Split of conversation, from an app request for the Flirc 1s remote.
What do you expect the Homey can do with the Flirc remote? As it only has infrared, (receiver is only for learning) and sending. It doesn’t look like it can be controlled by other devices.
That SDK is for the usb IR receiver that you need to control for example a PC, which hasn’t been updated in years.
For the same reason there is a Harmony hub app. This remote will continue where Logitech has stopped.
I recently ordered one and saw there is no app for it. So I asked here for one.
Not sure when but Flirc skip remotes will also support BT in the future
Now using My Harmony companion with Flirc USB for controlling Emby and Kodi on my Nvidia Shield TV.
harmony hub app works because of the hub, which has wifi and bluetooth besides IR, that’s not the case for the flirc remote, i don’t see any bluetooth chip on their page nor the PCB they show on the page.
The USB dongle looks like is also just a IR receiver.
(Edit: looks like the dongle has also an IR transmitter, but not a Bluetooth chip.)
Hence also on their forum:
Does the Skip 1s support Bluetooth?
No, the Skip 1s only supports IR (infra-red) remotes.
So perhaps when a new Skip is announced/released it will have bluetooth, but not the Skip 1s, and then it will has to support Receive on Bluetooth, not just Send
My question to Flirc:
My Arris settopbox has no ir control but Bluetooth control. I know you want to start slow and go from there but having to use two remotes instead of one is not really what I want but for now there is no other option.
Will this Skip 1 remote ever be able to send Bluetooth signals or will there be a newer devices that can do that?
Are there any plans for creating an app for Homey.
I own a Homey device Homey - A Better Smart Home and there is a Harmony hub app available for Homey and that is a helpful app.
Answer Jason Kotzin (Flirc)
Thanks for the email. We do plan on eventually making Skip remote with bluetooth, and we’ve also talked about creating a bluetooth and IR repeater (for the closet example you provided), but currently we’re focusing pretty intently on making the Skip 1s as good as it can be, particularly by implement the ability to record remotes not already in our database.
I don’t think there are any plans to make a Homey app right now, but if you visit the forum, feel free to make a request for one. Much of how we’re structuring future development roadmaps is based on user feedback and support. Ideas and Suggestions - Flirc Forums
As I see it from the Flirc Skip 1s remote, it doesn’t have a hub that could be integrated with Homey like Harmony has. That is the part that gets integrated and not the remote.
I can’t really see that there is anything that could be integrated from the remote, except use as a remote control to trigger flows on Homey. And the flows then does what ever scenes you want.
For IR controls, you would still need to teach the remote to send something from when buttons are pressed, or Flirc would need to default to something.
Same goes for bluetooth.
Exactly my point, in an upcoming remote and/or Bluetooth repeater which are just future plans for now, who knows how far they are, or if they even have started on it.
As it can have any IR command, I guess it could have a dedicated Homey device (or generic Home Automation device) in their remote that has the same IR commands, but that’s indeed still only 1 direction (to Homey only).
But not sure how it would handle multiple devices on 1 button, makes it pretty limited if it would only use unused buttons.
Seems that it only support three scene modes; A, B and C
All buttons are assignable withing those three modes to pretty much anything from the IR database.
A companion app for Homey would need to have the same database and register all configured codes to be listened for.
Would also limit Homey to be placed in the room where the remote is been used.
Off-topic: What we would indeed need, is a non-cloud dependent IR blaster hub, with a remote. And that is what Harmony does for us, except for the cloud dependency. If Logitech would open source the cloud part and allow us to host it our selves.
