Why do some apps report "No thermostats found"

[MagnusBergs (Magnus Bergsson)]

I have underfloor heating (10 zones) which are controlled in my garage. I have Danfoss on/off valves on each zone which I control with a Sonoff. In each room I have z-wave Neo Coolcam sensor which reports motion, temperature and lux. Currently I am using the Virtual Thermostat by Smartthings for each of the 10 zones, but it is very basic and does not have for instance any time based control (e.g. turn off heating in the bedroom at night and turn it on again in the morning).

So I started looking at other thermostat apps, but almost all of the report that they dont find any thermostats in my setup so I can´t configure them, but Virtual Thermostat finds my thermostats fine.

Anyone know why Virtual Thermostat can find my thermostats while other smart apps can´t? It looks like they don´t support thermostats which have more than one function like the Neo Coolcam sensor.

Also, I could use some recommendations on which of the thermostat apps are recommended. Have consider going the WebCore route but would rather have some simple app everyone in my family can use.

Any advice is appreciated.

[orangebucket (Graham)]

@MagnusBergs

Anyone know why Virtual Thermostat can find my thermostats while other smart apps can´t?

The Virtual Thermostat app doesn’t work with thermostats. It works with a temperature sensor and a switch, and optionally a motion sensor, to act as a virtual thermostat. It is being the box on the wall.

If the other apps are looking for thermostats they are probably doing something different. They are managing the settings of actual hardware thermostats. They are being you pressing the buttons on the box on the wall.

[MagnusBergs (Magnus Bergsson)]

It looks like my English failed me as I took them for the same :/. Thank you for pointing this out to me.

Ended up writing my own Webcore piston with all the logic I needed, and it is working like a champ.