So question for you guys, the Dashboard used to show the list of different devices on off, open close and so forth, the only thing that it shows now is simply for me to add SHM, is that the case with all version of ST or just v2 hub?
Yes, pretty much.
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Ok, I get that but what makes the community created app work better than the native app? In my opinion ST needs to get their head out of their @$$ and get their stuff working instead of breaking it, If the problems truly are platform related then I would expect there to be issues with SA as well. Also, the fact that devices just quit reporting or lose connection to ST has got to affect the SA app as well, if a device is not responding properly then how is SA going to work? The community even had to create an app to watch for devices that stop reporting and notify you of those devices, just more workarounds the community has to create because the ST system is unreliable.
At this point I think my hub runs more custom community code than it does native ST code, I guess that is not really a problem for some of us but it makes the entire system look bad and unusable to anybody not technically savvy. I initially told people that ST was great because I had no issues with it, now I wouldnât recommend it to anyone that is not looking for a new full-time hobby in electronics/programming.
Sounds to me like your SHM app was deleted/uninstalled. Maybe ST did it for you to save you the grief we are all experiencing.
No, I uninstalled my SHM because it was nothing but a headache but the way the âdashboardâ is setup, they should at least give us the old style Dashboard option instead of an add for us to sign up to SHM. And pretty have every sign in going directly to an ad that wants us to install SHM is annoying⊠at least take me to my list of âthingsâ would be more useful than an ad screenâŠ
Agreed, they need to just put SHM in the âSecurityâ section of the apps you can install instead of pushing it on the main screen, at least until they can be sure that the app they are pushing you to use will work properly.
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Everything working fine for me, including SHM.
Iâd also like to retract my earlier post about the SHM never being a problem for me.
It went nuts 2 nights ago, wouldnât disarm. I deleted it. Not going to worry about fixing it because Iâm going to delete ST ASAP.
Not to mention time, which is hard to come by when working at least 10 hours a day at work, taking care of a household at home and caring for an elderly parent. Smartthings was supposed to make my life easier. Whatâs worse is the first time I managed to get support on chat in almost a year, they told me it was on my end, well after they knew the system was playing up. Either they couldnât be bothered to tell their support staff that something was up, or else decided it was better to lie to us than to admit there was a problem.
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SmartThings de-prioritizes reliability and quote âcomplexityâ unquote; and gives mass consumer âusabilityâ and incremental revenue opportunities like add-on monitoring, video storage, and features that will let you family, friends, neighbors be notified through a special app and even enter your home to check, etcâŠ
SHM is a trojan horse for add-on features and is prioritized to ensure SmartThings can compete head-to-head against other new alarm/security centric systems like Scout, Piper, Alarm.com, etcâŠ
The above also explains why Rule Machine would never have been created and released by SmartThings themselves. It is far too âcomplexâ, regardless of features and reliability. Imagine the workload on SmartThings Customer Support!
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Everybody just needs to chill and let them work it out. It has gotten better over the last several days. Everything will be fine.
You joined in March. A lot of people have been using this a lot longer and itâs not like this is the first issue.
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Yeah⊠this⊠exactly!
But the funny thing is, with the right app design Rule Machine would be perfect.
Look at the Wink app, itâs design is based around the same concept as Rule Machine.
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I agree⊠Though I canât speak for all types of targeted consumers.
SmartThings was designed intentionally without a classic rule builder. The idea was that âparameterized narrow use case SmartAppsâ would be easier for the mass market customer to understand and configure.
Well, Iâve been unaffected by the ongoing SHM issues these last two weeks⊠until today. Canât disarm; finally had to remove all sensors from SHM so that it doesnât matter.
That may have been the idea, but it was wrong and never pursued by SmartThings for some reason. Multiply the number of capability options in a rule times the number of actions available, and that would be the starting point for how many of these narrow apps you would need to begin to cover what people need. ST never undertook to do that.
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I could completely understand this, if it was targeted to the majority of my parents generation. But, I got my first computer at age 10, Iâm 41 now. My kids all have computers in their pockets exponentially more powerful than that old TI-99 I had.
This kind of approach is archaic to say the least. If that was the original build design of ST it is amazing that they have lasted this long.
The average person will look at the ST app and call it crap and even with the faster speeds they will jump ship to platforms like Wink, especially with the complete unreliability we are experiencing right now.
I sincerely hope they are not continuing to pursue that type of user experience.
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Can you provide a reference? As far as I recall, theyâve being saying for two years that theyâre working on one. But it never came to be. So it looks more like theyâre incapable of delivering it.
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Yup; me too. Iâm confident they have a continuous improvement strategy in place for that aspect (i.e., automation UI) of the platform too; but SmartThings seems to let legacy design decisions hold them back from major overhauls or innovations. Itâs all incremental.
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