Mobilinc and Apple Watch - no longer working

[Gouldc]

I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing problems using Mobilinc on their Apple Watch. Things worked beautifully for a while but a few months ago it stopped funtioning. It takes up to 2 minutes to refresh  the current state of the devices. Changing the state of a device, for example turning a light on, can take over 2 minutes when it works, more often then not the command never makes it's way to the device. This is all while on the same network as ISY. From the phone it works flawlessly. I've removed and re-added devices, removed devices and application then reinstalled a few times with no change.

 

I have learned that Apple is requiring developers place there code on the actual watch and that this will result in some delay but in this state it is literally unusable.

[InsteonNut]

Hi Gouldc,

 

Agreed, 2 minutes is not right. While Apple did indeed force us to run all the app code locally on the watch, it did cause a bit of a slowdown compared to the original iPhone only implementation, 2 minutes is way off the norm. I'd expect something less than 10 seconds or so. There could be a number of things happening, but to start, please send me a screenshot of your Settings->Lighting Controller page to support@mobilinc.com when you are inside of your Wi-Fi network so I can see exactly how you have MobiLinc currently configured and can start to offer suggestions.

 

Wes

[Gouldc]

Appreciate the personal touch! Screenshot on it's way.

[GGrohler]

Wes ,I too am experiencing this issue. the mobile app works great, in and away from my network. I do use the ISY portal.

 

Gouldc, which portal are you using? have you found any resolve??

[Gouldc]

I don’t use any portal, I connect directly through my firewall. Doesn’t matter though, the problem is there when I’m on the same network as my ISY. I have been told that the resolution is to use the MobiLinc portal - an annual subscription. Makes no sense to me. You be sending the communication outside of the network, to a hosted portal, then back in. I have the painfully slow response when I’m on the same network, 10 feet from the wireless router and ISY.

[GGrohler]

ok thanks ,I kinda thought thats is where it was headed, I used to have it before switching to the ISY portal to fit my needs 

and you can't use both, well 3 extra purchases from mobilinc wasted, ip camera plug in doesn't work with my cameras

now the extended screens and the mobilinc portal , i think they did give me a refund on the portal . not complaining its just these days all the nickel and dime crap  gets old.

[atmarosi]

There is no way to directly send an Apple Push notification to an Apple device without sending it through APNs (Apple Push Notification Service). The Mobilinc portal backend servers handle this portion in order to provide Push Notifications.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[InsteonNut]

Gouldc,

 

Doesn’t matter though, the problem is there when I’m on the same network as my ISY. I have been told that the resolution is to use the MobiLinc portal - an annual subscription. Makes no sense to me. You be sending the communication outside of the network, to a hosted portal, then back in.

 

 

The ISY Portal doesn't support the Apple Watch. Direct IP does work, but your router MUST support IP Loopback if you have local and remote IP's configured. The reason is that under certain circumstances, the Apple Watch will use the external IP even when you are local. It's due to iOS limitations in who owns the UPnP port under certain scenario flows. When this happens, Apple Watch will use the external IP/port which means your router must support IP loopback. Most do, but some do not support this feature. For most folks, the recommendation to use MobiLinc Connect just works and solves all these networking issues. Plus you get push notifications, Alexa, Google, IFTTT, and more with your subscription.

 

meangene,

 

Did you contact me about your cameras? If your cameras support RTSP, let me know what that RTSP address is so I can get MobiLinc updated easily for you for your cameras. Shoot me an email to: support@mobilinc.com

 

Wes 

[Gouldc]

That explanation helps, thanks. Just odd that is it worked great for the longest time and now not so much.

 

For me I already have the ISY portal that gives me Alexa and IFTTT, adding another would just be too much. Not that I’m complaining but these aren’t cheap applications by iOS standards. Getting into a subscription to make the application work just doesn’t make sense.

[MWareman]

Wes,

 

Im confused. ISY Portal implements the exact same connection as a direct IP connection to ISY. Anything that MobiLinc works with when doing a direct IP connection should also work against ISY Portal.

 

So, if Apple Watch works direct IP then it should also work against ISY Portal.

 

That is unless the app has been coded to degrade, which I hope is not the case.

[InsteonNut]

MWareman,

 

MobiLinc doesn't know anything about the ISY Portal. It just treats it as a direct IP connection like a DNS and expects that endpoint to behave like going direct to the ISY. Why it doesn't work, I don't know. It's not our product and we've never tested against ISY Portal. All feedback I've received from other users that have tried says it doesn't work, and that's all I know. I can really only talk about the challenges with a direct IP connection like I outlined above.

 

Wes

[GGrohler]

 

meangene,

 

Did you contact me about your cameras? If your cameras support RTSP, let me know what that RTSP address is so I can get MobiLinc updated easily for you for your cameras. Shoot me an email to: support@mobilinc.com

 

Wes 

 

Yes I did last year, you determined they were not compatible.

oh well.

still no luck on the watch,even after using direct IP connection, at this point the watch app doesn't even load on my watch .It seems to time out and freeze then close .

[Bumbershoot]

FWIW, I got a new Apple Watch last week (the LTE version) and it seems to work just fine with the UDI portal and MobilLinc.  I haven't used it extensively, but I've turned on/off some lights and opened/closed my garage doors remotely, with no iPhone is sight.  The performance is snappy, as well. 

[InsteonNut]

Bumbershoot,

 

That's great to hear. Thanks for the report. One of the challenges the watch has is how to handle the internet connection. V2 and V1 of the watch alway use the iPhone even though it's Wi-Fi capable. V3 is much more independant and I suspect is why it's able to more or less operate like a second iOS device (like an iPad) when connecting.

 

meangene,

 

Shoot, ok. If you ever run across the RTSP paths on these cameras (maybe in a firmware update) let me know so I can get them added for you.

 

The watch not loading is a different issue. Here's what I'd recommend:

- Delete the MobiLinc app off the watch.

- Remove all watch items (in MobiLinc select your devices and remove them from the watch)

- Reboot the Watch and verify that all updates available for the watch are applied. 

- Confirm that you can access your ISY locally and remotely from your Wi-Fi network (set the Connect Method to Local and then Secure/External) to test.

- Once you've confirmed that both local and secure paths work to connect to your ISY, reinstall the MobiLinc app on your watch.

- Add one device to your watch and test.

- If that works, add up to 6-8 other items to the watch.

 

Wes