Hello,
I have been a smartthings user for almost 3 years now, and its performance has always been acceptable to me. I have nearly 70 devices, and most of my automations are handled through webcore, so have been using the classic app almost exclusively during my time using the system. I have rarely had system outages or issues, and I have been willing to put up with the (relatively) minor inconveniences in exchange for the flexibility the platform offers.
I recently got a Samsung Galaxy Watch and of course immediately downloaded the smartthings app for it. It’s a pretty handy concept, and I like being able to control scenes from my wrist. Unfortunately for me, the app on the watch is the “new” app, or at least that is what it is based off of and synchronizing with.
So I think to myself, okay, I can use the classic app to live my life in ST the way I know how, and when I add things, create scenes, etc., they will update in the new app and I can use my watch as a control interface.
I guess that’s not how any of this works.
I have had nothing but problems since I started trying to do this. The biggest peave I have had so far is that it seems now when I add a device to my hub, using the classic app like I have always done, the name I choose for the device when I include it to the network doesn’t update in the new app and it just uses a generic name, like z-wave dimmer or z-wave relay. Logging into the IDE, the device label is what gets updated with the device name I use on inclusion with the classic app, but not the device name. I also noticed “networkSecurityLevel: ZWAVE_LEGACY_NON_SECURE” as an entry in the data field of every single one of these devices. None of my other devices (that were added before I started messing around with the new app) exhibit either of these behaviors. Is this normal? Should I just rename them in the IDE to match the labels? Will this cause issues with either the classic app or the new app?
I can’t edit scenes unless I do so from the new app, which is honestly okay as long as the functionality is there and it is reliable. Also, not all of my scenes and devices are showing on the watch app, even though they are in both the classic app and the new app. I know that’s a bit of a different issue, but it is still annoying and confusing.
I’m honestly scared to do anything in the new app. It seems like as soon as you touch something in the new app that you had set up and working reliably in the old app, it screws something up. I really want ST to work out, and I buy Samsung hardware almost exclusively, but I am so confused by all of this migration, new app, some devices working in both and some not, that I think I’m going to switch over to something else. I bought a hubitat hub on sale for Black Friday just to see what it would be like, and now I’m thinking I will end up shelving ST and using it just for my own sanity. Now that webcore works and there is a hubitat app, I’m wondering what the point of ST is anymore. I really don’t want to lose the watch control capability though, it has been very convenient.
EDIT: Another thing I’ve noticed…none of the rooms I create or assign devices to in the classic app (since messing around with the new app) are migrating to the new app.
Have any users experienced similar issues, and if so how did you remedy it? Is this kind of thing going to just keep happening, or is there a plan for users similar to myself to migrate over and not make everything worse? It’s crazy to me to LOSE functionality over time when things were working to begin with…not perfect, but like I said above, acceptable.
Thanks in advance