iOS client (in)stability

I can’t say about Samsung, but as far as SmartThings, this is in the terms of service that we all agreed to when we set up our smartthings accounts (and has been there since at least 2014, when I got my first hub).

Will SmartThings ever change the Services?
.
We’re always trying to improve the Services, so they may change over time. We may suspend or discontinue any part of the Services, or we may introduce new features or impose limits on certain features or restrict access to parts or all of the Services. In some cases, the changes we make to the Services may cause older hardware devices, third party services, software configurations or setups to no longer work with the Services, and you may be required to upgrade or change these devices, services, configurations or setups in order to continue using the Services. We’ll try to give you notice when we make a material change to the Services that would adversely affect you, but this isn’t always practical. Similarly, we reserve the right to remove any Content (including any SmartApps or device or external service connections provided by SmartThings or by third parties) from the Services at any time, for any reason (including, but not limited to, if someone alleges you contributed that Content in violation of these Terms), in our sole discretion, and without notice.
.
THE SERVICES (AND ALL PRODUCTS, SOFTWARE, SERVICES, INFORMATION AND CONTENT) ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS-IS” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR THAT USE OF THE FOREGOING WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE.

So they don’t promise that it will work in any given way on any given day, or that they won’t make changes without notification that will remove features you previously relied on. :thinking: in that sense the answer to your question would probably be “no.“

Smartthings is a very powerful, very flexible, and often innovative platform. But there’s no QOS or uninterrupted service guarantee.

I myself have a personal requirement for essential home automation systems with an MFOP (maintenance free operating period) of at least six months, and preferably a year. Similar to a dishwasher. I am tetraplegic, use a wheelchair and have limited hand function, so I use home automation for much more than just fun stuff.

I get that MFOP for most of my systems, including Lutron, Hue, Alexa, Ecobee, and Apple’s HomeKit, so I use those for anything essential. (The HomeKit app also works even if the Internet is out except for voice control.). Plus I have a separate security system and medical monitoring system, both of which have high reliability.

For the last couple of years, i’ve been lucky to get a 10 day MFOP from SmartThings, so I now use SmartThings only for convenience use cases for a few devices that don’t happen to work with the other platforms, or where I can do more with smartthings. Stuff like getting a notification if the guestroom window is open, the guest is away from home, and rain is expected. But if smartthings isn’t working, that’s OK: somebody will check the room once the rain actually starts.

MAKING YOUR OWN CHOICE

Different things work for different people. Some hobbyists (and I used to be one of these before I got sick) enjoy tinkering and hands-on maintenance, and since most of the QOS failures are pretty minor, they may still be very happy with the system. Annoying fails like the current app problems don’t usually last for more than a week or 10 days, during which everybody curses the system but a lot of people will stay with it once the problems are fixed.

Obviously each person has to make those decisions for themselves. Just know that historically reliability has not been one of smartthings’ strong suits.

1 Like

I guess I spoke too soon… I’ve been signed out again and can’t get back in

The app has been working for me this morning and I was able to add a device. Also, as far as I can tell my Local automations have remained working.

JD, thank you - those are extremely helpful insights.

So it make me think that once the Matter devices start showing up - I will probably slowly migrate away to a controller that has MFOP and ability to mostly operate without the internet (maybe Homekit).

A day later and I am have the same issues with the iOS app not logging me in.

EDIT: iOS Presence sensors don’t seem to work properly because of this issue as well.

I cannot log in from my iPhone.

I uninstalled the app and installed it back abs still no go.

My wife can get in from her phone

Every system has pluses and minuses. Matter does promise to make a lot of stuff easier, and I am very much looking forward to seeing it come to market. But on its own it doesn’t fix the reliability issues that smartthings has. :disappointed_relieved:

At the present time, Hubitat, Homeseer, and HomeKit all run most operations locally with the exception of integrations to third-party systems like voice assistants. Although HomeKit is the only one that I know of where the app also runs without the Internet as long as your phone is on the same Wi-Fi. Every system has pluses and minuses, it’s just that right now it can take a lot of research to figure out exactly what’s being offered and how it matches up with your own needs and preferences.

Smartthings has said they are going to support matter, but we don’t yet know any details. I have hopes that it will be robust support, comparable to what Apple is going to offer through their Home app, but we will just have to wait and see.

Matter - smart home connectivity standard (formerly Project CHIP)

Something changed?

I am now able to log into the iOS app!

Yah!

My iPhone is not letting me log in - I just reinstalled app. Same “We’re having trouble connecting. Check your network connection and try again.” It was working fine this morning. Very frustrating.

My iPad, however is still logged in and working - being careful not to exit for now!

This week the hub / service was in almost non working state.

My air purifier started to blink its wifi light, the connect home pro wifi crashed several times, the iOS app wont let me sign, and so on :see_no_evil:.

About 3 hours ago all the temperature sensors went offline (about 10), the automation stopped working, the iOS app wont let me log in. I reinstalled the app but it wont even asked for a username :man_shrugging:.

I use homeassistant, at least there I can manually control the thermostat.

I saw the in the status page a lot of issues this week, and I haven’t see anything like these before on the platform.

Good things wont last forever, if you can set a date when the smartthings started to change,tear apart and decline, that will be this week 🪦.

I know… I’m considering finally moving over to the Hubitat that’s been unused in my closet for a couple of years but I’ve been too lazy to migrate to (100+ devices) -

@professordave

Would you mind my asking roughly how many devices you have? I’m wondering if it’s partly a device count issue (and congrats on logging in!)

Alec

I’m getting intermittent accessibility. I have been using SmartThings for quite a while and have six hubs and hundreds of devices. SmartThings has great potential, but the reliability is marginal at best. The transition from the Classic App took me months to reconcile with devices assigned to the wrong hubs and no way to correct the problem myself. The people at SmartThings were very helpful, but every fix was at least a two day cycle.

This latest App update has been equally as bad, with numerous devices and automations not working, and the unreliability of the IOS app making it impossible to complete simple functions. This new App crashes quite a bit and right now is unworkable.

It would appear that the latest connectivity problems with the app may be due, in part, to IOS 14.6. I am able to connect with an iPad using IOS 14.4.2 and things are working, but with quite a bit of latency. I don’t know the inner workings of the SmartThings system, but I suspect one of my problems is the time it takes to update all six hubs and devices, and not just the hub and devices that I am accessing.

I’ve had a smartthings account since 2014, there have been multiple serious issues over that time. There’s been at least one minor issue pretty much every month. There was one previous outage which lasted for several days. and there have been lots of things in between.

For me, the tipping point issue was in the fall of 2015, shortly after the V2 hub came out, when the app, the cloud, and the hub all failed in one week. :scream:

There were lots of discussions on reliability around that time, including the then CEO posting in the forum.

Since then, things get better for a while, but then historically something fails again. So this doesn’t really feel like anything new to me.

I keep waiting for an MFOP of six months or more. We may get there eventually, but we have never been there yet, at least not in the seven years that I’ve been using the system.

FWIW.

1 Like

I have less than 20 devices, and still can’t login today. :disappointed_relieved:

Well, look what showed up on the Status page: Mobile App - Degraded Performance.

1 Like

Darn - looks like they just put up a status….

1 Like

K. NOW THIS IS GETTING ANNOYING I just left the house thinking everything is working and it never turned the lights off or locked the doors. SO YA NOW I’M GETTING PISSED NOTHING IS WORKING. Thank GOD I have camera that still work when I leave.

Add my account to those having the “we’re having trouble connecting” and login issues on iPhone/IOS.
Just started today, not seen previously. Ironically it started when I went to try a “fix” for an unrelated/different device issue that was suggested by support :thinking:

Anyone find a fix? Pretty tired of the delete app/reinstall given it loses some of the ui customization within rooms every time I do that.

Just noticed the email with incident report on this, so at least someone is working on it.

For others experiencing the login issue on iOS…

Added a GPS virtual switch… Now, I can say whether the presence based automations work or not. Spent a couple minutes fighting with it in the iPad app before I realized that even though it logged my phone out, the presence for my phone was still showing Away. :man_facepalming::man_shrugging: