Since migrating to new ST app I have encountered intermittent auto-log off with the ST app on 2 independent iPhones (13.1.x). As a secondary effect this is also impacting phone location/presence which indirectly breaks automation rules. In addition per user UI customizations like picture backgrounds per room are removed.
Previously ST classic was bullet proof with location info and related automation-routines. All iPhone location services enabled, independent email accounts, only 2 devices registered, ST Classic removed etc. Anyone else experiencing this or have workaround?
Thanks @Automated_House Refreshing to know I am not alone, nevertheless equally frustrated. Are most people just switching back to ST classic app? I was trying to not look back, but seems I might be a little early to switch and exclusively rely on ST new.
Given this is getting worse not better, Pending next release switching back to Classic. ST app (new) as the current experience is unreliable and predictable reliability is paramount for automation platform. Also automation editing constantly has errors when making saves even with trivial changes.
I discovered that, at least in my app, the action of arriving/exiting an area is the one that triggers the log out. If I disable the location at the ST app so that the iPhone is not used as presence sensor, I can have many days without a single log out.
Thanks for the insight @cmario89. Unfortunately presence with Smart Phone is something that is mandatory for my environment. I didn’t want to invest in multiple dedicated presence sensors as phones are a great default device given they travel closely with us. Over the past few days (reluctantly) I have migrated back to ST Classic and iOS-based location awareness hasn’t failed once. I have kept ST (new) installed, but removed all automations and location integration.
No doubt this will be resolved in future release, however for now ST Classic is more reliable and feature complete. One of things I really missed in ST (new) was the lack of OOTB presence integration with Smart Home Monitor, Classic is seamless integrated with great notification capability.
So I think I found an alternative, using both apps:
This is what I did:
Disabled location service at the new app
Confirmed at the IDE that the phone was removed
Installed classic app
Added the phone in the classic app as a presence sensor (I have an iPhone XS and the classic app doesn’t support eSIM so I get an error “You cannot set up a device without cellular service as a mobile presence device”, I inserted a physical SIM to bypass that warning), as the only option displayed at this point is to allow location when the app is being used, I selected that.
At iPhone settings, I changed the permission for the classic app to use location services “always”
Removed the physical SIM
Reconfigured the smart apps at the new app to use the “new” presence sensor
Disabled the notifications for the classic app so I don’t get duplicated alerts.
At least at this moment everything seems to work as expected.
