I too have been asking similar features for some time. Right now the only way to change profiles is indeed launching an app or changing it form the aura tab. There really needs to be a better way to do this, either Fn+ number like it used to work with old profiles before aura or command line switches or something.
For me, my keyboard lights will turn off now when I put my PC to sleep. This did not work with the old versions. Just monitor off will not turn the lights off, but this is fine with me.