Old vs. New: Under a Device, "Recently" & Rules/Pistons

In the classic app, you could click on a device, then go under “Recently” and see a history of actions against that device (on, off, last rule/piston (webCoRE/etc) that ran to cause the action, etc). When I use the new app, click on the device (by room off the default home screen), there is an “Activity History” section at the bottom, but it only shows ON/OFF/etc - doesn’t cite any rules or pistons.

Also related, in the classic app, next to “Recently”, there is a “SmartApps” option that will display all the rules/pistons you have written/created with that item used within. Don’t see that in the new app either unless I’m just missing it.

Is there a way to get that audit level of detail in the new app like we had in the classic ? I used that all the time to help me troubleshoot unforeseen rule/piston behavior. Thanks !

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tagging @blake.arnold

We’ve discussed this recently - we’re actually trying to make the history detail less verbose in the mobile client as it can get a little overwhelming to look at on a day to day basis. I agree (as do others on the ST team) that knowing where a command is coming from is very valuable and we want to keep this type of functionality somewhere. Since it is primarily used for troubleshooting by advanced users, it seems like providing it through a web interface (think graph or a web-based version of the client) would make sense. You thoughts @eric182 and @80sTiger?

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Web-based client… I like that idea. What I like better is to just keep it like the classic app has it. Just list the smart app that caused the device to go on or off in the device history. I guess that goes against your thoughts of keeping that area less wordy.

I can appreciate you wanting to keep things simple. I have some devices that really clutter up the history (like power plug-ins that litter the audit/history list with tenths of a voltage change hundreds of times).

Have you thought about creating a filter option switch at the top of the “Activity History” that, by default, is on just BASIC (on/off, closed/open, etc) with an option to turn on ADVANCED, which would then show piston/rule activity and other detail exactly like the classic app under “Recently” ? I think that would be a good compromise.

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All this said, we really need these options available in the new app before completely eliminating the classic app. Not having the audit trail of when a piston/rule is impacting a device is a big, big negative and unacceptable really. I am OK continuing to go to the classic app in the meantime until something can be provided in the new app, but let’s not take these screens away completely please (the other screen being the ‘SmartApps’ on the device with shows every piston/rule in which that device is used). Thanks.

Totally with you on this. We had a massive list of parity features that we had been working down for the last year or so but we knew that once we went public with the intent to start migration, the community would likely have a few more to add that didn’t come up in focus groups or surveying. I’ll add this to the list and see what we can do. Thank you!

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That’s actually a really good idea!

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Looks like some real improvements here in the new app. Showing history with some add’l controls for filtering.

Question: The history is only showing most recent history. When I scroll to the last entry in the history list and try to scroll further, it loads more, but appears to begin again at the top of the ‘most recent’ history rather than loading add’l, further back in history items. By design ? Just me ?

I totally agree!

Also, since SmartThings staff seem to advising us to utilize ‘Scenes’ in the new app in conjunction with Automations and SmartApps, then we really need to see all of the Automations, SmartApps, and Scenes that a device is being used in.

The primary reason that all this information is needed for each device is that it would make things much easier to replace the device when it fails. Take for instance a smartbulb, the smartbulb could be in various Smart Lighting apps, Automation routines, Scenes, and in the STHM. Not knowing everywhere the device is being used in SmartThings makes the device extremely difficult to replace the device one for one when it fails.

I really need an easy way to ensure the new replacement device is put in every Automation, SmartApp, and Scene that the original device was being used in. Having this information shown in the device page with the ability to tap on each Automation, SmartApp, and Scene so that I can easily remove the broken device and add the new device to the Automation, SmartApp, and Scene would be great as apposed to just hunting around everywhere in SmartThings to find it.

So I’m obviously now on the new app. I held on to Classic until the last breath haha. It’s not so bad TBH. Anyway - in this thread we discussed more detail on HISTORY, within a device profile in the new app. I notice the history shows activities to the device (ON/OFF, setting changes, etc), but I don’t see the tracking of smartapp activity that used to exist in the old app. For example, webCoRE pistons that might’ve just run against the device. The activity of the piston might be there, but not the reference to the specific name of the piston itself. Is this coming anytime soon ? I used that pretty regularly for troubleshooting.