Here is an interesting update from the LEGO Powered Up team. LEGO Powered Up 3.0 is going to be available soon! (The app is currently in beta, and going through the app store’s approval process.) Below are the details.
So what’s new with LEGO Powered Up 3.0? For those of you that have more than one hub, the good news is that you are going to be able to connect, address, code, and control multiple hubs (up to four). Another update is that the app now fully supports the new LEGO Technic hardware. You will be able to connect the new LEGO Technic hub, and use the internal tilt sensor, as well as the new LEGO Technic motors.
For real techy LEGO fans, the app can now read values from internal sensors; orientation (X, Y, Z), and acceleration (X, Y, Z) of the LEGO Technic Medium Hub (Hub128). From the app, you can pair motors on port AB, and CD. The app also supports the LEGO Technic Large Linear Motor (Motor no. 2) and LEGO Technic XL Linear Motor (Motor no. 3). You can regulate the power, speed, and position of the motors from the app.
Last but not least, the app has gotten a makeover! The LEGO Powered Up team has given the interior of the two lobbies a thorough clean up, and made it easier for you to create new projects. And they have also cleaned up the canvas a bit (don’t worry, all of your canvas features are still available in the little menu in the bottom right corner).
This is just the beginning to the improvements of LEGO Powered Up. With this update comes a promise and commitment from the LEGO Powered Up team to keep improving and listening to feedback from LEGO fans. You can help them make the app even better by sharing your ideas for improvements, and your awesome creations with the LEGO Powered Up app.
If you want to try out LEGO Powered Up, the components are available individually or bundled with sets. Currently available sets include the #60197 LEGO City Passenger Train, the #60198 LEGO City Cargo Train, the #76112 LEGO App-Controlled Batmobile, the #71044 LEGO Disney Train and Station, the #42099 LEGO Technic 4×4 X-treme Off-Roader, and the #42100 LEGO Technic Liebherr R 9800 Excavator. Just click on the links to go to the Online LEGO Shop. Also note that the #42109 LEGO Technic App-Controlled Top Gear Rally Car is now available for pre-order (it will be released on January 1st)! You can find it at the LEGO Technic section of the Online LEGO Shop. To find individual components, visit the LEGO Powered Up section of the Online LEGO Shop.
What do you think? Have you been using the LEGO Powered Up components? How do you like them? And what do you think of the updates? Do you have any questions, comments, suggestions for the LEGO Powered Up team? Feel free to share them in the comment section below, and I will forward them to the LEGO Powered Up team.
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This is great to hear. Is there a date when this update is going to be available?
The app should be available December 26th. 🙂
I don’t remember getting a notification when the last time the app had an update. You can just go to the app store of your choice at the end of the month and download it. It should be available on the 26th.
You lost me at the word code. So now I need a college education to use Lego. Most people are not computer savvy. I don’t understand the need for all this hooey. The last Lego app I tried was a confusing disaster that made no sense. (Hidden side) Why can’t Lego just be simple and fun. Computerizing it takes away from imagination building.
You can still run them with the standard remote, but the app offers more options. And coding in Lego apps is not real coding. It’s just putting blocks of images together to create a sequence of actions.
I encourage you to try again. The app is pretty good and intuitive. And like Martin said, it gives you more options than the the remote.
I’m curious how this will work. Will we get a notification when the app update is available?
Does this mean that the powered up app and the control+ app are going to be merged together? I’m not clear on that part.
It appears so. Although we will have to wait and see until the update is available so we can see the details.
So, is this the app that we will be using with the Top Gear set? I would really like to get that one.
Yes, my understanding is that the Top Gear car will be controlled by the Powered Up 3.0 app.
I’ve got a Lego Move Hub (AKA Powered Up Hub) for my son for Christmas, and the V3.0.0 Powerup App. They just refuse to talk to each other! Has the Move Hub functionality been taken out of the app? Hub firmware is 2.0.0.17.
Mark, let me look into this for you. Give me a little bit.
Mark, okay, so I talked with my PUP expert friends. This is what they said:
“There’s a little confusion, the Move Hub (88006) is the official name of the Boost Hub, what I’d call Powered Up Hub is the City/AAA one (88009). Anyway, if it is the Boost Hub then I’d definitely try to connect to it with the Boost App first and test if it works ok and if there’re any firmware updates to be installed. I tested all 3 hub types recently with the 3.0 version of the PUP app and all of them were connecting fine. If it is a train hub, then press and hold the green button until the light flashes purple. Then try again.”
We have bought this hub for the train of our son but after the update it runs for 5 minutes and then it becomes weaker within 2 minutes and needs to replace the battery’s. Anyone maybe some tips or ideas? We always use Duracell Alkaline battery’s.
Hm… Robert, it seems like your Hub may be defective. It shouldn’t behave the way you described. I would suggest that you contact customer service and tell them your issues. They can help you test the Hub and send you a replacement if it is defective.
Thanks for the reply. We already tried but couldn’t find a defect. We will try again with the customer support.
Thanks!
LEGO need to make it so that the standard (Train) remote control can be used directly with a Technic Smart Hub to drive the remote control cars in a simple manner off two ports; left control for power and right for steering. This should not need a tablet or phone working as an intermediary.
Although the control would not be proportional to user input, they could progressively increase the speed and degree of steering the longer a control is held down, allowing the user to feather the steering / speed control by tapping the control button instead of holding (as with early pre-analog PS1 racing games).
Preferably, also a way to link two controllers to drive all 4 ports of the Technic Smart Hub.