Android Widget

Apps & Clients Android
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@Ben, we realize that SmartThings team has to deal with problems of global proportions, but us, the little end users, we don’t necessarily see the big picture. We are not aware about the infrastructure, the cloud is invisible to us. What we do see is what is hooked up at our homes. We deal with the same, little, insignificant problems every day. Things that don’t work when they should, obvious features that are missing, etc.

The community closed a lot of gaps, but these things are not making it to official support.

Why is there no official support for Nest, MyQ and lock management? These have been used by the community for months!

At the very least if there was a good resource to walk through app installation, endpoints and better documentation, then the users would feel a lot more empowered. Every new user that wants to write a Smart App should not go through the same pain as each one before him.

In summary, please get a developer to spend a day to write the widget!

1 Like
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A number of these are coming as we ramp up submission approvals. Nest has been documented ad nauseum as why we cannot offer support yet.

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@chaosrain I’ve been working on an Android app which provides widgets/shortcuts and a Tasker plugin for controlling SmartThings devices. The app is still in it’s early stages, but my friends that have been testing it with me have been encouraging me to share the app with the SmartThings community. If you interested in alpha/beta testing the app, follow the instructions below:
http://sharptools.boshdirect.com/installation-instructions

I would note that while the widgets and Tasker plugin are free during the alpha testing period, I do plan on limiting the number of available widgets/Tasker tasks in the free version and having an IAP to unlock unlimited access once the app is released.

3 Likes
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Wow Josh! I’m excited. I’ve submitted my request to be a tester. Once you approve the request, I’ll install the Android app and begin testing. I also have a Moto 360 so if you augment the Android app to run on Wear, let me know!

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I’m glad to hear you are excited! I won’t rule out adding Wear support as I have a Moto 360 and already built one Wear app, but for now I’d like to focus on getting the Widgets and Tasker support polished up.

I just approved a new request a few minutes ago and it looks like the waiting list is clear. Feel free to email me if you have any questions or suggestions!

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I have been using the Sharp Tools app and when it actually does work, it works well. Unfortunately, it is about a 50/50 chance that a widget will work or it will crash and cause force close errors.

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@TattooedNerd33 would you mind sending me a PM with a bit more details? I would be interested in better understanding the issues you are having.

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Do we have widgets yet? Heads up, if the answer is no, I’m returning this because I will have lost faith in this platform.

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There are widgets for both IOS and android, but I believe they’re limited to Hello Home Actions.

You can also use the IFTTT Do button as a widget for individual devices.

This is mentioned in the scheduler FAQ, #5:

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We’ve had widgets since March

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Android widget demo video:

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I would also add that if you want something more than Hello Home Actions (phrases) on Android, you should check out SharpTools.

SharpTools is a set of widgets and Taskers plugins for SmartThings on Android. The widgets allow you to control your Things, Phrases, or Modes… and if you are more of a tinkerer, then the Tasker plugins are an excellent addition.

944×945 644 KB

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Guess what? First thing I checked was to see if SharpTools still works!

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Thanks for the feedback! SharpTools is verified to work with Hub v2 and works without any dependency on the SmartThings mobile app. On some of my mobile devices, I only have SharpTools installed and don’t have the main SmartThings app installed at all. :smile:

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That’s a great tip for the time being. Thanks.

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I should clarify that SharpTools is dependent on the SmartThings cloud platform (even with Hub v2). And with all the hub disconnects and reconnects over the past day or two, you may experience intermittent issues until they resolve the platform issues.

I’ve asked about being able to communicate directly with Hub v2 from SharpTools and they said it won’t part of the initial release. Only SmartApps that run with all local resources (eg. Z-Wave / Zigbee) will run locally on Hub v2 in the initial release. SmartApps that provide HTTP End Points like SharpTools and SmartTiles will still run in the cloud and have a dependency on an Internet connection.

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Is it possible to create a widget using SharpTools that controls a Virtual Switch?

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Yes. Virtual switches are treated just like normal switches in SharpTools.

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try it out before you decide to buy. sharptools. my main use case has made my life a bit easier that its was worth paying for.

1 Like
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I realise this is an old, old thread but the recent replies have popped it back to the top so I’ll just add my voice to the recommendations for SharpTools. I’ve got widgets for the main lights in my house lined up on a home screen.

You can use either a shortcut widget or an active widget that shows the current status of, say, a light - the only trouble with the latter is that it doesn’t always seem to update if the light is switched on or off by a rule, presumably because to do so it would have to keep polling for status, which would be a battery drain.

As well as the widgets I use the Tasker integration - I use Tasker’s location rules in conjunction with SharpTools to set the mode to “Home” or “Away” as I find it more reliable than ST’s native presence detection :slight_smile:

2 Likes