certainly isn’t cheap, and considering that to get full functionality (like syncing it with your TV or using advanced scenes), you’ll also need a Philips Hue Bridge (£49.99 / $65.99) and potentially a Hue Play HDMI Sync Box (£249.99 /$349.99 - gulp) or a compatible LG/Samsung TV with the Hue Sync app, there are a lot of potentially costly decisions involved here. Basically, Hue (in general) isn’t a light for dabblers - it’s best suited to those already all-in or ready to be fully committed to the Hue ecosystem.

Philips Hue Play Wall Washer review: Design

When it comes to looks, the Philips Hue Play Wall Washer isn’t going to wow you right out of the box, but it’s still pretty minimal and inoffensive. It boosts a sleek cylindrical design and at 15.7cm tall and 9.1cm wide, it’s shorter than the Hue Play Light Bars but has a more premium feel, thanks to its matte aluminium housing. As I mentioned earlier, you can get it in either black or white, ensuring it should blend in nicely into whatever setup you have at home.

Flip it around, and the “working” end of the Wall Washer sports three LED modules stacked vertically, each angled slightly differently to create that smooth, gradient wash of light. It uses what Hue calls "ColorCast" projection optics - the same found in the more expensive Hue Twilight lamp. I found it to be genuinely impressive when in use. The gradient blends so well you can’t see where one colour ends and another begins, and the overall light projection is surprisingly wide for such a compact lamp.

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The Wall Washer is definitely designed to be seen rather than hidden away behind furniture, although the rear isn’t the most attractive part of the build. Still, from the front and sides, it’s sharp and modern. I found it best to place it freestanding next to a wall, so it could fill a space with colour right up to the ceiling. If you’re short on floor space, however – or you want a subtler vibe than a floor lamp, this is a great middle ground.

Power-wise, you’ll need to deal with the Hue adapter block, which isn’t the prettiest thing to have sticking out of your wall. It’s pretty obtrusive, so I found myself plugging it into a four-way adapter hidden behind something on the floor, instead. What’s more, you can only power three Wall Washers from a single brick, which might feel a bit of a let-down given the price of this thing.

Philips Hue Play Wall Washer review: Performance

The Hue Play Wall Washer really comes into its own once you start using it day to day. Whether it’s working as a TV-syncing backlight, an ambient room filler, or a bedside sunrise simulator, it delivers in just about every way.

Setup is as straightforward as it gets, too. All you need to do is open the app, scan the QR code on the lamp, assign it to a room or zone, and you’re in. You can use Bluetooth for a quick start, but the full range of features – like scenes, automations, and Hue Sync – requires a Bridge.

From there, you can pick colours, set dynamic scenes, adjust brightness per LED or across the whole lamp, and integrate it into your broader setup. The range of colours and white temperatures (2,000K to 6,500K) is pretty impressive, and brightness tops out at 1,035 lumens, which is double what the Play Light Bars can do.

The Wall Washer’s three LEDs act independently, allowing for smooth transitions that create a lovely effect across a wall. Scenes can shimmer, ripple, or pulse gently, and you can even create custom effects using the app. For a light that doesn’t move or rotate, it creates a real sense of movement on your wall. It definitely offers more than I was expecting in terms of features.

However, it’s when you’re pairing the light with your TV that the real magic happens. You’ll have to already own the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box (or use the Sync app on compatible LG and Samsung sets), but having one of these means you can place the Wall Washer in your “entertainment zone” and it’ll react in real time to games or films. Colours will shift as an extension of your screen smoothly and accurately with no lag, making gawping at a TV so much more immersive and enjoyable.

The only downsides when it comes to performance is that it doesn’t mount horizontally, so you’ll need to think about placement. And if you only buy one, it’s not going to transform your viewing experience. But get a pair, and it’s a real showstopper.

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Philips Hue Play Wall Washer review: Verdict

The Philips Hue Play Wall Washer is a super smart light that has the potential to really transform your home living experience – especially if you sync it as an extension of your TV. It’s thoughtfully designed, boasts a decent feature set and is seriously flexible in how you can use it.

On the other hand, it is expensive, and yes, you’ll need to be already embedded or ready to invest heavily in Hue’s ecosystem to get the most out of it, but if that sounds like you, then this is one of the best lighting upgrades you can make.

If you're after a way to take your smart lighting game up a notch, this is the way to do it.