Who this agreement is with
These terms are between you and Anton Vo, an individual, the publisher of Mote Desktop. Installing or using the application means you accept them. If you do not, do not install it, and uninstall it if you already have.
Where your license comes from
Mote Desktop is distributed through the Microsoft Store, and the license itself is granted under the Microsoft Standard Application License Terms, which you accept when you install from the Store. These terms sit alongside them and describe the publisher's side of the arrangement. Where the two disagree about the license itself, the Microsoft terms govern.
What you may do with Mote
You receive a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to install and use Mote Desktop on devices you own or control, for your own use or for the internal use of an organization you are acting for. The license lasts as long as you comply with these terms.
Mote is software, not hardware, and it does not grant you rights in the Philips Hue devices it talks to, in Windows, or in anything else on your network.
What you may not do
- Sell, rent, sublicense, or redistribute Mote Desktop, or make it available as a service to other people
- Work around the licensing that separates Free from Mote Pro, or unlock paid features by any means other than the Mote Pro trial or buying them
- Reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the application, except to the extent the law where you live allows it regardless of this restriction
- Remove or obscure the publisher's or a third party's notices, names, or marks
- Use Mote to reach Hue hardware you are not authorized to control, or to interfere with anyone else's network or devices
Mote Pro
Everyday Hue control is free. Mote Pro is a paid tier that adds multiple bridges, more than one Sync Box, advanced widgets, custom dashboard layouts, global keyboard shortcuts, and automations. It is a one-time purchase through the Microsoft Store rather than a subscription.
Each copy of Mote Desktop can try Mote Pro free for 14 days. The trial starts when that copy first pairs a Hue Bridge, needs no account or payment details, and ends on its own: nothing is charged and nothing renews. When it ends, Mote Pro features stop working until you buy Mote Pro, and what you set up with them stays saved. There is one trial for each copy on a PC. Reinstalling does not start another, and resetting or extending a trial by other means is working around the licensing that separates Free from Mote Pro.
The purchase happens through the Microsoft Store: Microsoft takes the payment, issues the receipt, and handles refunds and billing questions under the Store policy that applies where you bought it. The publisher cannot process or refund a Store payment. Which capabilities sit in each tier may change as the application develops; the features page describes the current split, and paid features already unlocked are not moved back behind a further purchase.
Your hardware and your network
You are responsible for your Philips Hue hardware, your Windows PC, your local network and its configuration, your backups, and the physical environment the lights are in. Mote reads and changes the state your bridge reports; it cannot verify what is physically attached to it.
Mote sends your Hue Bridge and Sync Box only the standard commands any Hue app sends, through Signify's documented local interfaces. It does not update firmware, factory-reset devices, or change how your bridge's network is set up. Removing a device, room, or scene, or replacing what a switch or sensor does, changes your setup on the bridge, and you can add or set it up again in Mote or the Hue app.
Features may be unavailable or behave differently because of hardware, bridge firmware, network isolation, VPNs, firewalls, Windows, or third-party changes outside the publisher's control. PC Sync in particular depends on display capture, system-audio loopback, and a compatible entertainment area.
Lighting effects and safety
Mote can change lights quickly, and PC Sync and Hue scenes can produce rapid changes in brightness and color. Do not use these effects where flashing light could create a safety risk, and do not use them if you or anyone present is affected by photosensitive epilepsy or is sensitive to flickering light. Stop synchronization immediately if it causes discomfort.
Do not rely on Mote for lighting that something depends on — a security routine, an occupancy signal, or a light someone needs to be on. It is a controller for consumer lighting, not a safety system, and a network or bridge failure will stop it working without warning.
Philips Hue, Microsoft, and other names
Mote Desktop is an independent application. It is not affiliated with, authorized by, sponsored by, or endorsed by Signify. Philips, Philips Hue, Hue Bridge, Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, Microsoft, Windows, and the Microsoft Store are the marks of their respective owners and are used here only to say what Mote works with.
Those products, and the services behind them, have their own terms and may change independently of Mote. A change on their side can remove a capability from this one.
Updates and availability
Mote Desktop may be updated, changed, suspended, or discontinued. Updates arrive through the Microsoft Store and may add, alter, or remove features. Reasonable care is taken to preserve your bridges, preferences, layouts, and widgets across a supported upgrade, but keeping your own record of an elaborate setup is wise.
What is and is not promised
Mote Desktop is provided as it is. To the extent the law allows, no warranty is given that it will be uninterrupted, error-free, compatible with any particular hardware or firmware, or fit for a purpose you have in mind, and no advice given over support creates one.
This does not displace the guarantees your own consumer law gives you, or the rights the Microsoft Store terms give you against Microsoft.
Limits on liability
To the extent the law allows, the publisher is not liable for indirect or consequential loss, lost profits, lost data, or damage arising from your use of Mote Desktop — including from lighting behavior, an interrupted sync, or a bridge or network failure.
To the extent the law allows, the publisher is not liable for damage to your lights, bridge, Sync Box, PC, or other devices from using Mote Desktop as intended, and the publisher's total liability to you is limited to the amount you paid for Mote Pro.
Nothing here excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, and for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
Your local law comes first
Nothing in these terms limits the mandatory consumer rights you have where you live. If a provision here conflicts with a right your law gives you, your law wins, and the rest of these terms stay in force.
Changes to these terms
These terms may change as the application changes. The date at the top of this page is the date the current wording took effect, and a material change is called out in the release notes. Continuing to use Mote Desktop after a change means accepting the revised terms; if you do not accept them, uninstall the application.
Questions about any of this go to support@motedesktop.com.