Athom's Decision for Mobile First and removing of the Desktop Interface/WEB UI in Homey v2.0.0

They already announced so many times that they will not create a web interface themselves, and that it will need to come from the community :wink:

Only a dashboard is(was?) on the timeline, which is meant for just controlling your devices, no flow editing.

Have you got a source to go with your statement?

1,5 years of slack and direct communication with athom is my source.

But you can of course ask athom themselves if you don’t want to believe me.

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There’s lots of users recommending products to friends, families, colleagues.
I will not recommend Homey anymore, without web interface.
‘Normal’ users cannot configure flows on mobile, for sure not complex flows.
Think about people with bad eyes or visually handicapped people.

It’s their choice to not create a web interface, but they will loose revenue.

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I feel the same way about this.

You need the web / desktop app to decently create the needed flows.

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I can understand they don’t develop a desktop app.
But create a good web app that can be used on PC/Mac/Tablet/phones.

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Guys,

Caseda has patiently told you their stance.

Further to that , this should not be a surprise, he is an announcement (not even the first) from over 18 months ago.

You should be aware that this is a community forums, which means - Athom are not actively reading the forums. I’m not entirely sure who you are complaining to or making threats too , about leaving,

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Am I attacking Caseda?

It’s not a surprise that it’s mobile-only.

It’s a surprise to me (as normal end-user) how it works. This beta is the first time I see it.

I personally (my opinion) feel it’s not very good. But that’s my opinion, nobody has to share my feelings.

I am not saying this because Athom is reading or not, I am saying because it’s my feeling. The same goes for saying I will not recommend Homey anymore.

Am I making threats? No, I am not. I am just sharing my feelings.

I think it’s my choice whether to like Homey’s mobile-only approach.

I don’t like it, that’s my opinion and anyone can disagree with me.

Maybe for most people it works, that’s ok.

I am not sure why you are writing me.

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@Niels_Veldman

Hi Niels, sorry for the misunderstanding, I just hit the reply - my post was in reference to the entire thread and not anything you specifically said

:slight_smile:

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Well Athom may have strong feelings about desktop or web apps for now. But past has shown people and companies are not always right. Community and consumer backlash has pushed others to reconsider their decisions. It seems that Athom is modelling their policy like Apple. That isn’t bad but they should also look what Apple has done wrong. Remember when Homekit was mobile only? Even Apple was wrong for going mobile only and has brought same app to Mac after years and years. Homepod is doing bad because of limitations that Apple has put on it. Even Google has made similar decisions.

Athom and Homey can’t afford to loose customers or recommendations from that same customers. They should listen very closely to buyers because their opinion is what could make it or brake it for Athom. I’m not saying that they should do everything or anything but take your head out of the sand and listen. If they need outside help for development then say so but they should at least port app to desktop.

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Then you’ll lose some of the native functionality like geofencing, lower latency (interface is on mobile device instead of on Homey, which in turn saves resources on Homey) and for Android call integration.
Just to name a few.

Just thought I’d add my voice as well to the lack of a web UI… I will for sure not upgrade unless there is a web UI :’(
I just hope that athom reconsiders this if enough of us let them know…

“Programming” on a mobile device (which is what they are pushing) is not really productive, especially as you frequently use “a reference” or “guide” at the same time which a mobile device wont allow you to do (as most mobile device does not support split-screen). I also frequently have multiple flows “open” at the same time so I can switch between them which again is not possible on a mobile device… and lets not start with ergonomics and disability issues as mentioned above…

When I heard this I assume they meant dropping the “PC container app” and just having the WEB UI for PC users, not drop support for PC/MAC all together.

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Hmm, @Rocodamelshekima I would say the Lack of a WEB UI is related to the 2.0 firmware and a huge finding (for me)… so not sure why it would not be on-topic?
The fact that you or other may have been discussing it long does not mean it is not relevant for the rest of us…
Now I understand it might not be the findings athom wants to hear, but this is the community not the athom PR department…

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Great to see how important the community is for Athom…

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I hate it that the web UI is gone and gonna do my very best to bring it back. One way or another!

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Cant we just build it ourself, as in the developers. I would gladly donate to such a project.

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I like the phone app and being able to tweak flows when I out is great.
However, creating flows is much harder on the phone because of the limited screen space.
One thing that drew me to the Homey was the old flow editor so it is disappointing that it’s gone.
If Athom could bring back just the flow editor to the web interface I would be happy.

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For me, having no desktop software/web interface anymore is really frustrating and a big reason why I stop to promote homey to other people.

The whole thing of a smarthome is that you can access your house from every device, where ever you are. The desktop software was working so well, and Athom has put so much time in it. To shame that this was just a waste of time. Please bring us a web UI with the option to personize a nice dashboard.

Only than I will be very happy with my homey again.

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@Luke_Fairbank and @HerrieMan

I also miss the option to install the App on my tablet from the Play store, (Where it works on iOS i heard)
but to us it on my Tablet I extract the APK from my phone using Apk Extractor.
(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ext.ui)
And share it using Bluetooth to my tablet.
I guess there are also other options to get the App (Scaled) on your tablet
(But I don’t trust all links that provide the APKs)

Homey (Gen. 2)_app.homey.apk

I asked about this at Athom but this didn’t have a result in making it available in the store yet.

Further to @Dijker suggestion to use it on a tabet, you can actaully use the same method and use it with in any chrome browser.

Either extract the file as suggested, or just download it here : https://apkgk.com/app.homey
Check out emulator here https://www.apkonline.net/

(Thanks to @bvdbos on slack)

I have never installed these files or attempted to do this, I am simply passing on information : do so at you own risk.

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