This is refreshing to see. Letter from CEO

[eagle77]

https://www.insteon.com/blog/letter-from-new-ceo

[kyderr]

It is. But actions speak louder than words. No real movement in years on the app, and I havent see the beta for the new app yet and it's been a month. Lack of integrations and lack of basic features. 18 months since a press release. I really hope we turn a corner and get things moving

[lilyoyo1]

It is. But actions speak louder than words. No real movement in years on the app, and I havent see the beta for the new app yet and it's been a month. Lack of integrations and lack of basic features. 18 months since a press release. I really hope we turn a corner and get things moving

It's a basic entry level controller which is why they sell it so cheap compared to other options. Unfortunately the old saying " you get what you pay for" applies

[shdwlynx]

I reached out upon receiving that Letter from the CEO to apply to be a Beta tester. I finally just received the invite to the Beta program for their new app. I replied "Yes, please!" and I'm anxiously awaiting the information on how to get the beta app. I'm very much hoping to be pleasantly surprised by how impressive the new app is.

[ttantalo]

I reached out upon receiving that Letter from the CEO to apply to be a Beta tester. I finally just received the invite to the Beta program for their new app. I replied "Yes, please!" and I'm anxiously awaiting the information on how to get the beta app. I'm very much hoping to be pleasantly surprised by how impressive the new app is.

Being able to login to your device will prevail. Please make things as universal as possible.

[shdwlynx]

I am in the Beta and the new app is nice on my Android phone, if a little rough around the edges, which is to be expected. I did test the ability of it to add and remove devices from a scene, and it works!

[machueng]

Did anyone hear about improve Homekit compatibility? Specifically, will we have a setup where we can use Alexa/Google and Homekit at the same time?
I would like to use Alexa for voice control, but Homekit for automation and app UI control. Insteon customer support said you can run both hubs at the same time, but knowledgeable people here on the forum said that is asking for trouble.

[Jonathan Williamson]

How is the beta program going.

[Kjfatl]

It would be beneficial to Insteon to release a tentative release schedule for the new app. Will it be released soon, or do we have to wait until December 2021?

[lilyoyo1]

Why would it be beneficial to them? They give a date and it's not ready then they get blasted for breaking their word and not coming through. .

It's better to not say something, hear a few complaints than day something and hear nothing but complaints. Under promise over deliver

[lachutm]

Are they working only on Androis/ IOS App or they planing to update all platforms?

[Kjfatl]

The smart home market has been alive for years. I was first exposed to it in the late 1970's when my Dad used his 8080 based PC to control X10 devices in our home. From a technical perspective, Insteon's power line communication protocol has significant advantages over WIFI, ZWave, ZigBee and other protocols. I'm an engineer and have been away from this a while. As I see it, Insteon's position is home automation is similar to Sony's position in VCR's. The Sony Betamax was far superior to VHS in VCR's but Sony held onto their technology too tightly. Having the best technology does not make you a business success. I see the home automation market at a crossroads. For 40 years it has struggled with a few hundred thousand homes wired for home automation. A big reason for this struggle is cost and lack of integration. My observation is that home automation based on power line communication is about to be replaced by devices that use RF based communication. It's inherently less secure and less reliable, but the WIFI and similar devices are highly integrated. I see no indication that Inseton is working with TI or other suppliers to produce highly integrated components that can be used to produce a $25 (quantity 1) smart switch. I'm at the point where I am considering retiring from my full time job and am considering setting up some relatives in a home automation business. A big part of this is developing a business plan where my team can be successful. From an engineer's perspective, I would like Insteon to be part of the solution, but I can't let my past experience and the technical merits of one solution over another to cloud the financials of what could be a profitable business. At this point I see Insteon as being too secretive, with no public roadmap and I can't include their devices as part of my business plan. I have little doubt that Insteon will survive as a small niche player, but I see higher margins for my business if I use other products. I would like you to prove me wrong, and part of this is a public roadmap. Right now, the public roadmap is a dead end in hardware in 2016 and a promise for a new app in the distant future. Am I the only one who thinks this way?

[jelockwood]

I just received an email about the progress of the beta test. It sounds like that is moving to the next wider access stage. I would therefore say there is progress on that front.

They also mention a new hub and a likely upgrade path. However very disturbingly the impression seems to be given that there are no plans to produce a new hub for the EU market. Since the new hub will be required in order to gain HomeKit support this is a potential disaster.

I have spent literally years looking for a suitable smart lighting solution for use here in the UK and Insteon via their micro modules was looking like the solution I have been looking for once the promised return of HomeKIt support was added. Pretty much no US manufacturer makes smart wired wall switches for the European market and this includes Insteon. In fact even the handful of options available from EU manufacturers all suck one way or another such as not offering options to mix dimmers and switches, not offering 1, 2, 3, and 4 gang options, and LightwaveRF being simply too ugly.

Note: I cannot simply personally import a US model hub as the frequencies used are different on US and EU models and US models are therefore illegal to use in the EU.

Other than Insteon or absurdly expensive solutions like Lutron Homeworks QS (Lutron Caseta is not available), the only other option is Z-Wave micro modules which of course also do not support HomeKIt.

I had already willingly accepted the need to re-wire with 3 core cable to get a working solution. If Insteon fail to offer a new hub for the EU they get added to my shit list. :mad: If they do ship one then my wallet is ready and waiting to buy both the new hub and micro modules for my entire house. :)

[mtiede]

Well, this blog was interesting to read: https://www.insteon.com/blog/october-app-update

Except that it looks like they are dropping Windows support which I'm not happy about when I am on my windows computer and I want to do something with an insteon device. What I don't like is that they must already HAVE the code from their previous app so it isn't like they have to start from scratch (I've done programming since 1966 and primarily with Windows which is really easy to make powerful, yet simple apps using Xaml and .NET language such as RemObject's Oxygene).

AND they are dropping support for their own cameras. Again, they already have the code to make those work. I really dislike it when you buy hardware and existing software support is dropped.

And they are dropping X10 support. What if I had a house full of X10 devices? (I did, but replaced them all with Insteon devices, but I wasn't happy about having to spend all that money AGAIN to replace what was working already).

"We’re dropping a lot of exciting news and information on you all at once, and you may have some questions or concerns."

Yeah, they are dropping all right.

I'm bitter because of all the things that have been dropped lately. Silverlight, Kinect, Band, Cortana on Xbox One, Windows Phones, etc. And that is just from Microsoft. Now I'm lucky enough to have some things dropped from Insteon too.

[Kjfatl]

This is good news: https://www.insteon.com/blog/october-app-update

Dropping support for older, little used devices, is a unfortunate but a necessary part of surviving in business.

A lot of software developers underestimate what it takes to develop a truly portable code set that works on Apple, Android and perhaps Windows. Most likely they are writing all new code with the future in mind. Supporting devices that are no longer sold is expensive. I do agree that it would be unwise to ignore Windows, or Apple desktop products forever. The likely solution is a web browser based interface that covers both platforms.