Location Modes can't be processed Locally?

I’m seeing if anyone here has an answer as support once again have no idea…

Does anyone know if Smartthings can process automations that contain Location Modes?

hmm…they should be local…

2. Automations must be able to run locally

Smart Home Monitor and Smart Lights are Automations that allow you to configure “child Automations” with the ability to run locally. The SmartThings Home Monitor “child Automations” that can run locally include Alert with Lights, Alert with Sirens, Close Valves (for Leaks), and Unlock doors (for Smoke). SmartThings Home Monitor and Smart Lights are the only Automations with local processing capabilities at this time. We are working on additional local Automation options.

Additionally, mode changes cannot process locally. Using this as a trigger for Smart Lights will prevent the automations from performing without an active internet connection. Use a different trigger, such as At a specific time instead to ensure your Automations can run locally.

EDIT: or actually not… it doesn’t say anything about location modes that you asked…

Mode changes for both location.mode and security.mode are handled in the cloud as of this writing. Not locally. :disappointed_relieved:

Additionally, mode changes cannot process locally. Using this as a trigger for Smart Lights will prevent the automations from performing without an active internet connection. Use a different trigger, such as At a specific time instead to ensure your Automations can run locally.

https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/209979766-Local-processing

You provided the right link. As it says there, modes are not processed locally. You must have an active internet connection to do anything with modes.

You need to read the entire page to understand the explanation. It is saying that most things run in the cloud.

A few automations can run locally, but only if:

  1. they were created with the official smart lights feature or the official smartthings home monitor feature.

AND

  1. they only include devices which use DTHs which are eligible to run locally

AND

  1. The automation does not include mode

So any automation you create just by using the “ add automation“ option in the app will run in the cloud.

Any custom smartapp, including Webcore, will run in the cloud.

Any device using a custom DTH will run in the cloud.

Any automation which refers to mode will run in the cloud.

The smartthings app always requires the cloud.

That doesn’t leave much. :disappointed_relieved: Just some automations created with the official smartlighting feature and a few bits of smartthings home monitor, but only if those automations only refer to devices which are eligible to run locally and do not refer to modes.

That’s why you have to read the whole page at the link you gave to get the answer: there are a lot of different things that can cause an automation to not run locally. So the page is detailing each of those issues.

What a waste of money this hub is proving to be…

Smartthings has always been primarily a cloud-based system. If you were looking for something else, there are a number of alternatives, including Hubitat, Homeseer, Vera, and even Apple’s HomeKit. They may require an Internet connection to set up the account, but all can run primarily locally except for the obvious third-party integrations like voice assistants.

Alternative Hubs

1 Like

Thanks JD,

I’ve been looking into a Pi-based setup for a while. I plan on going down the Home Assistant route and if that proves to be beyond me Hubitat will be what I’ll probably end up with.

Smartthings is a great entry into the home automation ecosystem but I’m sick of butting heads against system limitations born from poor planning and lazy coding.

With the move to edge drivers and executing locally, has Samsung announced any change in allowing mode changes to run locally?

Samsung rarely announces any changes with regard to SmartThings details, TBH. :thinking:

@h0ckeysk8er has been tracking what prevents a routine from running locally, and may know for sure.

It is possible to have location modes change locally if you are using devices (physical or virtual) that can run locally. That being said, if there things in either the If triggers or Then actions that don’t run locally, the entire Routine will not run locally.

This is a list of things I have found that cause Routines to run in the cloud:

   * Scenes
   * Lighting Groups
   * Member Location
   * Devices from cloud->cloud integrations
   * Notification actions
   * Weather triggers
   * STHM triggers and actions
   * " Any Day" time precondition
   * Cloud virtual devices
   * Devices on two different hubs

So, it’s probably pretty rare that you would have a Routine that didn’t include one or more of those items.

1 Like

Thanks guys! I hope the get around to letting at least Scenes run locally.

1 Like