Compatibility with New ST App

#1

If this is covered elsewhere, please just point me in the right direction.

I received another email from ST indicating they are moving forward with an updated version of their new app soon. I emailed them and asked if WebCore is supported and received this response:

“I would like to inform you that Many of the features from SmartThings Classic are now included in the new SmartThings app. However, a few of the features which are available in the classic app are not quite available yet in the new SmartThings app. However, some of the features will be available in future in the new SmartThings app.”

Not much insight there.

So, what’s the latest with respect to support of WebCore in the new ST app?

Thank you!
bonafide

#2

Basically you can do everything in the new app that you can with the Classic app except for managing the state of STHM (armed/away, armed/stay and unarmed).

Also, you can set up new instances and manage existing instances of webcore in the new app.

But having said that, webCoRE will be changing at some point in the future and managing STHM in the new app should become a possibility.

#3

Is this true? I added the smartapp “Smartthings Home Monitor” in the new app and it’s working with automations, etc. It does NOT, however, communicate with Webcore yet. Have to assume @ady624 can make it look at this different field at some point.

Also, seeing children of switches (like Inovelli notifications) and a few other items are not yet working.

#4

STHM works with Automations but not webCoRE. My response was directed to the first post asking about webcore in the new app.

#5

I took the plunge this weekend based on the email as well. Here are some issues that I’ve discovered along the journey.

  • STHM state not available to WebCoRE. I’m thinking of just implementing a virtual switch (Armed/Disarmed) and writing my own logic for now. Will work for my purposes.

  • I wish WebCoRE could trigger Scenes directly. For now, I’m using virtual switches and then setup an Automation in the new app that triggers the scene when the virtual switch is toggled. Of course, becuase you cannot use a device as both a trigger and change it in an action, I then have to toggle off the virtual switch in WebCoRE. This is messy, but works.

  • you need to add Store in Messages = true to any push notifications in order to get them to show up in the new app.

  • I’ve seen some reliability issues with the automations I implemented in the new app. Had an issue today where motion events could be seen in the classic app but not in the new app was not firing Automations based on them (nor could I connect to the device status in the new app). During this time, I implemented the Automation in WebCoRE and it worked perfectly. I had to roll back some of my automations to WebCoRE to deal with Wife Acceptance Factor issues tonight.

  • the new app will not let you mix logical AND and OR conditions as an Automation trigger. Anything that uses a combination either has to be implemented as multiple Automations (but there’s no way to duplicate so you have to manually reconfigure). I’ve basically left all these in WebCoRE for now.

  • You cannot restrict actions by location mode in the new App Automations. The only way to do this is use the location mode as a condition trigger. But then you cannot manipulate the location mode in the actions (I have several pistons that manage location mode by first looking at what the current mode is…had to keep these in WebCoRE).

  • The way Automations work in the new App to turn off lights after X time they are turned on isn’t nearly as robust as using the “stays inactive” approach in WebCoRE. As a result, I’m not using the new App to turn off any lights based on lack of motion

I was really hoping to move a bunch of pistons (especially light triggers for local performance boost) to the new App but until the reliability issue and the ability to trigger scenese from WebCoRE is added, I’m not able to move nearly as much as I had hoped.

#6

Thank you for these notes. I started playing with the new app but havent gotten too far.

#7

You can optionally use smart lighting to power off your virtual switches after one minute Instead of toggling them with webCoRE…

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#8

Great observations. Completely agree with you on Scenes. I also use Virtual Switches and turn them off with Smart Lighting as @Eric182 suggested.

#9

OK there is no native support, but you always have the option of activating a Scene with a POST to the REST API. Depends what floats your boat really.

#10

Also I miss the functionality where “IF Routine runs, THEN…” but for scenes. I can’t figure out how to have a piston automatically do something if I manually activate a scene via the SmartThings app. I think that’s kinda the opposite of what you’re suggesting, but I’m not a developer, don’t know what POST or the REST API is, or how to do that in webCoRE. There are a ton of features in webCoRE that are confusing and not really documented for those who don’t have deep knowledge, but just trying to cover off on some basic functionality that sadly Samsung has left out of their native apps.

#11

I have not used the new app as of yet, but I wonder (and I am thinking outside the box here), if your scene used a unique (specific) color on a certain bulb…

Then in webCoRE, your piston trigger could be:

IF CertainBulb's color changes to #bdddf4 (or whatever)
    Then do cool stuff
END IF

I only see two small challenges to get this to work:

  • Choosing a bulb & color that is only used at that specific Scene
  • Detecting which to use: Color, ColorTemp, or HSL.

The first one is totally up to you. The second one we could help you in a new thread, if you wanted.