VeraMobile by MiOS (iOS)

[Dragos Perju]

Try out our new iOS app. Let us know your opinions and what new features would you like to see implemented.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/veramobile/id787203434?mt=8

If you want to be a part of our beta testing program and have access to features that are not yet released please subscribe here:

http://getvera.us7.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=ac78fb944aeae20acd80c2407&id=e24829dc39



Dragos Perju,
iOS Team Lead @ MiOS

[sgruby]

Hi Dragos,

This app is a nice upgrade from the old one. I'm sorry I didn't provide this feedback sooner, but here are some suggestions for enhancements:

1) The Status stuff on the dashboard takes up too much space and is pretty useless.
2) My Modes is not useful to me and I'd like to hide it.
3) When viewing devices, I'd like to be able to show a list of rooms and then the devices in each room. With something like 60 devices across 10 rooms, the By Room view is almost useless.
4) When viewing devices, having a Failed tab takes up real estate that really shouldn't be highlighted. Telling users that their devices failed is more of a troubleshooting thing.
5) The hamburger menu is a poor user interface element. Please see: http://blog.manbolo.com/2014/06/30/apple-on-hamburger-menus http://www.oliverfoggin.com/the-hamburger-menu-is-it-a-good-thing/
6) When in favorites, hitting Edit adds a favorite; it should just be add or +.
7) When adding favorites, the modal dialog is using a non-standard view where it doesn't cover the whole screen.
For alerts, there isn't a way to clear them.
9) When adding a geo-fence, it also uses that weird non-standard modal view.
10) When adding a geo-fence, the checkmarks are unclear if the green background is on/off. Using a standard iOS control makes this obvious. (There are a few other places using the checkmark as well.) I know you are trying to be consistent with the web interface, but it isn't clear.
11) In scenes, having the Info show a Legend basically means the user interface failed. If a user can't figure out what things mean, there is a problem.
12) When creating a new scene, the view does a push onto the navigation stack, but has a cancel button. Cancel buttons are usually for modal views

While this app does a lot more than my basic app, you can see some standard user interface with my iOS app. The source is freely available at: https://github.com/sgruby/VeraAutomationSwift

Please let me know if you have any questions about any of my comments. (I write iOS software for a living.)

Thanks for all the work updating this app!

[Dragos Perju]

Thanks a lot for this great feedback sgrugy. I am glad you like the update. Me and my team joined MiOS about a year ago to make this happen and we did a 15% percent refactor. The rest is a complete rewrite in swift, decoupled and reusable Cocoa Touch frameworks with complete adoption of autolayout and size classes.

Let me answer you to each point.

1) The old version had a long scrolling list as the dashboard screen. In order to keep consistency with the platform we had to keep the base elemnts but in the same time we tried to bring a more native look and feel.
I do agree that the first screen that is presented to the user should be filled with the most important information. But what is important to you could be useless to others. To solve this, the only solution is to make this start screen completely customizable. This is the direction that I will push in the future releases.

2) See no 1

3) Is the exact direction in witch we are heading with the overview feature. Please join the beta program and you will see what I mean.

4) Great observation. We will make this a filtering option.

5) Yet again, consistency with the platform. Personally I would prefer another solution. However a home automation app is that kind of app that people want it to be dead simple to use but in the same time to be able to make phenomenally complex configurations and customizations. I agree that Apple's own apps (not all of them to be honest) are masterpieces in terms of functionality and design but not even one gets even close to the complexity of a home automation ecosystem. I wonder why they didn't offer their own app for HomeKit...

6) For now the button is called Edit because on the modal screen that pops up you can both add or remove favorite devices. We will enhance this by implementing swipe to remove as favourite and then we will change the button to + and only show on the modal screen the devices that are not favs.

7) We use this kind of presentations to let the user have a sense of the content beneath. This presentations are going to be enhanced to have different behavior on large screen sizes and to be dynamic based on how much content needs to be presented.

Under development

9) Same as 7

10) Totally agree.

11) I don't think is needed anymore. Was kept from the old version.

12) Good observation. Will be changed to back for proper size classes. On iPad however it makes sense. This is a bug

I love to see passionate people and I am really glad that you provided us your feedback. I think that the Vera ecosystem is one of the most welcoming environments in home automation. The fact that people can write apps and bring different visions to this landscape is a remarkable thing.


Dragos Perju,
iOS Team Lead @ MiOS

[sgruby]

Hi Dragos,

Thank you for the detailed response. As you know, automation systems are very personal and as much customization you can provide would be much appreciated so that users can tailor the app to their needs.

While I see your desire to remain true to the platform, I think that you should re-think some things in particular the hamburger menu. A tabbed interface where the user can customize which tabs are shown would go a long way to showing all the functionality without resorting to the awkward interface. Also while the modal overlays that show underneath them do provide context, so do words at the top of modals. The partial overlays make sense on the iPad form factor, but just look weird on the iPhone.

Thanks again for moving this application forward!

[Dragos Perju]

This is becoming a really interesting and quite productive epic. I hope more people will join to share their opinions.

I do agree that the hamburger menu is not the best option but I'm not a huge fan of an entirely tabbed app also. To be honest, my kind of app is Paper from Facebook. I think it is a great experience to be able to use an app single handed. They really made a great job using only gestures to drive the entire UI.

Regarding the possibility of customization in our app or in any other mobile app that has to do with home automation I think this is the way to go. We will push forward to make this happen.


Dragos Perju,
iOS Team Lead @ MiOS

[integlikewhoa]

This is becoming a really interesting and quite productive epic. I hope more people will join to share their opinions.

I do agree that the hamburger menu is not the best option but I'm not a huge fan of an entirely tabbed app also. To be honest, my kind of app is Paper from Facebook. I think it is a great experience to be able to use an app single handed. They really made a great job using only gestures to drive the entire UI.

Regarding the possibility of customization in our app or in any other mobile app that has to do with home automation I think this is the way to go. We will push forward to make this happen.


Dragos Perju,
iOS Team Lead @ MiOS

Problem is most people that are going to respond, join beta and such are more of a power user. Like myself we want customization and that is not always what the majority wants or needs.

I use HOMEWAVE myself. Custom icons, layout and pages fit my every need. Homewave is probley the most used app behind the stock app. So while I might request the same customization layout it might not be what your stock app really needs.

With 100 plus devices a list is the last thing I want to scroll threw.

[Dragos Perju]

By customization I mean give the users the possibility to chose for example between a grouped view by rooms or by type or the way it is now. Give the possibility to save their preferences so they don't have to make those setups again and again.

The default behaviors may be good enough for most of our customers but offering possibilities to customize the experience can make a big difference for some. This could win you as a user in the near future:)

Our main goal is to offer the best  possible experience. I know that we have a lot to work to get there and this is why communication with you guys is so important.

Thanks for sharing you thoughts.


Dragos Perju,
iOS Team Lead @ MiOS

[RHINESEL]

Great conversation.  Unfortunately, I don't have much to add.  I only used the app for 5 minutes before returning to VeraMate (iOS).

To me, the thing I care about most is room organization.  It's how I group my devices.  I want to open the app, select the room, and operate the device.  Really, anything else is just junking up the app.  I don't want to administer my HA system from my phone, I'll do that on the computer.  VeraMate and AutHomeation (Android) are great examples of Apps that focus on room organization.

Like you say, everyone's desires are different and it's going to be hard to make an app that satisfies everyone's needs.  It's a delicate balance of simplicity vs. customization.

[Dragos Perju]

This is way I invite people to try out our beta version.
One of the features that's still on beta and it's not yet available on the App Store version is kinda what you want  .
If you have the time please give it a try and let me know what you think.

[RHINESEL]

This is way I invite people to try out our beta version.
One of the features that's still on beta and it's not yet available on the App Store version is kinda what you want  .
If you have the time please give it a try and let me know what you think.

Sorry Dragos, I'm already Beta testing enough software as it is.   

I'll keep checking in on the production software when a new version comes out.  Thanks for the work you do and I am encouraged in seeing the direction the software is going.

[integlikewhoa]

This is way I invite people to try out our beta version.
One of the features that's still on beta and it's not yet available on the App Store version is kinda what you want  .
If you have the time please give it a try and let me know what you think.

Looks ok, do you have the option to hide devices say PLEG and other devices you don't want to see in those rooms?

Custom icons or is it same as what vera sees?

[DrLivingstone]

I recently purchased a VeraPlus controller and am using (or attempting to use) VeraMobile as my primary Vera control app. (I also just requested to join the beta testing list, just in case some of what I'm about to say is already addressed.)

I have 2 primary points of feedback:

1. Relative to other Vera apps (e.g., VeraMate), one of the main things that VeraMobile lacks is any substantial customization: the ability to move tiles/devices around, hide portions of the dashboard that aren't of interest, etc... I know you've said that's an important direction for you; I guess the question is, how far along are you in that regard?

2. For the life of me, I can't get Geofencing to work, at least not the way I expect it to. I have been able to establish a geofence, and the VeraMobile app reports correctly to me when I leave or return. But in spite of checking the box that says "Set house mode to AWAY when nobody is at home", my house mode never changes to AWAY when I leave the geofence. In an effort to work around this problem, I've set up Scenes on my iPhone for turning a Virtual Switch on when I enter the Home geofence, or off when I exit the Home geofence - but those Scenes never trigger (e.g., the Virtual Switch doesn't turn off when I leave the geofence).

I'm actually kind of surprised that I have to jump through these kinds of hurdles. Setting the Mode to Home or Away, based on the physical presence of one or more users, is one of the most simple and basic requirements of a home automation system. With a SmartThings Hub (which I tried before settling on a VeraPlus controller), my iPhone automatically showed up as a device whose state (location) I could test and build scenes around. Clearly, VeraMobile is able to see me leaving and re-entering the geofence - it's just not doing anything useful with that info.

[jamac]

Is it just me or are the window coverings icons backwards on this app??? When I have an open blind both the web interface and the app show 100% (ie, 100% = fully open, 100% light). The web interface icon is an open blind (correct) but the app icon is a close blind (incorrect).

[marshalp]

I realise this thread is quite old, but I have some questions?!

I'm using the app on an iPad.

1. When I browse my Vera the dashboard looks very different to the iOS app dashboard, why?
2. Would it be possible to favourite scenes so that they appear on the dashboard?
3. It would be nice if you could switch off statuses and modes, in fact it would be nice if the user could customise the dashboard view any way we like!
4. Why don't I have room icons like the ones shown on the screen shots in the App Store?

[n0ir]

Hi Vera! The latest version of the iOS app seems to be broken. I can't open the app anymore, it force close right after launching the app. I'm on iPhone 6S with iOS 9.0.2.