58.X Hub Firmware Beta Group | Local Notifications is Ready for Testing

Developer Programs Hub Firmware Beta
1

New Local Notifications for Hub Connected Devices

The SmartThings Development team is ready to test a new feature that supports local notifications (SMS, Push, Image, Audio). Routines that run locally on the hub can send notifications when at least one command is included.

Note: This feature still requires a hub internet connection in order to receive the notifications. If the hub is disconnected from the internet, it is expected that all other actions in the routine will still be able to run, but the notification will not.

This functionality is available for current enrollees of the Hub Firmware Beta Group using the hub firmware 0.58.

Getting Started

With this beta release, you can start testing this new feature by creating a new routine using the SmartThings app.

Routines are eligible for local execution when the hub firmware version 0.58 or later is installed and all associated manually run routines and devices can execute locally.

Routines are eligible for local notifications when all associated Hub Connected Devices can execute locally using Edge drivers. These include Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Matter devices, as well as other Hub Connected Devices using Drivers. Existing routines have already been examined for eligibility previously, so if they are not enabled for local execution, you will need to recreate or update them.

Developers

You can also use the SmartThings API and the Rules tutorial to create and view local routines (a.k.a. Rules or Automatic Routines). The execution location is local when the executionLocation value in the API response is “Local”. The small house icon will also be displayed next to the routine name on the Routines tab in the SmartThings app.

For reference, developer resources for rules can be found below.

Feel free to start a thread or reply to existing threads related to manually run or automatic routine executions in the SmartThings Community Developers Programs forum if you have questions or feedback.

Users Not in the Firmware Beta

This announcement is targeted at our advanced users in our firmware beta, but don’t feel left out! This functionality will become available to all users over time as firmware 0.58 is released to the different SmartThings hub models.

NOTE

If you’d like to participate in the beta, please see these instructions for how to sign up or unenroll.

Anyone who participated in the previous beta is automatically signed up for this one, unless you have unenrolled.

5 Likes
2

It works, if I understand correctly the only difference is that now a routine with notifications could be marked as local so there’s no longer need to separate it from other local actions.

Offtopic, please add the turn on or off (toggle) to local lighting groups, hope you didn’t forget about it :slight_smile:

1 Like
3

I am a bit baffled by the references to the Rules API and the Rules documentation in the opening post given that we’ve been asking for Notifications to be supported in public API created Rules for years now with no joy.

While Notifications continue to only be supported in client app Routines and not public API created Rules, local Notifications in Routines are just another kick in the teeth.

3 Likes
4

Forgive my question since it’s been forever since I used the STHM. I remember that the STHM would not run local because of its notification settings. If that has not changed, will this new local notification feature allow the STHM to run locally?

5

Good question. I haven’t used STHM, so I’ll check into it. I’ll bring it up for a discussion.

3 Likes
6

Thanks for the feedback. I like your suggestion and will discuss it again with our team.

7

It reflects the more general issue where the docs proudly announce (or did last time I looked) that the Rules have a subset of the functionality of the app Routines, without any apparent recognition of how absurd that seems when it is the Rules API that is presented as the developer tool. Indeed the Rules API comes across as so moribund that one can feel uncomfortable using it.

The other significant frustration, and I realise that I am going off topic, is the lack of an action to execute other Rules. We can execute Scenes but not other Rules. I don’t want to have to use Scenes any more than I want Routines. Scenes seem rather incongruous anyway, being in the public API but managed by the client apps.

2 Likes
8

This is now working after the last public firmware release of 58.10 even though they didn’t include it in the release notes.

I was able to re-save some of my Automation Routines which are now showing that they run local with a notification in them even though the notification itself won’t happen if the internet is down. I was even able to remove a few routines that were just a notification since I can now put the notification in the primary routine with it still showing as running local.

1 Like