Does Smartthings work off line?

[geotrouvetout67]

Is the hub reliant on the cloud to function (and all its “things”) or will it still function with lack of power or wifi?

For example if it has to communicate with the cloud to unlock a door for the kids and the power is out when the kids come back from school, it’s freezing outside and you are 2 hours away from home then you have a problem on your hands.

[jnschemm (James)]

The V2 hub allows limited local processing, mainly Smart Lighting. It it mostly dependent on the cloud.

[sidjohn1]

hubv2 with internet down event

I try to test my newly received v2 hub, one of the test is internet down event. I notice that when the v2 hub connected to internet, i still have some lag when the motion detected and to turn on a wall switch for a light. but when i disconnect v2 hub from internet, it seems the event operated faster. does anybody notice the same behavior ?

[JDRoberts]

SmartThings is still primarily a cloud based architecture. some lighting control runs locally, but even then if you lose internet connection the mobile app can’t connect to the hub and notifications can’t be sent. The company has said they intend to move in the direction of making more local operation possible, but no specific timelines or details. More detailed discussion in the developer section of the forum.

Local Processing in Hub V2

Continuing the discussion from What's the deal with Nest?: Correct. I was answering this question below in the global sense. i.e., There will always be the possibility of various benefits available to Official Device Handlers and SmartApps that are not available to un-certified Community Developed ones. At the moment, the local processing benefit is inapplicable to Nest in either case. I’m not sure ST has guaranteed that community developed SmartApps/Device Types will be included in local processing right after certification. Yes, it may be included down the road, and this is not yet clear on how or what the process is to enable community developed stuffs to run locally.

With regard to your doorlock scenario, most smart locks are battery-operated and will continue to function even if the hub is unavailable. So if it’s a keypad lock like most of those on the compatibility list, you can still unlock it at the door by entering the code. If it normally unlocks by detecting an arrival sensor, though, that part might not work. So you do need to plan ahead to make sure emergency plans are in place.

There are other competing systems which may require the Internet for initial set up, but can operate even if the Internet is down. You just need to look at each system to see if it meets your own household’s requirements.

[geotrouvetout67]

this seems to be a huge drawback at this point unless they fix it but then do we need to buy the v3 hub? I don’t have SmartThings I’m exploring what’s out there. OOMI seems to be the underdog to keep an eye on right now and they work off line from the start. Their independent tablet seems interesting too although it also adds an extra screen in the house.

[tgauchat (ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)]

@geotrouvetout67

this seems to be a huge drawback at this point unless they fix it but then do we need to buy the v3 hub? I don’t have SmartThings I’m exploring what’s out there. OOMI seems to be the underdog to keep an eye on right now and they work off line from the start. Their independent tablet seems interesting too although it also adds an extra screen in the house.

1. It’s not a “huge drawback” … I’m running a SmartThings Hub V1, and except for a few hundred milliseconds of extra delay, my home works reasonably well. Even when more processing is offloaded to Hub V2, the complexity of the distributed platform will bring its own problems. I personally would prefer a solid “offline” solution, but SmartThings, even in fully Cloud Mode, has plenty of features that beat the competition … for now.

2. OOMI doesn’t exist … well, as much as any Kickstarter / IndieGogo exists or doesn’t exist. SmartThings’s Kickstarter just started deliveries in March 2013 (about 4 months late), after funding in September 2013. Here we are about 3 years later, purchased by Samsung, and still lots of kinks to work out. Sure … OOMI might end up having better business execution, but SmartThings has quite a head-start.