Google Home

[ricketyca]

Thanks for the reply Sean (Insteon) . It is not really patience, more a kind of despondent resignation

[Sean (Insteon)]

Hey ricketyca and DarkWolf7 ,

I hear you on the feature differences between our iOS apps and Android. We are definitely not hostile to either group, and we would love to get both apps to be equal in features. We also understand that the UI and UX of our apps is lacking.

I don't have a timeframe to give you right now, but this is very much on our radar of things to address! Thanks for your patience.

[ricketyca]

ricketyca I definitely agree that the main document should be edited though. Insteon in general seems to be pretty hostile to android users (just compare the ios app with the android one...). I'm definitely glad I can now use Assistant to use my Insteon stuff instead of having to use that awful app that doesn't look like it's been updated since 2005 (throwing a random number out there. The point is, the app is ugly and functionality awful).

Yes, they do seem to publish things that appear to suggest we should all get iOS devices to run the app. I was able to borrow one from friends in order to set up a mini-remote properly after waiting an extended period (over a year I think) in the hope that the Android app would support that device. I don't think that the iOS app is dramatically better UI than the Android one, but it did acknowledge the mini-remote to allow me to set up scenes for each button pair. Ah well - at least they are not like Chamberlain/Liftmaster who want me to pay a monthly subscription to be able to do 66% of what I can do on Wink or the MyQ app! Oops - maybe I shouldn't have written that, I wouldn't want to give Insteon any ideas - thanks for the comments.

[DarkWolf7]

ricketyca No kidding? I think it showed up on mine, BUT I have since gotten a Google Home mini and I also have a Shield TV which might also affect that. Google being Google, I guess - I've certainly seen weirder things in their apps and such. I definitely agree that the main document should be edited though. Insteon in general seems to be pretty hostile to android users (just compare the ios app with the android one...). I'm definitely glad I can now use Assistant to use my Insteon stuff instead of having to use that awful app that doesn't look like it's been updated since 2005 (throwing a random number out there. The point is, the app is ugly and functionality awful).

[ricketyca]

DarkWolf7 Thanks for the additional comments. I do want to reiterate though, that whilst the Assistant is installed and runs just fine, if you do not have a Home device, unless the app is explicitly installed from the store you cannot get to the Assistant App settings that allows Home Control to be selected. i.e. I could do all the navigation, music, etc things using the Assistant, until I explicitly installed the Assistant App from the Play Store I could not see the Home Control settings. I wanted others to be aware and thought that trying to get the main document to which Insteon referred edited slightly would be a great way to clarify those points (and the fact that it worked on Android despite the implication of the document). Despite favourable feedback from the email support team which I had also asked, nothing seems to have happened to the document as yet.

[DarkWolf7]

I just want to point out that if you have a newer version of Android, you should already have Assistant installed on it. Long press the home button and then press the blue button on the top right of the window that comes up. From there:
1. three dots on top right
2. settings
3. Home control
4. Press the plus button on the bottom right
5. Insteon should be listed here - you will have to login with your insteon user name and password

From there, I found that Assistant/Home will toggle the device over a scene if they have a similar name - which is fine unless you have a keypad, where the scene won't be toggled if say, you turn on the lamp in the living room. Easy workaround to this: Only add the scenes to rooms (it's in the same home control section) OR change the device names to something that won't match a voice command, such as "Living room lamp" -> "LR plugin" and then change the scene names accordingly.

I've got to say, this stuff works wonderfully. I feel very cool using a voice command to turn on the lights in my living room when I'm arriving home at night!

[ricketyca]

Aha - Sean (Insteon) and others. It is all a case of the right application being installed.

*** SOLVED - how to use Google Assistant to activate Insteon (hub based) devices using an Android phone and without a Google Home device installed. ***

When Google announced the Assistant to android users, the way to activate it was (for me) through Google Home. So I had the Google Assistant and yet the Home Application (previously Chromecast) did not show the Home Control setting.

There is another app that is called Google Assistant - https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...oogleassistant - the description says ...

The Google Assistant app provides another way to launch the Assistant that’s already available on your phone. It allows you to quickly access your Google Assistant with one tap. You can still access your Assistant by pressing and holding down your home button or by simply saying, "Ok Google.

What it doesn't say is that this app has a settings option that lets you set up the Home Control options and thereby enable access to Insteon things.

Maybe some clarifications and corrections could be made to the Insteon Document that is referenced in the email that was sent out? http://www.insteon.com/support-knowl...om-google-home

It says "check out this article from the Google Assistant support page. " but should really say "check out this article from the Google Home support page" as it only relates to people with a Home device installed.

Then before the main part of the document that says "Configure Arm and Disarm Devices on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch" it would be good to say, For Android users with a Home device go to the Google Home support page. If you do not have a Google Home device installed make sure the install the Google Assistant app so that you get access the Google Assistant Home Control settings.

As the document is online, I would hope it is fairly straightforward to edit to to cover those of use with Android devices (as it doesn't right now) and makes clear how to get to the settings that are needed.

[kenjreno]

This is great. Was able to get it setup and working. However it is reading my thermostat temp to me in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit.and it only allows me to change it in Celsius as well.

[ricketyca]

Sean (Insteon) Well that would explain why I couldn't see it there, but can you expand on "Google app"? My app labelled Google is the news-gathering and search app and I cannot see any option or settings to access Home Control.

[Sean (Insteon)]

ricketyca We saw a similar scenario on the Android Home app when no Google Home devices were set up. However, the Google app was able to access Home control. Note that the Google app is separate from the Home app.

[ricketyca]

Sean (Insteon) thanks for the follow-up. When I open my Home app and select the menu (three bars) I see the options in the picture I have uploaded. There is no Home Control option.

I edited the picture to hide my email address. The version of the Home program is v1.26,30,8

I am going to guess that until a Home device is found and configured, the Home Control option is not shown. Either that or there is a newer version of Home that Google will not provide me at the moment for some reason.

[Sean (Insteon)]

Hey ricketyca ,

Insteon does work with Google Assistant, so integration with the assistant on your phone will work. You should not need a Google Home device (though they are pretty cool).

In your Home app, when you navigate to 'Home control' and press the + button on the Devices tab, you should see a list of providers you can integrate with. Are you able to see this list? And in this list, are you saying that you do not see Insteon?

If the Home app isn't allowing you to view 'Home control' without setting up a Google Home device, you may be able to try the 'Google' app (not Home). In the Google app, you can go to Settings -> Google Assistant -> Settings -> Home Control, and from there press the + to add devices.

[ace259]

Hey just wondering if the commands to control the fan part of a fanlinc module are. I can't seem to get it to turn on, only the light responds to my voice

[ricketyca]

Thanks Sean (Insteon). I think there is probably some terminology issues due to Google Assistant running on my phone, whereas my Google Home device has not yet arrived.

As the email says "Insteon Now works with the Google Assistant. We are happy to announce that today, Insteon-compatible lighting and electrical control devices (dimmers, switches, outlets, and thermostats) can now be controlled by the Google Assistant on voice-activated speakers, eligible Android phones, TVs and more. "

The Google Assistant works on my phone and I thought Insteon would therefore now work with my phone. At this stage there is no "Google Home" device here and it seems like without that, one cannot set up to use the assistant to liaise with Insteon. There is no Home Control item in the menu on my phone app.

I would be happy to be proved wrong as I could get started while awaiting the Home device!

My Home app is Android Google Home v1.26.30.8

[Sean (Insteon)]

Hey ricketyca ,

Google Home setup works on both Android and iOS. On Android, you can use the Home app and tap "Home control" in the side-menu. Google has a page on it here that may help: https://support.google.com/googlehom.../7073578?hl=en