3AM, and you're weighing your options: flip on the overhead light and wake yourself all the way up, or feel your way to the bathroom in the pitch dark and hope you don't step on anything.
IFTTT can turn any bulb you already own into a motion sensor light, no need to buy a dedicated motion activated night light. A motion sensor picks up that you're up, and a dim light switches on automatically, just enough to see by. If you don't already have an account, you can sign up for IFTTT free in about a minute.
Why this reacts to motion instead of a schedule
Every Applet below responds to Wyze's motion sensor detecting or losing motion in real time, typically within a few seconds, rather than a fixed wake-up time or a calendar event that has no idea whether you're actually out of bed. That's a genuinely different mechanism from the other automations in this series: nothing here is scheduled, it only reacts when something in the room actually moves.
The tradeoff is exactly what you'd expect from a sensor that just detects motion: it reacts to any motion, not specifically to a person getting up to use the bathroom. A pet crossing the room or a partner shifting in bed can trigger it just as easily. If that's a dealbreaker, the manual button override below gives you a way to skip the sensor entirely on the nights it matters.
Step 1: Turn lights on dim when motion is detected
The moment your Wyze Motion Sensor detects movement, this Applet sets your Philips Hue lights to a low, soft brightness, enough to see by without the jolt of a full-brightness overhead light.
Step 2: Turn the lights back off once you're still
When the Wyze sensor stops detecting motion, this Applet turns the Hue lights back off, so the room returns to darkness on its own instead of you needing to remember to flip the switch again.
Step 3: Turn lights on when a door or cabinet opens
Motion isn't the only signal worth using. This Applet turns your Hue lights on the moment a Wyze contact sensor detects a door, drawer, or cabinet opening, useful for a nightstand drawer or a bathroom door if you'd rather trigger off that than general room motion.
Extra automations to layer in
The three steps above handle the core nightlight behavior. These three are optional, a manual override, a low-battery warning, and a simple activity log.
Skip the sensor with a bedside button
Some nights you don't want to rely on the sensor at all. Press the Button widget and a Wyze bulb switches straight to a preset dim brightness, no motion required.
Get an alert before your sensor's battery dies
This Applet sends a push notification the moment your Wyze sensor reports a low battery, so the nightlight doesn't stop working without you noticing until you actually need it.
Log motion events to a spreadsheet
Every time the Wyze sensor detects movement, this Applet adds a timestamped row to a Google Sheets spreadsheet. It's a record of motion events, not a sleep log, it can't distinguish you getting up from a pet wandering by, so treat it as a rough activity trace rather than anything more precise.
Try these other smart home services too
The steps above use Wyze and Hue, but the same motion-and-contact pattern works with other smart home ecosystems too. A few worth knowing about if you use something else:
WiZ lights work the same way Hue does here, a Wyze Motion Sensor can turn your WiZ lights on directly, brightness and color included.
Smart Life covers a huge range of third-party bulbs and plugs under one universal app, useful if your lighting isn't a name-brand ecosystem at all.
SmartThings is Samsung's smart home platform, a direct alternative to Hue if that's the ecosystem you're already in.
LIFX is another direct Hue alternative, the same motion and contact sensor triggers pair with it just as easily.
Let motion handle the lights so you don't have to
None of these Applets need each other to work. The three core steps handle the light itself, the extras cover a manual override, low-battery alerts, and a simple activity log.
FAQs
Does the sensor know it's me getting up, and not a pet or my partner?
No. A motion sensor detects any motion in range, it can't tell who or what is moving. If you share a room with a partner or a pet that roams at night, expect the light to trigger for them too, not just you.
Will the light be too bright and wake me up anyway?
That depends on the brightness value you set. Start lower than you'd expect, most people find something in the 5-15% range is enough to navigate by without feeling like the lights just came on.
Does the activity log tell me how well I slept?
No. It logs motion sensor events, not sleep stages or quality. A busy night with several trips to the bathroom will show more rows, but that's a proxy at best, not a measurement of your sleep itself.
Can I use a different light brand than Hue?
Yes. Swap the action for whatever bulb brand you own, the Wyze motion trigger side stays the same regardless of brand.
What's the difference between the motion sensor step and the contact sensor step?
The motion sensor detects any movement in the room, useful for general activity. The contact sensor only fires when a specific door, drawer, or cabinet opens, a more precise signal if you want the light tied to one exact action rather than any movement nearby.
