'No network connection' when installing Webhook SmartApp

SmartApps & Automations
1

Having noticed a test Webhook app hadn’t been running for a while I remembered I’d been moving stuff around and it no longer had the correct URL. So I corrected it and verified the app again. However when I try to install the app via the mobile app I just get a rotating icon for a few seconds and then a pop up dialogue:

No network connection
Couldn’t find any available networks.

It doesn’t initially show on the Automation page of the mobile app but if the mobile app is restarted it appears (once per attempted installation). It lists as one or more PENDING app(s) in the API. This happens with two Android phones with the latest version of the SmartThings app (1.8.0.22), and also my.smartthings.com gives a generic error trying to install/update the app. I’ve also completed deleted, recreated and published the app in the Developer Workspace.

2

Ah it seems to have been a simple oauth scope mismatch. I had patched the oauth scope via the CLI and the Developer Workspace will have splatted that when I fixed the URL up. I hadn’t got around to applying it to the new installation.

What ‘No network connection’ has to do with the price of fish isn’t clear.

I should have known better as I’ve seen the problem before, just not with such a precise and seemingly nonsensical message.

3

Hi, indeed, this is a generic error message, the common causes are:

  • Differences in scopes between the app (dev WS or result in apps endpoint) and what you set in the SmartApp definition
  • The server where the SmartApp is hosted is actually down
  • Lastly, there’s an error in your code, but that should be visible in the server’s console logs
4

I haven’t messed with Webhook apps for a while, to some extent because access to the Developer Workspace hasn’t been reliable for a a few months now. You never know from one day to the next if you are going to be able to get straight in or have to battle various 4xx errors. But I digress, as usual.

I just don’t remember ‘No network connection’ being the error message last time I messed with Webhook apps. I thought it was something like ‘There was a problem connecting’ which is gloriously vague but actually helpful because it suggests the client app doesn’t know what the problem is. It makes you look towards the SmartApp.

To me ‘No network connection’ suggests a problem at the client end unrelated to the SmartApp. It carries too much potential meaning to be read as generic. It is just wrong.