I don’t understand why people are complaining about this being labelled as “Official”
It was very much official, it’s was listed on the Blink website as how to connect to SmartThings - that’s as about Official as you can get.
That isn’t the problem, the problem was Blink pulling it with no warning.
Seriously RBoys Support and other handlers (non others of which I personally use. So I’m in the same boat as paying and no longer receiving anything) are worth the tiny sum he’s asking. How much did you pay for the cameras themselves compaired to the cost of his website access?!
If Blink had designed the app themselves and then pulled it, would that have been better or something?!
IFTTT is not a hack. It is an official path provided by Blink. However, it is limited to what Blink programs onto the interface: arm/disarm and provide motion detection alerts.
Perhaps you could have the motion Device Handler automatically pop-up the Blink App on your phone with a button on the details page.
RBoy provided a good-faith service with the blessing of Blink. No problem.
Blink advertised RBoy as a way to integrate. A problem between the consumer and BLINK (not Rboy).
Big picture. This is likely the tip of the iceberg on change in private-Cloud-based devices. There is no guarantee that Alexa, SmartThing, or any third party will continue to have access to these private Cloud systems. And, as in any business, the announcement will be sudden, irrevocable, and immediate (and will “not impact the customer base”).
Solution. More care in purchases and a DEMAND from consumers that the provider make the explicit interface documents for the device available to the consumer. Without this, we will always be at the mercy of the whims of the company.
Like @CSC says…it’s actually a feature that Blink have built into their cameras. I see it as an ‘issue’ but it is a feature.
You won’t notice it as much if you only record for a few seconds. If you record for 90 seconds+ and movement is still taking place then it’ll at least be 90 seconds before you get any sort of notification.
Did anybody else receive the following notification via email this morning?
On December 19, 2017, Blink is discontinuing support for all SmartThings integrations including the developer RBoy app. For your security, we recommend that you change your Blink password. We thank for your continued support of Blink and apologize for any inconvenience.
I’ve called support, which is apparently overwhelmed and was given no notice either. I just upgraded my Amazon review from 5 stars to 1, and I made my displeasure known on the blink forums.
The cameras are literally bricked afaic. They’re useless to me.
I’ve been able to get most of the functionality I was using back through a combination of webcore, IFTTT, simulated switches, and simulated motion sensors. However, because their IFTTT integration sucks (and I despise IFTTT in general), I still lose a lot of capability I was planning on leveraging in the near future, such as automated sensitivity adjustments and arming individual groups of cameras. At least it buys me a little time to research replacements which will meet my needs.
I personally think Blink is in trouble and is about to be acquired by someone. As a company, they have a nice product but beyond that, have encountered repeated, massive product delays, have not fulfilled feature promises, and are clearly understaffed and underresourced by their own admission. I have been willing to overlook these flaws given the excellent ST integration, but I can’t any longer. Many of my cameras are going back and no more will be purchased.
