Hi all,
I’ve been on vacation for a month, but now I’m back on track.
I have been discussing the possibility of releasing an “Official” app with Athom for years, a version that would also be available on the bridge. So far, Athom has denied my request as they hoped Tuya would release an app themselves that would support both Wi-Fi and Zigbee units. However, it ended up as an Athom-developed app for cloud integration. The positive part of this is that Tuya now actually takes responsibility for the API versus third-party integrations. 
Athom also enhanced their default Zigbee support for unknown devices, something they hoped would eliminate the need for apps like this one. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t need any of these… I would be the first to congratulate them if that happened. 
But so far, we still need brand apps to handle quite a few devices.
All of this together made working with the app a bit dull. Coupled with the massive backlog of requests, I felt overwhelmed and unmotivated. I know many have contributed with PRs and good info for adding devices or solving issues, and I’m sorry if you feel that I haven’t delivered.
However, Athom has now decided this app is needed and has asked me to release an “Official” app. I’m still in discussions with them and hope their partnership with Tuya might benefit me somehow, enabling a better and quicker way to add devices. Time will tell.
Additionally, there are still outstanding issues with Athom’s Zigbee implementation, resulting in strange and inconsistent problems such as non-reporting devices, devices dropping out of the network, etc. As far as I can tell, this is nothing I can ever fix in the app.
I will now put time and effort into updating the app with new model IDs/manufacturer names for existing devices, merge any outstanding PRs that are solid, and then start chipping away at the backlog. Hopefully, I can get back to you with positive news within a few months regarding an “Official” app…
And… a big thanks to everyone who contributes to the app’s development in any way—financially, with knowledge, and through coding.
