I feel the need to preface this post by saying that it is not my intention to rant about the lack of support of Homey Pro 2019 but am asking for informed advice by those with more knowledge about Homey products than me.
I bought the Homey Pro 2019 in mid-2022, specifically going out of my way to buy the latest version available at the time. Some of the more recent software and hardware feature updates within the Homey ecosystem (i.e. Energy dongle/dashboard and device groups) have been held back from this older model, instead only releasing onto the Homey Pro 2023 / cloud / mini. From my understanding the primary motivation behind the lack of support for 2019 and older has been a change in hardware platform, meaning it takes a lot of time and effort to back-port new additions.
This brings me to the situation where I am considering to upgrade to a more recent Homey Pro hardware model, in order to make use of these new features and prolonged support. However, I feel like there currently is no good upgrade path available for me. The Pro 2019 that I bought in 2022 stopped receiving updates within 3 years of me purchasing the device, which is in line with Homeyās 5-year support promise. However, the currently available Homey Pro 2023 is over 2.5 years old already, meaning this ā¬399 device has the potential to lose out on latest updates too soon for my liking, essentially repeating the same āBuy a device and no longer get updates within 3 yearsā curse affecting me after purchasing the 2019 model in 2022.
This makes me subjectively disqualify the Homey Pro 2023 model as a realistic purchase option in 2025, despite it being the ālatest and greatestā Homey currently has to offer. With long-term support of new updates being my main priority, it sounds like the best decision for me would be to wait for the Homey Pro Mini to become available in my country (Netherlands) and pair it up with a Homey Bridge. As the Pro Mini would be supported until 2030 (following the same 5-year support promise) whereas the Homey Pro 2023 could lose feature support in January of 2028.
Does this train of thoughts remotely make sense? Am I correct to assume that the 5-year update promise applies to both the Pro 2023 and Pro Mini, and the Mini wonāt be cut out of future updates for the reason of being a āminiā model? Is the change in hardware model between 2019 and 2023 the primary reason as to why new features arenāt offered as paid upgrades, and/or could/would this realistically happen again with future Pro models?
Alternatively, have others faced the same struggle when determining how to navigate the Homey Pro hardware landscape and what purchase option ended up working for you?
For the Pro 2019 Dashboard is available, but only as a one time purchase.
Of course they hope we keep on buying new Homeysā¦
The new Group function is a joke veeery minimal & limited imho, just use the < group > app
Energy dongle is just āa productā. I use Homewizard P1 dongle, great device for way less $
Energy tab is nice, but itās community example Power by the Hour app is way nicer, smarter and more useful (dynamic price driven flows f.e.).
Yeah thatās a bit of bad luck imho. Like with so many products, new models or versions arrive every once in a while.
When is the right time to buy is the questionā¦
But, I have to tell you, from what Iāve read throughout the years, Pro 2023 might be newer, but not better. Itās still heavily in development (lots of issues with Matter/zigbee/bluetooth/433MHz) imho.
I still have zero reasons to buy a Pro 2023 or mini.
Back then I bought the Advanced flow option by the way, one of the best parts of Homey.
Hmm Iām thinking of buying a Pro 2023, if not just because itās new and the pro 2019 I bought is not, and bought secondhand.
Iād hate to have it fail because of some HW faillure. And yes, I have som flows running on it I would hate missingā¦ Iām not gonna be left in the cold or in the dark if the 2019 stops working, but the house would fall back to old systems for light and heating..
In case you didnāt know: Thereās a cloud backup system, in case of any failure. (Pro) 2019 backups can be restored to Pro 2023 & mini.
It saved my ass multiple times
Thank you for your insights! I have purchased advanced flows and dashboards on my 2019 model, the main reason as to why Iām considering upgrading would be for the Energy tab functionality. And after noticing that Dashboards were essentially the last feature release for pre-2023 Homey Pro models, that made me believe a hardware upgrade would become necessary sometime within the next year or so.
Itās good to learn about alternatives such as being able to use a different dongle and visualizing energy data through a community app. And that there is an app to mirror the group functionality as well.
Iām essentially pondering about the right time to eventually upgrade my hardware, and since I just moved (and am expanding the number of devices), now felt like the right time to consider migrating to a new hub.
But it sounds like holding on to the 2019 version and getting creative with dashboards to visualize energy data is the best way to go for now - and who knows what the smart home ecosystem market looks like in a couple years. Seeing how Homey polled its users for a monthly voice assistant subscription, and a competitor releasing theirs for a one-time fee, it might not be a bad idea to sit this one out and see what happens.
Please do mind that Homey Pre 2023 run a very old nodejs version, itās getting harder and harder to keep updating apps and keep them functioning on older Homeyās.
Donāt be surprised that somewhere down the line app developers will have to drop support for older Homeys!
That may very well be, but development isnāt waiting for it.
To give an example, Ring made changes in their API which I was able to keep up with for Homey Early 2023, but the fix I made canāt be applied to Homeys pre 2023.
Very much makes sense to me, it sounds like thereās quite a number of hurdles when it comes to updating community apps across different Homey Pro devices.
Reading things such as the current-latest-and-greatest Homey Pro 2023 already being outdated in terms of software (nodejs) and it very much being a possibility that purchasing a Pro 2023 now will mean it is outdated in another two years, doesnāt give me the confidence to spend ā¬400 on a 2.5 year old device. Clearly the best option is to wait until a brand new Homey Pro will eventually be released, and only purchase it within the first year or so.
Of course it can be updated, but I donāt think Athom wants to spend any time on that (updating to a newer Node.js version will require some testing to check if everything works as expected, and I never got the impression that Athom has an extensive test suite for their Homey software).
Well seeing new EU legislation around energie labels and mandatory periods regarding updates and such for mobile devices I wouldnāt be surprised that legislation will be applied to even more consumer electronics, so Iād rather see Athom focussing on prolonging the Homey Pro Early 2023 lifetime by upgrading to a recent nodejs (LTS) version.
I"m in the same problem right now.
I donāt need a new homey for the new stuff, but it crashes often, memory is full, ( I have the 2018) and Zigbee is not working good when using more than 35 devices.
I just hope the 2023 does not have a problem with a lot of zigbee devices.
The alternative Home Assistant is an option too, but have to build up everything from start then. And I want remote connection and Google integration, that costs a lot there unless you integrate is yourself, but that is not easy..
indeedā¦ but if Iām sure it works. I will payā¦ Iām not a student anymore
Iām just not sure it will work Guess I will have to try and use my right to send back when it doesnāt. Just need good timing te test everything.
Guess I will have to try and use my right to send back when it doesnāt. Just need good timing te test everything.