Correct. We will look for ways to make it dynamic, but that’s the reason this is happening step by step in the first stages.
Personally I must be an early adopter when it comes to everything. I have had some bad experiences with migration tools in the past, and now I rarely choose to use them. Windows has had migrations tools, but I back up my files and reinstall everything clean. Same thing with my phones. Android has had migration tools for quite a while and I always install clean. In the past few weeks I have torn down and rebuilt my SmartThings setup multiple times, and barring issues out of my control it goes by faster every time. I would not use a migration tool for SmartThings if one were released today. Just my two cents.
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Appreciate the openness @alex, thanks for posting. Even though the process for me was lengthy, it was beneficial because of the past couple years of experience with ST and these devices has helped me develop an a better way of designing my HA experience and a migration plan (still with the lessons learned I mentioned above).
I’m personally stuck on adopting ST’s new direction on replacing Dashboards with SHM and Smart Lighting. I think as ST adds functionality back that I’ll make the switch, so I’m looking forward to more good stuff to come.
As others have said, thank you for taking the time in the transparency on this. Really appreciate it.
In my case, I am quadriparetic, use a wheelchair with limited hand function.
As much as I like the minimote, neither my service dog nor I am able to use it.
One of the great advantages of SmartThings for our household is that we have so many device choices based on community-developed device handlers and smartapps.
There is a Zigbee 3 toggle device from SmartenIT with big flat toggles that both the dog and I can use. So that’s what we use instead of the minimote most of the time when we need a button device.
Not having that available during a cloud outage would considerably reduce our plan B options. So for some of us, the variety of devices available is exactly why we chose SmartThings in the first place.
FWIW
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I hope you realize that this is entirely different than the expectations set by your team, and a huge disappointment to those of us that are developers / heavy users. My house is failing in various ways every hour, and in each case the finger points to the cloud processing one way or another. I’ve been around long enough to know that these “sh*t storms” happen from time to time with ST, but it has gotten beyond old. What has gone on for much too long is really poor expectation setting from you guys. Promises made, over and over, and never fulfilled. Being transparent is nice, but I can’t get beyond the lack of credibility in what you say Alex, and what your team says.
Ah yes, 3 hours is not what it took.
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Wow man. Thank you so much. We are pouring our hearts into this, and indeed I feel like everyone is going to see a serious increase in pace of improvements now that we have the multifaceted V2 Hub/Devices/Cloud/Apps/Certification (aka the pig in the python) out the door.
One little thing as an example that will help us move faster is that developers can now impact the core product and UX. Smart Home Monitor itself was built using our IDE and is an example of how the community is going to get equipped to really move the experiences forward with us. We are just hardening the core platform and tools right now and catching up with documentation, but we’re on a mission to open it up further as well.
Alex
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Great info. Minimotes with Smart Lighting and Routines and SHM will indeed all work locally, so you’re good there. Send info to our support team on additional devices you’d like to see run locally and we’ll work hard to make it happen wherever possible.
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It took me way more than 3 hours to migrate 40 devices. I didn’t do it in one shot, but it took a couple of evenings and a good part of Sunday. I’d estimate 6 hours at least, which is on average 9 minutes per device.
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I can’t physically use minimotes. That’s why I use the SmartenIT 3 toggle device.
So unfortunately, the opposite of good.
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That’s my personal approach too. Still working on migration tool for those who feel differently and for the replacement Hub scenarios, but I actually enjoy and benefit from the clean setup and finding better ways to approach things. Feels like home improvement or decorating which I also enjoy refreshing from time to time.
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I will ask our certification team about the status of making the larger toggle run locally. Stay tuned.
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As I said I was personally surprised at how quickly it went for me. I am not claiming that will be the same time/device for others though perhaps a video recorded competition is in order someday 
For those who don’t want to migrate yet, that’s why we are making sure V1 Hubs keep working great while they wait for the migration tool. But I believe I made the right call in getting out the door when it will benefit those inclined to migrate despite the pain so that they could have it faster, and because brand new customers will also have a much better experience than on our previous app.
Thanks!
Alex
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@alex! It’s really nice to hear from you in the community. We so do appreciate it. And I think you still do qualify for the Guineas book of world records for the speed! Congrats and we all luv ST and started an appreciation thread to commend each and every one in the ST world. Good luck.
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I think the LAN verification is the best way to go. Most people’s wireless network will work from their driveways and Wifi is very reliable. I know some community members have hacked their routers and run scripts to simulate this behavior and I really was not looking to go down this route if possible. Might I suggest a poll in the community forum with the simple question “Is Mobile Presence Reliable in your household?”. I would be very curious on the results. I don’t have permissions to start to do a poll native in the forums.
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Again, big thanks for taking the time to address these concerns.
I understand from previous threads that this url will show what smartapps are running locally.
https://graph.api.smartthings.com/localInstalledSmartApp/list
Would you care to share your list?
I understand if some names have to be redacted…
Also, can you describe your usage? Do you automate everything you can, or do you find yourself using the app to toggle devices, check status, etc.?
Again, thanks for stepping into the line of fire. Passion for this product is fierce. We all want to see it succeed.
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Sorry Bruce. It pains me to hear those things, but I do think we are improving pretty rapidly right now and also have more resources to get more done in parallel than in the past. We’ll keep trying to do better.
Regarding migration time, that’s why I clarified. I think it went surprisingly fast for me since I’m about as knowledgable as they come, and know that for many it will not be nearly as seamless. That said, I believe in my call to move forward with the new product vs waiting longer.
Onwards,
Alex
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I think the coming Lighting “Sets” this week together with Smart Lighting and Routines will be 10x better than the old Lights & Switches stuff. I’d love to hear about your use of other dashboard modules and help make sure the improvements are clear enough for you.
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Would voice activation work well for you, as a side note, if we could make ambient voice control possible with good reliability?
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That’s disappointing. Of course we were never promised any specifics and we’ve just been speculating on how it could work… But @Hagins definitely implied more dynamic functionality during a Dec Conference call this year.
Appreciate the clarification, but it looks like Hub V2 has a long ways to go to meet the expectations (that we admittedly mostly set ourselves).
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Good idea will consider the poll or just a straight up customer survey. My own personal experience has been that mobile presence has improved over time as I do my annual phone replacement, but agreed that wifi feels like a very reliable additional indicator. Issue may be whether the OSs enable us to check for that while app is backgrounded, but will check in on it again with the team as it has circulated as an idea from time to time.
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