Love and hate my Homey - this should be fixed asap

[Mojo]

Homey suggestions

I’ve had my Homey Pro for like two weeks now - and as a full stack software developer for many years, I really love and hate the Homey Pro.

Homey Pro feels to me, like when you’re streaming an exciting thriller and then in the last two minutes when everything is about to be revealed … you looses your internet connection for good.

Things that needs to be fixed a LONG TIME AGO!!….

1. Flows, scripts etc. should all be possible to rename without breaking flows (except when used in Homeyscripts). They should be stored with an ID (like a guid) hidden from the user and then the Name, which we can change. Everything is then linked using the ID, so we can rename everything without breaking flows. This is a NO BRAINER!

2. Like in Apple Shortcuts, flows should be able to have multiple “If/Then/Else” sections. Without it we have to create tons of flows and then we loose the clarity.

3. Using the card “Flow - Flow start” is one big mess. We should be presented with at tree structure, so we would pick the flows folders first then the flow itself. As it is today, if I have a “Turn on the lights” flow in the kitchen and the livingroom, then I have to name the flows “Kitchen - Turn on the lights” and “Livingroom - Turn on the light” (prefix them with the folder name) to be able to tell them apart in the huge list we have today.

4. We should be able to organize Homeyscripts in folders too.

Things that should be fixed also…

1. Push notification “confirm”, should also have an “action” version. Instead of only being able to chose yes and no, we should be able to have an action list to chose from, so I for example from my Apple Watch could get a question and then a list of actions to chose from - and the action-reply could be stored in a variable.

2. In the “Else” section of a flow, we should be able to put a “case” section - like…

    Case #Variable 
        When "Turn On"
            Add card (eg start flow)
        When "Turn Off"
           Add card (eg set variable)
        When "Dimm"
           Add card (eg set timer)
        Else
           Add card (eg send push notification)
    End

Things that annoys me…

1. We can’t learn the Homey Pro new IR commands? I have a Yamaha RX-V3067 and the built in IR commonds does not work … and I can’t teach it new commands?

2. iOS version is extremely unmanageable because I can’t see the entire flow - I have to chose sections (If / Then / Else).

3. Homey web has been in beta for over a year now.

4. No built in Timer.

5. No fading of HUE bulbs.

6. A year ago and 5 months ahead, Homey went from v5 to v7.1 - and nothing has happen since.

7. Minor blog posts the last 5 monts.

Is Homey still alive? Is there a roadmap? What can we expect from Homey in the future?

Update 28-2-2022:
Removed Variables not renaming - they actually do. My bad.

[Peter_Kawa]

Wrong website, goto https://support.homey.app/hc/en-us/requests/new

[Mojo]

Nope - I’m not looking for support … I suggest features that need to be implemented.

[Undertaker]

I agree with you about many things. Maybe I’ve been around too long and have accepted many things.
For the things that Homey can’t do, I have meanwhile looked for alternatives.
But that inevitably brings with it the discovery that these alternatives also work very well. Bad for Athom’s business.
As long as nobody knows what Athom plans to do in the future, it is better to have a plan B.
You as an expert should take a look at Home Assistant. With MQTT, both systems can be coupled. What one can’t do, the other will.

[Mojo]

Updated my original post.

[cbeerse]

My remarks on your list of issues (just because I like to answer them, waiting for something else):
If you send in a list of issues, use a continuous number scheme do not re-number.

LongTimeAgo stuff.
1: Most times I do use this way on renaming. I do expect the other references to break down. If I rename something I expect references to break.
2: Flows are not ‘if-then-else’ statements. If you fancy such a programming language, then you should have a look at ’ Homey Script’. That provides your programming language.
3: Yes, you are right, the flows should get some way to order them. I’d say something compared to the ‘devices’. A kind of directory structure.
4: You have found HomeyScripts. You are ahead of me, I can still coop with the flows.

Should been fixed
1: You are right on the push-notification: It should be possible to ask for a new value to a variable. Not just a true/false selector, but also a value selector by giving a number, sliding some ruler or selecting from a set.
2: There are a lot of languages that do not have a switch or case structure. I do know languages that have an ‘elsif’ which I do like. With that you can slightly change the selection at every step.
Anoying stuff
1: On IR receivers (and senders): I have not used them jet.
2: Have you tried the website (homey web app: https://my.homey.app/)? There appears to be a website/url that you can use from every webbrowser. That skips the homey-app and gives an other view.
3: ?? Homey-Pro and Homey are not that beta.
4: Try the ’ Date and Time’ section if it is for the start of the flow. Then most actions can be delayed by seconds and minutes, even random within a given timeframe.
5: Sorry I donnot have hue so I have no details. I have seen dimming stuff. You might need to alter/update the used device type in your homey, which has a dimming option. Or have you missed out the detail settings for devices in flows?
6: What device do you have at home? the HomeyPro or the HomeyBridge? As far as I know, only the bridge is in beta.
7: I might have missed that one. My homey (pro) is working just fine.

On your closing, unnumbered question: Have you checked the website? True, the last blog at Homey Blog is 3 months old. No problem to me.

And on your reply to PeterKawa: If you are not looking for support, what are those questions about? Is it trolling? The details of the proposed website is definitly about new requests. It just so happens the support department handles these requests.

[sandere]

Hi Mojo,

Great story and you are totally right, instead of Athom to put the focus on new products like the Homey cloud, i think you have a great point that this things should me addressed and fixed first by Athom. Some of the issue are indeed way to old like for example the Homey energy web gui (this page is under construction…)

Gr, Sander.

[Morepower]

@Undertaker

I agree with you about many things. Maybe I’ve been around too long and have accepted many things.
For the things that Homey can’t do, I have meanwhile looked for alternatives.
But that inevitably brings with it the discovery that these alternatives also work very well. Bad for Athom’s business.
As long as nobody knows what Athom plans to do in the future, it is better to have a plan B.
You as an expert should take a look at Home Assistant. With MQTT, both systems can be coupled. What one can’t do, the other will.

same here. More and more tasks are moving to Home Assistant…

[OetAelse]

Same here also, I moved to Home Assistant some time ago. Homey is still present for a few z-wave devices until the hardware will be broken. Home assistant is coupled with homey via Home Assistant app.

[fvrdam]

7 days since the first message and no reply from Athom…

[Jero]

What kind of response are you expecting?

[fvrdam]

A roadmap would be great.
And in which release the above mentioned issues will be addressed.
No is sometimes a great answer as well. ‘We will never fix this’ gives a lot of clarity.

Frank

[robertklep]

Athom don’t seem to do roadmaps. Also, they typically don’t respond to community posts.

[Ton_T]

I switched to Home Assistant some time ago and will not be going back to Homey…HA is a real cloud independant local automation system (excluding some integrations that do require cloud access).

…anybody want to buy a Homey Pro?

[fvrdam]

@Emile: can you help us understand Athom’s strategy here ?

[FKey]

@fvrdam

7 days since the first message and no reply from Athom…

Be aware: This is a community forum not an Athom forum.
Athom only sometimes reads along.

For question to athom please visit the athom support page

[Mojo]

If Athom has created a community site they call “Ideas & Suggestions” that they do not monitor, that must go on my hate list too. Can’t imagine they are not interested in their customers ideas & suggestions.

[DirkG]

Ideas / Feature Requests (New info 2021)

Recently Athom removed the link to a Google form for Feature Requests from the Welcome Post in this forum, so I asked Athom. (A support article still has a link to the form, it needs updating) Athom doesn’t like the old form as it was a Black hole (as we the community / users also noted) It is like the old idea box at school, you put everything in it, but almost never hear something back. Athom suggested: Discussing ideas on the forum is better. Discussing pros and cons with others can hel…

[Dijker]

@Mojo

Variables, flows, scripts etc. should all be possible to rename without breaking flows (except when used in Homeyscripts). They should be stored with an ID (like a guid) hidden from the user and then the Name, which we can change. Everything is then linked using the ID, so we can rename everything without breaking flows. This is a NO BRAINER!

Have you done research?

Tried Homey.logic.getVariables(); from https://tools.developer.homey.app/tools/api-playground ?
or checked a Flow in Homey from the Playground?

The only issue I know is the Old displayname is often showed until you save a Flow again.
Then NOBRAINER is they did since almost day 1, (Last part is changes in Firmware update to v2.0.0 )

Maybe make a Backup ZIP and walk thru the JSONs.

"9630df5a-666d-4f2b-a661-a27c28188e78":{ "__athom_api_type":"HomeyAPI.ManagerFlow.Flow", "id":"9630df5a-666d-4f2b-a661-a27c28188e78", "name":"For MOJO", "enabled":true, "folder":null, "order":156, "trigger":{ "id":"variable_changed", "uri":"homey:manager:logic", "args":{ "variable":{ "id":"ee4be60a-7d99-4854-bf8e-794043c7e9a3", "name":"YesNo1" } } }, "conditions":[ { "id":"contains", "uri":"homey:manager:logic", "group":"group1", "droptoken":"homey:manager:logic|1030af65-c001-43b3-a653-3225df06160e", "inverted":false, "args":{ "comparator":"Maandag [[homey:manager:logic|537a3ec0-db83-4332-b34e-a0ef416d39ba]]" } }, { "id":"equal_boolean", "uri":"homey:manager:logic", "group":"group1", "droptoken":"homey:manager:logic|ee4be60a-7d99-4854-bf8e-794043c7e9a3", "inverted":false, "args":{ } } ], "actions":[ { "id":"variable_set_string", "uri":"homey:manager:logic", "group":"then", "delay":null, "duration":null, "args":{ "variable":{ "id":"60ce9148-f991-42f7-a4b0-3a754ddab6f2", "name":"Maandag 2" }, "value":"[[homey:manager:logic|59ad1d4f-336f-4963-b660-5bdfe89960d1]]" } } ], "broken":false, "triggerable":true, "triggerCount":0 }

Edit: I tested some renaming as the last time was ~2 yrs ago and I reported my findings. It works even smoother than I expected. Maybe one place it didn’t show up but I have to investigate. If you have a specific scenario that goes wrong pls report that scenario.

[Mojo]

My bad - variables do work with ID/name/renaming.

This is even more strange, that Homey chose to let the user rename variables without breaking flows, but didn’t do the same with flows (which is just as important)?

I can’t even rename scripts - I have to delete them and create new.