When Athom released SDK3 it was inevitable that SDK2 would come to an end at some point, hence I updated all my apps soon after.
The conversion process is a bit of a pain but it didn’t take long and the updated app can be tested on the current Homey Pro. There are a few other changes with the new Home Pro that are outside the SDK3 scope that I will need to look at, but nothing too serious.
I understand the concern about apps that are no longer supported because the dev has moved on and I don’t have an answer for that. Lets hope that Athom make the transfer of dead apps easier. I took on one SDK1 app when SDK1 was made obsolete but because Athom did the same thing of removing all SDK1 apps from the store, they had no way to transfer it to me officially so I had to give it a new app id which meant users had to start again with their flows etc.
HomeyKit is indeed one of the apps I’m using, but also the nefit Easy app is something I use every day.
Totally understand your point of view, already see the same thing happen to many other apps. :
Is there any good tutorial/guide showing what is needed to be changed for SDK3?
There is one at the Athoms “Start building your app”, is that what’s needed to be done?
If there will be a need I might try to upgrade at least the once I am using.
I share this concern about community apps. Although Athom develops and maintains quite some (important) apps themselves, and some manufacturers do as well, I think that the real power (and therefore value) of Homey lies in the community apps.
I just checked, I use 5 Athom apps, 5 manufacturer apps, and 12 community apps. Some I could probably do without, but most of them really make things a lot more fun and complete.
The thing I just cannot understand is the (in my opinion) lack of respect and valuation from Athom to these community developers. Without them, Athom and Homey would be really less valuable.
So if Athom doesn’t pay them, at least they should reward them (or the ones with at least X installs) with free hardware. That is just a small investment in comparison to the value it delivers.
Updating my apps to SDK3 simply hasnt been a priority i my life, large amount of work - and zero gain. (There was meant to be a hoodie … but it never arrived).
You may say, or its a minor update, but some of these apps are 6 years old and not received an update in over 5 years.
Sure, now there feels like there is a bit of a gun to the head and I have to do it, but there hasn’t been enough notice. Not when there is only 10 weeks notice of end of live. Speaking of which - I have a life - im getting married and going on a honeymoon. I am not going to cancel that … to update homey apps.
I get it, I understand that they likely don’t want to release SDK for HomeyPro2 - and it is the right move, but much like SDK1 removal or the “Version2 mobile” update, there will a bit of chaos.
That is why its an Early adapters program, however I think that updating HomeyPro1 to require SKD3 should be placed on hold until Pro2 is stable - just so that Pro1 users are not penalised.
But guys, removing the Apps from AppStore doesn’t mean, that they stop working on your (old) Homey Pro! Those apps won’t be available to new users, but I think old users should be able to use them. SDKv1 was dropped long time ago, but I STILL use one app written with SDKv1 and not updated to v2 (or v3) - the ecobee app, written by Athom and then abandoned - and it works fine on my Homey Pro even today (of course updated to the newest version). So I think SDKv2 Apps will still work for old users.
I’ve got v1.03 - I didn’t know they finally updated the app to v3 and republished to AppStore. It wasn’t updated for SDKv2 and was unavailable in AppStore for long time. It also didn’t upgrade on my Homey. I’ll perform that manually, thanks for the tip
On the other hand, Results from the past…
It probably won’t stop functioning on your old Homey at release of Homey Pro Early 2023 but Athom could make it mandatory for fe Homey Firmware 9 or 10.
It looks like it is. ecobee v1.03 made under SDKv1 still works on my Homey Pro firmware v8.0.8. What is weird, I don’t know why isn’t this app upgrade to the new version made in SDKv3 (all the others do auto update). Maybe there is an issue due to this SDKv. I think I’ll delete it and install again in the evening (I’ve got too many flows with those devices).
Put up a donate link Robert
May not be able to front up 400 euro for a new homey but I’m heavily reliant on your flow event bus app and hope I can donate some coffees or beers to support you while updating. In fact I feel donate links should be standard.
