All my dashboard devices disappeared

[hum099]

I opened up MobiLinc this morning and all but three of my dashboard devices were gone. Also the icons seem much larger now. Any Ideas what went wrong. I have been using it for years with no issues.

[InsteonNut]

Hi hum099,

 

This can happen for the following reasons:

- *If any of the devices were marked at "disabled" in the Admin Console then MobiLinc will hide them from the UI.

- *If any of the items were "deleted" from "Device" or "Scenes" with a swipe to delete action then they are hidden from the UI.

- If Settings->Lighting Controller->Sync->Download All was selected and the warning accepted, then this will download a fresh copy of the ISY config to MobiLinc and will erase all custom settings back to defaults.

- If the items in question were programs and they were renamed/deleted/recreated at some point via the Admin Console, then MobiLinc, on next startup, will remove the old version of that program from the Dashboard since MobiLinc doesn't have a way to understand if the new program created in its place is actually the same program with the same intent. 

 

*In both cases these can be restored under Settings->Lighting Controller->Hidden Items.

 

Wes

[hum099]

Wes.....I do not have Settings->Lighting Controller->Hidden Items

 

​Hidden items heading is not visible.....I don't recall hitting all....why would 3 items remain if you selected all.

[InsteonNut]

If Hidden Items isn't a heading, then there are no Hidden Items (nothing manually hidden or designated as "Disabled" in the Admin Console).

 

Wes

[baabm]

I am having the same problem as the OP. It started when I switched from the mobilinc connect to using the ISY portal. I have tried the following:

1) ensured that I have the latest version of ISY firmware and UI. 

2) deleted and reloaded mobilinc from the App Store 

3) ensured that the HTTPS server and client setting were at TLS 1.2.

 

But still without warning, most of my home page items will just disappear. To correct this, I have loaded Orchestrated mobilinc on my wife's phone and when the items disappear from my home screen, I do a copy from her phone to mine which restores the original content, but this is a workaround that I don't want to keep doing.

 

Also it seems that since moving to the ISY portal, mobilinc takes a real long time to update the status of devices, etc. sometimes never completing that activity. 

Any thoughts on what might be the cause of these conditions?

Thanks,

Bob

[TrojanHorse]

There must be a bug somewhere. My issue seems similar, or if nothing else, similarly weird. Any custom icons I choose for scenes are sometimes all randomly reset to default.

 

I agree that the workaround leaves a lot to be desired. It would be very nice to be able to create a settings backup file rather than needing to sync from another device. I don't understand why this isn't an option.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[InsteonNut]

Hi TrojanHorse,

 

We've seen cases where the custom settings appear to be reset. What we've seen is that a request to the ISY for device/scene information very rarely can return an empty set which does result in clearing of devices/scenes until resync occurs with the full set again. It's extremely rare. We've never seen it, and thus haven't been able to duplicate it ourselves.

 

I 100% agree. A way to back up the settings and recover is needed more than copying from another iOS device (which works, but may not be as convenient for some folks). It's on my list to add in addition to several new features in the works.

 

Wes

[TrojanHorse]

Thanks Wes

 

It seems to be very flukey, but it's happened to me at least twice.

 

I look forward to the backup option, at which point I will go through the effort of a fresh clean install, save a backup, stop complaining and start to customize even more once I know the effort will not be lost.

 

Thank you

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[baabm]

I didn't accurately describe the issue I am having. I do lose many of the items on the home screen, but the items that remain, revert to the default icons and any special text I have assigned also goes away. So it is very much like what trojanhorse described.

[InsteonNut]

Hi Bob,

 

Using ISY Portal does complicate things. It's not our product and we can't help to debug ISY Portal issues. Keep in mind that the ISY Portal doesn't support many features of MobiLinc like: notifications, Today View, geo-fencing, variables, Near Me, iBeacons, Apple Watch, etc.

 

If you are trying to debug a potential syncing issue, please switch back to using a direct IP address or better yet, try our MobiLinc Connect service instead. It's free to try for 30 days, no commitment and of course fully supports MobiLinc.

 

Wes

[TJMax2]

This evening ALL my devices, scenes and programs also disappeared. The notifications now have strange random names.  The location settings still look good. I use mobilinc connect.  I have tried an update only and download all sync with ISY.  Next will be to copy settings from another iOS device but not today.  Any other suggestions?  That backup option sounds nice!

 

Thanks

[InsteonNut]

Hi TJMax2,

 

Would you email me at support@mobilinc.com with a screenshot of your Admin Console->Help->About page and a screenshot of your MobiLinc Notifications? If you no longer see items under Devices, Scenes, or Programs in MobiLinc then the first thing to do is to reboot the ISY and verify that it's running the latest official release 4.5.4. Once upgraded, do an Update Only sync in MobiLinc. Download all will remove all custom settings in favor of a "factory reset" back to just raw ISY configuration data.

 

Wes

[TJMax2]

Wes,  

 

Thank you for your quick response as always. The problem is fixed now.  

 

This morning I did a complete restore on my iPhone which brought back the app to all its glory, but most devices, scenes and programs started disappearing within a few minutes.  I opened the app in another iPhone and noted many devices missing.  By then my iPhone had lost all devices so I did a copy settings from the second iPhone.  That restored some of the devices.  I then saw your note.  My ISY is up to date.  I rebooted ISY again (did that twice yesterday). Then I did an update only in MobiLinc (did that multiple times yesterday).  At that moment all the devices were restored.  I do not know which step restored the functionality.  Maybe it was all your good wishing.  I am glad it is back.  I think it will stay stable.

 

Thank you.

[InsteonNut]

Thanks TJMax2,

 

Glad it's back working again!

 

Wes

[cvanhoose]

This has happened to me also three times. Nothing has changed with my setup within the last year. running ISY 5.0.2beta version. I am not using the portal for connection via MobiLinc.

Seems to have started with the latest update to Mobilinc.

[TrojanHorse]

I had another issue. Previously my custom programs were spared by this bug, but now they were reset. I had custom icons and chose the Run If path for the programs. Now it's a generic icon and gives me 8 choices to select, e.g run else, run then, disable, stop.

 

Wes, not sure how this happens in the wild, but I hope you're able to replicate it and fix it soon since I think I speak for us having this problem that it's very frustrating.

 

Using Mobilinc 4.1 with ISY 4.5.4

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cvanhoose]

Same issue, when some of my dashboard devices and programs were deleted, my icons reset also.

 

Using Mobilinc 4.10 with ISY 5.0.2

[InsteonNut]

TrojanHorse and cvanhoose,

 

Are there specific steps you can share that will reproduce the issue 100% of the time on the official 4.5.4 firmware? I've never seen this issue in the lab and as a result don't have a good way to test for this. 

 

The only way that I can think of as to why this would happen without doing a manual sync->Download All is if when the ISY is asked for the list of devices, scenes, and programs, if the response is a properly formatted response, but empty, then MobiLinc will remove items no longer reported by the ISY. This is assuming that the ISY is returning an empty and valid response to MobiLinc (I've never seen that actually happen...just a guess). I'm at a loss without reproducible steps. Hopefully you are able to reproduce this so I can see what's happening. 

 

Wes

[cvanhoose]

TrojanHorse and cvanhoose,

 

Are there specific steps you can share that will reproduce the issue 100% of the time on the official 4.5.4 firmware? I've never seen this issue in the lab and as a result don't have a good way to test for this.

 

The only way that I can think of as to why this would happen without doing a manual sync->Download All is if when the ISY is asked for the list of devices, scenes, and programs, if the response is a properly formatted response, but empty, then MobiLinc will remove items no longer reported by the ISY. This is assuming that the ISY is returning an empty and valid response to MobiLinc (I've never seen that actually happen...just a guess). I'm at a loss without reproducible steps. Hopefully you are able to reproduce this so I can see what's happening.

 

Wes

I am not sure to what has caused the deletion. I use mobiLinc very frequently on a daily basis. It has been months since I have logged into the admin console. I will try to be aware of my steps when/if it happens again.

I have over 15 devices and about 15 programs that are network resources on the dashboard.

[InsteonNut]

Thanks cvanhoose,

 

I'm looking at adding additional protections around the device, scene, and programs parsing code to see if any of these additional protections against unexpected data will help, but if there's a known set of steps to reproduce this issue, that would be ideal.

 

I would recommend that you downgrade back to the official 4.5.4 release since 5.x is alpha firmware just to rule out any possible alpha issues that might be impacting the issue.

 

Wes

[TrojanHorse]

I will see if I can replicate it.

I'm not sure how it happens, but oddly, when it has happened it didn't appear immediately. Meaning, I may have made changes to the ISY and then everything would seem to work for a while (maybe days) and then the problem would appear.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[InsteonNut]

Thank you TrojanHorse!

 

Wes

[TrojanHorse]

I have selected "auto sync over wifi" for the ISY. Wonder if that's involved somehow, given my inability to pinpoint a specific sequence of actions?

 

Edit: I sync manually after changing the ISY.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[InsteonNut]

That's the default/recommended setting. That allows MobiLinc to auto-pull in changes on Wi-Fi each time you start MobiLinc. A manual sync isn't necessary. It shouldn't hurt anything, but MobiLinc is auto-pulling in the changes over Wi-Fi each time you start the MobiLinc app.

 

Wes

[InsteonNut]

Hi Folks,

 

We submitted an update to MobiLinc to the Apple last night that does address a narrow corner case where it could be possible that if the right sequence of events happens, it would result in lost Dashboard items. We expect approval in the next couple of days and will post back once approved.

 

Wes