Is this app still being worked on?

[Scyto]

I noticed the web site is pretty out of date and the app has had no updates in a while. Is it still an active project?

[Xathros]

Mobilinc is very much under active development for both iOS and Android.

 

-Xathros

[InsteonNut]

Hi Folks,

 

Yes, we are very much under continual active development. We've been heads down with the next release(s). Stay tuned for announcements.

 

Wes

[DennisC]

Hi Folks,

 

Yes, we are very much under continual active development. We've been heads down with the next release(s). Stay tuned for announcements.

 

Wes

 

Wes,

 

Hopefully the next release will be for Android and support both Z wave thermostats and Elk security............

 

Dennis

[toflaherty]

I'd be happy with the Android version supporting some of the features that are currently exclusively on the ios version..

 

Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk

[oberkc]

In fairness, there are features on the android that are not on the one for iOS. I am thinking of integration with tasker. On balance, I think I like the android version, even though it does not support cameras or do other things unique to ios

[NHWA]

I have to disagree. The lack of z wave, elk, and camera support when these are available on ios is disappointing. In prior threads many others have voiced similar concerns, but I think the general consensus has been to wait and hope android eventually catches up. To be completely honest though, if there was another android option that came along that offered those features I would gladly pay for it and move on.

[oberkc]

All fair points. I admit that android appears often times to be second priority. It seems that the perception of the developers is that there is a higher demand for iOS device support. I find it hard to believe that this is the case. I generally suspect insteon appeals more to tinkerers, and suspect that those same tinkerers also tend to favor android.

 

Still liking the tasker thing, though.

[ISYhbsh01]

In fairness, there are features on the android that are not on the one for iOS. I am thinking of integration with tasker.

That's realy because there is no Tasker app for iOS & nothing even similar. I believe that with apple's locked down and tightly controlled nature of iOS it's just not possible to develop an app like tasker for it. I have searched many times for something even remotely similar to tasker for ios & haven't found any.

 

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

[MWareman]

I just want variables.... Without having to resort to a program for each variable.

And.... Z-Wave, cameras... And the speed improvement on connect

[arw01]

I'd like connection issues addressed. I've been on 4 android phones that mobilic is unreliable on because it cannot decide if it's local or secure with a direct link to the isy via the web. I've been on the mobiconnect and it was worst for me.

 

The other day I was standing in my driveway with 4 bars of wifi and Mobilinc is trying to go out the secure connection, it never did. If I don't get mobilinc up right when I go in, I have to exit the app, swipe it closed, and re-open and 50% of the time it will finally connect.

 

Like that fixed, or enough information available that i can figure out what the problem is. Nearly 100% of the time while mobilinc is spinning it's wheels, I can go right out to google and have a webpage while mobilinc is still spinning doing NOTHING.

 

Tasker needs some "built in apps" that we can import in, I'd pay $5.00 or so to have the geo fence stuff working for my wife and I. I played with it for hours when it came out, but lack of reliable connection bagged the tasker integration for me until it works better.

[chago2013]

I'd like connection issues addressed... mobilic is unreliable on because it cannot decide if it's local or secure with a direct link to the isy via the web... If I don't get mobilinc up right when I go in, I have to exit the app, swipe it closed, and re-open and 50% of the time it will finally connect.

 

TOTALLY AGREE! I love Mobilinc (for Android), but its Tasker plugin is very, very unreliable, to the point where it can't be counted on. I believe arw01 is correct in his assessment that it's a connectivity issue. It takes Mobilinc way too long to establish that connection.

 

In Tasker I'm having to put in waits and other workarounds so Mobilinc will respond faster and therefore work, bu I've had nothing but spotty results at best. I'd love to see major improvements in this area.

 

Regarding location, I've had some good luck using Tasker's "Wi-fi Near" Action. To detect I'm near, I use the "OR" option (as in, "detecting this wi-fi SSID OR that other one OR the other one over there" kind of). To detect I've left, I use the "AND" option (as in, "no longer detecting this wi-fi SSID AND that other one AND the other one over there").

 

Obviously, for the above you need to have at least one SSID being broadcast, which could very well just be your own. I'm lucky in that all my neighbors have their SSIDs being broadcasted, so I can determine proximity starting from a couple of houses away from mine.

[InsteonNut]

Hi arw01,

 

I'd like connection issues addressed. I've been on 4 android phones that mobilic is unreliable on because it cannot decide if it's local or secure with a direct link to the isy via the web. I've been on the mobiconnect and it was worst for me.

 

I'd like to know more about your setup here. This isn't the "normal" experience. Here's what's happening under the hood:

- When you wake up MobiLinc, if you are on Wi-Fi, it pings the network for ISYs.

- If any ISY's respond, MobiLinc looks to see if any are the ISY that it's currently setup to talk to.

- If your ISY is responding to the ping, then MobiLinc connects over the local IP.

- If no ISY's respond (or another ISY responds) MobiLinc then assumes you are remote and connects over the external IP address.

 

All told, this should only take a second or two to figure out and starting connecting.

 

With MobiLinc Connect this initial determination doesn't occur. It just simply connects to our servers and moves on.

 

arw01 and chago2013, would you send me an email to support@mobilinc.com so I can send you directly our new MobiLinc/Android beta? We've made many changes and I'd like to get a read from you if these changes impacted the connection issues you are seeing. Please also confirm that these connection issues you see are:

- Not related to Taker, meaning they appear on a normal startup of MobiLinc.

- How long does it take to issue a command?

- Do you receive any error messages?

- Approx. how many programs do you have in your setup?

- Appox. how long it takes MobiLinc to show your device status.

- Does this behave the same over a direct IP connection or through MobiLinc Connect or both?

- Have you rebooted your phone, ISY, and network equipment?

 

Wes

[chago2013]

Thanks for the fast response and concern. I'll give you my responses here for the purpose of recording them for future searchers and then I'll be happy to engage you through e-mail.

 

I haven't used your cloud solution, so I can't comment on that. I reboot my phone on a regular basis, probably 3-4 times a week.

 

My set up:

 

Samsung S3

Mobilinc with two profiles:

-ISY994i (my usual connection)

-Smartlinc (another location that I hardly ever connect to but need to on occasion)

Tasker with about 20 profiles and 30 tasks, 4 of which use the Mobilinc plugin

ISY994i

~40 programs, all in folders, and with some folders having IF conditions for activation

~50 variables, Integer and Status combined

~30-35 scenes

~20 devices

4G connectivity is pretty much excellent everywhere in my area, particularly between home and work where the problems are manifesting.

 

At home, with the phone connected to my wireless network, Mobilinc startup takes at least 15-20 seconds.

 

Once I'm out, connecting takes much longer over a 4G connection. It easily takes at least 1-1.5 minutes.

 

The main problem I experience is with the transition from Wi-fi to 4G. I have Tasker set up for 30 second Wi-fi scans with the screen on, 60 second scans with the screen off. I understand Tasker requires two scans with the target SSIDs missing before declaring them not near anymore (to avoid false detections), so at a minimum it would be at least 1 minute from the time I left my home until Tasker triggered the profile for having left, which calls the Mobilinc plugin. Usually, it's longer than that, since I keep my phone in my pocket with the screen off.

 

My expectation is that within that 1 minute (minimum; usually longer), the phone (not Tasker) will have detected the missing Wi-fi SSID, switched over to 4G, and the 4G connection will be have stabilized. So when Tasker gets around to detecting the same and running the Mobilinc plugin, Mobilinc already has a stable 4G connection at its disposal to do what it needs.

 

But apparently this is not happening. Instead, Tasker calls the plugin and keeps going but the plugin doesn't do anything. If I press on one of the Mobilinc widgets on my home screen, I get the red status light and a flash message that says that it can't connect.

 

The recovery is to run the full Mobilinc application, wait for it to connect via 4G, and then manually run the Tasker task that calls the plugin. At that point in time, things work, including the Mobilinc widgets.

 

None of this seems to happen with the opposite situation: When getting home, the phone detects my SSID and switches from 4G to wifi, at the same time that Tasker detects the target SSIDs in the "Wifi Near" context and runs the Mobilinc plugin, which executes successfully.

 

I hope this helps. I'm contacting you via e-mail next. And thanks again.

[InsteonNut]

Thanks chago2013,

 

It sounds like the Widget/Tasker issue you are running into we might have fixed. I'd like to get you an early preview copy to confirm. Please email at support@mobilinc.com so I can get you setup.

 

At home, with the phone connected to my wireless network, Mobilinc startup takes at least 15-20 seconds.

 

Once I'm out, connecting takes much longer over a 4G connection. It easily takes at least 1-1.5 minutes.

 

Can you detail out the start and end condition in your measurement? I'm assuming you start the stopwatch when you launch MobiLinc, but what do you use to determine when MobiLinc is connected? Based on your setup, this is what I'd expect to see before the spinning indicator stops, but you can use MobiLinc well before the spinning indicator has stopped spinning. This is just showing you that it's collecting data from your ISY.

 

Specifically, how long between start and when you see device status appear? That's a better way to determine startup time. After you see device status popup you can issue commands.

 

Wes

[chago2013]

My interpretation of "start" and "end" are:

1. Start - As soon as I press on the Mobilinc icon on my phone's home screen.

2. End - When the indicator stops spinning.

 

It's good to know commands can be issued earlier than I thought, while the indicator is still spinning.

 

I just tested 4G connectivity as follows:

1. Turned on 4G (I keep it off).

2. Let it stabilize for 4 minutes.

3. Looking at the seconds hand of my watch, I pressed the icon and started counting.

4. Immediately pressed on "Devices" to show that screen.

4. I did the test 3 times in a row.

 

Results

1st Run: Device status in 15 seconds. Indicator stopped spinning in 1:45.

2nd Run: Device status in 12 seconds. Indicator stopped spinning in 1:45.

3rd Run: Device status in 11 seconds. Indicator stopped spinning in 1:35.

 

I'm not at home right now so I can't give you "at home" measurements. But I will do that tonight.

 

Understanding commands can be issued while the indicator is still spinning, how does this affect the use of the Tasker plugin? I see you mentioned possibly having fixed that issue; I'm asking just in case.

[InsteonNut]

Ok, perfect. Yes, this is exactly in line with what I'd expect.

 

As soon as you see device status, you are good to go to start issuing ON/OFF/whatever commands. You can actually do it immediately, but the delay will be until after you see device status in any case.

 

For Tasker, there should only be a second or two delay just to determine where your Android device is at and if the ISY is local or not. Like I mentioned previously I suspect you are running into a known Tasker/MobiLinc integration bug that we might have fixed already.

 

Wes

[chago2013]

I ran the same test at home, also 3 times.

 

Results

1st Run: Device status in 5 seconds. Indicator stopped spinning in 12 seconds.

2nd Run: Device status in 4 seconds. Indicator stopped spinning in 11 seconds.

3rd Run: Device status in 4 seconds. Indicator stopped spinning in 11 seconds.

[chago2013]

For Tasker, there should only be a second or two delay just to determine where your Android device is at and if the ISY is local or not. Like I mentioned previously I suspect you are running into a known Tasker/MobiLinc integration bug that we might have fixed already.

 

Just to clarify, when you say it's something you may have fixed already, do you mean in an upcoming version or a version that's already out there and I just don't have?

 

Thanks!

[InsteonNut]

Thanks chago2013,

 

Your startup times look great!

 

Just to clarify, when you say it's something you may have fixed already, do you mean in an upcoming version or a version that's already out there and I just don't have?

 

Upcoming version. I'm about to send you a beta to try for us.

 

Wes