What are "Groups"?
Short Definition
Groups are an individual container for controlling several devices at the same time.
Groups
Groups serve for the synchronous control of several devices at once. Unlike rooms, groups are optional. A device must necessarily be assigned to exactly one room but can be a member in none, one, or many groups.
The purpose of groups is to join together areas within a room that should be controlled as one. However, it is also possible to combine devices across rooms into a group (e.g. "First Floor Lights").
You can control all the properties of all devices at once within a group. This includes:
- On or Off (On = last On state of all group participants)
- Brightness (only for dimmable devices)
- Light temperature (only for tunable white lights)
- Saturation (only for RGB lights)
- Light color (only for RGB lights)
Several predefined light settings are also available within a group (e.g., "Bright Light", "Dimmed Light", "Night Light", "Cozy Light")
A group can easily be marked as a favorite (In control mode: star symbol in the top right corner), so it appears for quick access on the home screen.
Groups in Bluetooth Mesh are a powerful concept, as in this way no light needs to know when a new switch has been added and no switch needs to know when a new light has been added. Switches and sensors only send a message to a group address. In this way, groups with very many participants can be switched synchronously and with very little delay.
Control devices (such as wall switches, remote controls, sensors) can only be assigned to exactly one group at the same time, whereas actuators (e.g. lights) can be a member of many groups at the same time.