Announcement | Changes to our Legacy SmartThings Platform

[GSzabados (Gabor Szabados)]

@SmartThings

As part of this transition, we will also retire select legacy features, apps and products, rolling out in three phases over the next several months. Don’t worry, you will have plenty of time to make adjustments, if needed.

Phase 1

• Complete the migration from the SmartThings Classic app to the new SmartThings app that was announced earlier this year.
• Transition to a local (Hub-first) device health solution, with a focus on reliability.
• Begin the wind-down of select legacy systems, SmartApps, and cloud-based device status monitoring.

@blake.arnold, is it the new spin-off topic after the long-long Get ready to make the switch?

I still see missing pieces and bits, and cannot see how this would be at the end a more local execution environment. It is more and more depends on cloud based solutions and it is all depends on the users’ setup now.

1. Some integration from local LAN access has been moved to C2C, like the LIFX integration. Now if a bulb cannot connect to the LIFX cloud then it fails to work in the SmartThings environment and physically has to be power cycled. But meanwhile the bulb is working in the LAN environment from the phone and LIFX app.
   Really great to be dependent on two clouds.

2. SmartApps, the new methods are great and gives access to different languages to subscribe to events and trigger things, but again, all connected through cloud solutions. SmartThings has passed things to glitch or ngrok and the users with computers running 24/7 at home to host their own SmartApps. No problem, but it makes really a privacy nightmare which service has access to what and how. And all is cloud connected to each other.

3. Some services provided in the IDE by the Groovy platform, for me, is unknown in the new API. But please excuse me, if I am wrong.
   How anyone is able to access any weather data through the new API?
   How anyone is able to access TTS through the new API?
   Just two examples, Severe Weather Alert and Notify Me When SmartApps (BigTalker2 as well).
   Someone will jump in and going to tell there are audio notification options in the new SmartThings app, and yes, I am aware of it, but the textToSpeech() is able to use Amazon’s Polly’s all languages, meanwhile the new app supports only English and Korean. And here to mention that might be using Samsung’s Bixby, what is not limited to two languages. Actually it has more TTS languages than Amazon’s Polly or Google’s TTS services.

4. Still no way to implement custom cameras for feed or for images.

Wouldn’t be easier to introduce a monthly service fee to manage the things better/together, than letting the whole setup fragmented?

Or just provide a way to access a LAN based server without the cloud background and all developer will buy RaspberryPis in bulk. What the latest model is not enough for that is over complicated for home automation.