IMHO, another app is not needed for this. Just add a screen to the existing app with the “simple” remote capability, and have a pref for what screen you want to load at launch.
But with that said, whatever the app is doing that takes so long to load at launch still seriously needs to be revisited. It simply shouldn’t take as long as it does.
I am new to SmartThings, < 1.5 months, but my device list has grown to 32 devices. Though I have noticed performance issues and unreliability in the last couple weeks I will not get into that since everyone else has done a great job expressing those issues.
Instead I would like to whole-heartedly agree with neima1 about the control panels (remotes, buttons, etc.). I can think of more reasons than appropriate to list here why I don’t want to control ST with my phone when I am at home. I want control panels/buttons on my wall in locations I cannot add to a gang box with power and locations I can. I also want control panels/buttons on my table tops. The minimote is ok but have you tried to find and use it in the middle of the night when you are half asleep, it easily gets pushed out of reach so a tabletop switch that will stay where I want it is critical. Initially my thought is that I will buy quite a few of the wall and table button control panels as that is a large piece of my pie that I need and that ST is missing.
You cannot call yourself a Home Automation company unless you have sufficient support for these types of devices (built-in support, not just community user hacked support (though that is an awesome feature we have here)). This will be a main reason why I leave ST for one of their competitors. I have spent a lot of money in the last month getting my environment setup and plan to continue to spend money to get the setup and functionality I’ve been planning for/dreaming about for years.
I will give ST the benefit of the doubt on the performance, reliability and lack of hardware since I am new to the product but that won’t last forever. Please do not make the last 1.5 months a waste of my time.
Thank you
Sean
I always thought the Wink Relay was a great example of a mounted control device that seems to be consumer friendly (as in very easy to install). And I agree we need to get away from the phone and allow for multi-button controllers. How else can I quickly select which party mode (Jazz, Rock, etc) I want to be in when a whole bunch of people suddenly show up? 
Ability to add simple “Switch Widgets” to my phone Home screen/desktop would really help with quick control, activating Hello Home phrases etc.
Wink home controller… Exactly the right result, but too expensive.
Sub-$100 tablets exist: Perhaps low resolution, but sufficient to see Thing status and activate switches, dimmers, and Actions: But the “remote control App” to run on slow cheap devices would have to be processing and memory streamlined. A very worthwhile hardware+software project and there are a few Kickstarter Projects that are aiming at or emphasizing remote control functional hardware (BrightSwitch, if I remember correctly?).
Then again, there are also Projects that focus on voice speech based control or gestures, even though such technology is not likely to provide the simplicity and reliability we desire.
@alex, question for user interface.
Say I want to know what Smart Apps I have installed (not my created apps but all apps in my system) and what devices/things those Smart Apps are influencing in the system and all other constraints of the app. Where in the mobile App am I able to see this relationship grouped by Smart App? Where in the IDE am I able to see this information?
I would have to say this is the single most frustrating lack of data I can point out.
If there is a way to view this data in a single, easy to understand layout then I am unaware of it. If this view does exist please point me in the correct direction.
It’s in the IDE. Go to My Locations, then click on SmartApps. Shows ALL installed SmartApps and their current state.
Although I agree and I love to tinker, that won’t fly for the majority of consumers. (read: not people who would come to this community) However, an inexpensive tablet/phablet with some sort of mount for an electrical box might do the trick…which is basically what the Relay is. The reason I like the relay is you don’t loose switches when you install it. That is important since if you want this to be installed by consumers it needs to be a minimal installation.
@bravenel, you are correct that the IDE does show all apps. However, that is only part of the issue as it does not list all things associated with it until you dig in a lot deeper. That is unless there is a view that I am missing.
One way to show a useable list would be to list all apps and rules/If, then statements as headers and then have those headers be expandable to show the controlled things or other associated apps and rules. One could then add or subtract things to those apps and rules as desired right from the IDE instead of the mobile app.
It also happens to be that if you wish to uninstall any Device, you must first remove that Device from any SmartApps that refer to it. In a few cases this means uninstalling the SmartApp.
If you are replacing one connected lightbulb with another, for example, each SmartApp needs to be individually reconfigured … there is no search and replace Device Reference. (Or SmartThings could implement this by providing a Replace Device function in addition to just Remove and Add.
This is becoming a bigger and bigger issue as some folks have lots of Devices and lots of SmartApps installed.
Hopefully it will come. I made that same feature request back in October, anticipating me swapping out motion sensors around the house for testing. I could see that as new motion sensors with better features came out (re: Fibaro!!!), then I might want to rotate the sensors around the house, placing the new ones in locations that already have sensors.
Appreciate the post, btw. I am a new ST user having only 14 devices at the moment, I have 30 arriving tomorrow, many are z-wave devices from monoprice, GE, and Aeon. I already have the Aeon multisensors and have them mounted at my entry and back door. They seem to be fairly accurate if not a little too sensitive (my US and TX flags hanging outside my house set off the motion sensor on the front unit so will be turning down sensitivity again). I notice that the temp variances between the two are ~4-8 but since my house faces East, I expect as much as temps in the summer can range from 95 at the front to 110 F on West side.
My Insteon garage door opener with open/close sensor seems to work just fine as do my Schlage Camelot locks, though I’d like to see better integration with them like the Nexia system offers (I did not pay for that service.)
As far as the dashboard goes, I don’t see it as being that slow. I have the ST apps loaded on the following devices: old iPhone 4 (primary control), an iPod, two LG G4 android phones, two LG G pad LTE tablets, and an iPad v1, v2, and two v3. I am not seeing any delay in refresh, but let’s see when I have 50 devices on the system. I would like to have more info on the dashboard, ie. the name I gave the devices showing so I know which motion sensor or multi sensor or door lock is which without opening the config menu. One big complaint is that they don’t have a useful IPAD app, this seems like the most logical and best way to control this system from inside the house and give a better overview of the current status of systems. (HINT HINT dev dudes…)
All in all, I am happy so far, I’ll see how it goes over the next couple weeks as I grow the system even more.
Thanks
Todd
@toddellison you mentioned TX flags, so if you are in the DFW area, you might be interested in the potential DFW Meetup.
For your iPad comment, a number of SmartThingers are using a web based dashboard @625alex developed called ActiON Dashboard.
And for your Android devices, you might be interested in SharpTools which provides Widget support and Tasker integration.
Awesome info @joshua_lyon! I am in Hou, unfortunately. Look forward to your groups input here though.
I’ll definitely check out the other apps. I kind of figured there were other options out there… 
@alex Thanks for taking the time to respond to us here. As an 18-month user of SmartThings I’m happy to see how far it’s come but still frustrated at the issues. Like most, I won’t repeat what others have said, but I’ll let you know I’m experiencing much of the same. Here are the main issues for me that keep coming up:
Things don’t always respond in their tile/ grouping and I have to go into the Things category in order to control it. My WeMo plug and GE Link bulbs are prime examples. The dashboard will tell me the WeMo is on when it’s not and the only way to get the status updated is to refresh it in the Things section. My Link bulbs don’t turn off after 1-minute like they should. Doesn’t work via the Lights dashboard group, I have to do it in Things.
I know @Ben has talked about it before, but when is Nest support coming? I’ve found the current dev integration lacking at best. I know data retention was a big sticking point but it’s frustrating that I get better Nest control from my Pebble than I do with my ST system.
Speaking of Pebble, I think an official Pebble app would go far in helping with control. I’m using a buggy-at-best oAuth dev Pebble app to control lights when I need to, but this is something you guys should really code up and get out there. However, I know this may not fly given Samsung’s Gear watches.
One thing I don’t like about the Dashboard is the ‘make it yourself’ rules and triggers for items. It’s easy for me to lose sight of what happens when with things, especially when I need to see WHY something happened. This is especially present when a light turns off after a timeout, but AFTER the mode has changed when lights shouldn’t be triggering (morning mode into daytime mode). I have no list of triggers / actions to help me know what is happening. Combine that with all the apps and it’s a hot mess.
A method needs to be developed that lets us remove & add things to our system without needing to remove the apps first. If I have an issue with my kitchen light, removing it from all apps can easily take 10-20 minutes. Then I have to edit them all AGAIN to add it. A wizard of sorts is desperately needed in order to fix this. Better yet, it should poll all apps using the thing, remove it from all, remove/re-pair, then use that list to re-add the thing back into the apps. I’m sure there’s some big logic involved in this, but asking us geeks to do this is a PITA so asking the average customer to do this is absolutely out of the question.
Alright, that’s my 2 cents and I hope you do read this. I love the system and the doors it’s opened but at the end of the day I have the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) to deal with and when things get too much of a pain, then this becomes more of a job and less of an enhancement to my home. Thanks!
FWIW, There’s a new ST Remote app in the Pebble app store and it’s not bad.
Definitely there. 3rd Option. You don’t have it?
They didn’t happen yet. Forgot that last word.
