So it seems, I’m learning, that the new ST app does not work with iWatch. I’ve switch to the new app, but needed to reinstall the classic app to use iWatch. It works as it should, except that scenes need to be created again in the old app. Also, the classic app is still slated to shutdown soon, which will render iWatch users with zer options. ST support has stated, that while they acknowledge they are breaking existing functionality that was marketed to customers and the reason many purchased the product, they will go ahead with the breaking changes.
This is a terrible idea and I’ve attempted to find product management to ensure they are aware of the impact and try to get them to prioritize getting the feature working in the new app and delay the shutdown until it is added.
Has anyone run the up the ladder yet or know who this needs to escalate to?
If this effects you, please also reply.
Also, also, are they any social media accounts for ST and home automation in general this should be messaged on? Often all that will force a change is wide spread messaging.
Yea, the new app isn’t available for Apple Watch. I had used it to run routines in the Classic app to arm and disarm SHM. It wasn’t terribly reliable (sometimes routines just spun eternally), but it was nice to not have to go find the phone every time.
This forum was set up a number of years ago so that customers can help other customers. It’s not officially monitored by smartthings except they occasionally post announcements here.
To get the attention of Samsung smartthings, it’s usually most effective to reply to their official Twitter or Facebook pages. At least marketing monitors those.
As far as watches, I assume by “iwatch“ you mean the “Apple Watch“ from Apple? IWatch is actually a different device from a different company who owns a trademark on it and Apple decided “Apple Watch“ would work better for them anyway.
if you’re already paying the IFTTT subscription you can use Ifttt for a watch app. If you’re not paying the Ifttt subscription I don’t know if it’s worth it, you can set up a free account with three applets, but that’s not many.
The other alternative if you have a strong technical background is to set up homebridge and then access through HomeKit. That works fine, it’s just a lot of work to set up and you need an additional server device like a raspberry pi. You can talk to people doing that in the following thread:
Ah, yes, I meant Apple Watch (its the wife’s not mine). Years ago I had used Homebridge, but removed it when I went to a smart speaker system.
Apple Watch is useful (for her), as example when in bed, and she doesn’t want to ‘holler’ to a smart speaker, to do this like turn on/off reading lamps (yea, we’re that lazy).
As I work for a software company, it just seemed a bad decision on the part of ST to take functionality (that works and is marketed) and deliberately break it, AND then also plan to shutdown the only mechanism to provide the functionality. Unless the intent is to deprecate it, in which case, just say so. Abandoning users is never a good choice.
Before I took to Twitters, I had hoped to get a gauge of whether many ST users actually use the Apple Watch app available only in Classic. As if its very very very few users, it seems kinda pointless to go the social media route.
Which is the official FB group that ST reviews? I’m mostly finding just ‘unofficial ones’ that allow posting.
There have been three or four threads on this already, most with a few hundred views, so there are certainly some people.
But my personal guess would be that Samsung just isn’t very interested in using resources to provide this. They’ll do it for the iPhone because they have to, but they don’t even have a watch app for all of their own Samsung smart watches, so I doubt if it’s a very high priority.
I recommend you look into setting up Hombridge again. It has become a lot more user frindly and easy to set up since last year. Also it runs a lot more stable now. If you use it in a raspberry pi, you can even download an image for the memory card and the installation uses a GUI now.
Besides automations and rules that I run in Apple Home , my apple watch is my most used device to control items in my home. I found that Siri understand commands a lot better than Amazon Echo (Alexa).
Haven’t heard a peep. I do wish there were a good way to identify how many ST Apple Watch users there are. Forum members are a very small subset of users in general.
I’m developing an Apple Watch SmartThings app. This allows you to execute scenes and control devices from your wrist. I am looking for a small group of beta testers. You must have an Apple Watch with WatchOS 7 (or higher) paired to an iPhone with iOS 14 (or higher). Right now this app is for US only. If you are interested in testing please email me at info@jwerfel.com
We could assist. My wife is the primary user, so you’d get a true ‘user’ experience. I can assist to ensure you get the needed info back to id and resolve issues.
