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I made a new HomeKit App because I can't take all these apps.

Yarmulkes212

Yarmulkes212

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 8, 2015
13
7
New York, NY
Not sure if this is the right forum to post in (sorry if not, feel free to move), but wanted to share a new HomeKit app I've been working on with the MacRumors community. It's called Solri and is available on the App Store now (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/solri/id1136038243?mt=8). I love HomeKit, have an iHome Switch, Philips Hue, and EcoBee, but I also love my Belkin Wemo, Logitech Harmony Hub, and Nest Protect. I'm not going to ditch my existing products, especially the Harmony Hub, which no suitable HomeKit replacement exists, and was getting tired of constantly switching between apps/using Siri/using Home on iOS 10 to control everything.

So I've developed Solri. It shows you your HomeKit products in a fun interface, and lets you add many non-HomeKit products right alongside. You can even add them to scenes together, and if your HomeKit home is shared with someone else, all your non-HomeKit products get shared to them through Solri, as well. It's also got a fun "panel" mode that is great if you have a dedicated iPhone or iPad mounted as a "control panel."

Would love some MacRumors community feedback if the idea interests anyone. Thanks!
 
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Ill try it out. I have a bunch of homekit accessories all around the house. Caseta, ecobee, august, etc.
 
Not available outside the US. FFS. Looks quite nice though.
 
The app found my nest thermostat but I don't see any way to actually adjust it within the app. Also, it has not found either of my two WeMo wall switches.
 
brianbunge said:
The app found my nest thermostat but I don't see any way to actually adjust it within the app. Also, it has not found either of my two WeMo wall switches.
Click to expand...

You should be able to tap on the thermostat icon to change the Auto/Heat/Cool state, or press and hold to adjust the temperature (I've been using the Nest Simulator to test as I don't own a Nest Thermostat myself, so definitely let me know if something seems buggy with the real product). I'll check out the logs; that's weird it's not finding your Wemo wall switches. I've got one of those and they're working on my end. Thanks for trying!
 
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Yarmulkes212 said:
You should be able to tap on the thermostat icon to change the Auto/Heat/Cool state, or press and hold to adjust the temperature (I've been using the Nest Simulator to test as I don't own a Nest Thermostat myself, so definitely let me know if something seems buggy with the real product). I'll check out the logs; that's weird it's not finding your Wemo wall switches. I've got one of those and they're working on my end. Thanks for trying!
Click to expand...

I have the house icon in the middle of the screen and then below that I have a bulb icon and the scene icon. There's no thermostat icon at all. When I click on the bulb i pulls up all my Hue lights and they are organized by their respective rooms. If I click on the 3 dots in the top right corner and then the '+' at the bottom it shows a Nest icon and one for what I believe is the Chamberlain garage door device (which I do not own). When I click on the Nest icon it lets me sign in to my Nest account, but then does nothing else. No other devices show up even though I have the two WeMo wall switches connected to my wifi network.
 
brianbunge said:
I have the house icon in the middle of the screen and then below that I have a bulb icon and the scene icon. There's no thermostat icon at all. When I click on the bulb i pulls up all my Hue lights and they are organized by their respective rooms. If I click on the 3 dots in the top right corner and then the '+' at the bottom it shows a Nest icon and one for what I believe is the Chamberlain garage door device (which I do not own). When I click on the Nest icon it lets me sign in to my Nest account, but then does nothing else. No other devices show up even though I have the two WeMo wall switches connected to my wifi network.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Brian, for the feedback. I'll reach out to you directly and try to figure it out, definitely should be working.
 
Really love the changing wallpaper based on the time feature. Looks nice :)

BTW the accessory icons looks blurry on iPhone 6s Plus, is this a known issue?
 
kid2010 said:
Really love the changing wallpaper based on the time feature. Looks nice :)

BTW the accessory icons looks blurry on iPhone 6s Plus, is this a known issue?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comment! As for the accessory icons, it is a known issue. We made a tweak so they render properly @3x resolutions, which will be included in our next update (hopefully will be approved by mid-week this week). Thanks again!
 
I have a 6s Plus as well but don't seem to be having any issues with the icons. Maybe it's just because I'm old and everything is starting to look slightly blurry to me.
 
I like the app so far. It compares pretty favorably to the eve app. I must say my use case is a bit more complicated as I am using homebridge to expose my Chamberlain garage door opener and a few other things to homekit. Your app made adding nest stuff dead easy.

I really like the panel idea, I am currently setting up an ipad as a controller and this makes it really simple.

One thing that continues to bother me (and I have a pretty complicated system going) is the inability to group light bulbs using phillips hue. I have a lamp with three bulbs and I can only operate them separately. I think that this is a limitation of the hue stuff as opposed to homekit itself.
 
Are you talking about grouping them within the Sorli app or the Hue app? I have Hue lights grouped in 3 different rooms. Two of the rooms use Philips switches to turn off and on a whole group together but my 3 bulbs in the light over the dining room table are grouped together without a switch. They are simply grouped as dining room lights 1, 2, and 3.
 
brianbunge said:
Are you talking about grouping them within the Sorli app or the Hue app? I have Hue lights grouped in 3 different rooms. Two of the rooms use Philips switches to turn off and on a whole group together but my 3 bulbs in the light over the dining room table are grouped together without a switch. They are simply grouped as dining room lights 1, 2, and 3.
Click to expand...
Either really. I my lights are named livingroom_floor1(2,3) but I can't figure out how to group them into a single livingroom_floor_lamp that would be addressable via siri or eve (or this app). I guess I could treat the lamp like another room then make the living room a zone or something.

Another question, does this app expose other non-homekit items to homekit? If I add my Chamberlain opener though this app rather than by using hombridge will I be able to operate the opener via siri commands?
 
I forgot that I purchased the original "Home" app on the app store. So I was able to group bulbs by room that way. I have not tried it on the Eve or Apple's Home app. I also don't see a way to do so on this app at the moment.

Also, you cannot currently use Siri commands with this app, but I believe there is talk of adding voice commands sometime in the future, but no idea if it will actually be Siri.
 
nbwallace said:
Either really. I my lights are named livingroom_floor1(2,3) but I can't figure out how to group them into a single livingroom_floor_lamp that would be addressable via siri or eve (or this app). I guess I could treat the lamp like another room then make the living room a zone or something.

Another question, does this app expose other non-homekit items to homekit? If I add my Chamberlain opener though this app rather than by using hombridge will I be able to operate the opener via siri commands?
Click to expand...

Sorry for the delay in response! To answer your question; no, regrettably, adding non-HomeKit devices through Solri will not add them to HomeKit (for Siri use). This is a limitation from Apple's end, though Homebridge has been able to circumvent this since the always-running server model effectively tricks HomeKit into thinking Homebridge is an actual hub. Homebridge is awesome, by the way, and works well with Siri.

I've been working on the "grouping" issue; I have the same situation as you. There's a version of the app that I had done with service groups, but I just think there's more that can be done to improve the performance of it. It's coming, to say the least.

Thanks for the feedback and trying it, that really means a lot!
 
It seems it’s been years since any activity for this app @Yarmulkes212 ? You’ve mentioned at least three things, but not limited to that I would love to regain control over again. Wemo stuff, specifically an evil link and bulbs, Harmony, and our lost Nest items, thermostat and smoke & carbon detectors. Gaining control of these things under one hood is my goal.

I can’t even get your app in the U.S. now as it shows unavailable here in the App Store but appears it use to be available at some point. I’m about to toss ½ dozen bulbs or so as it is. I was convinced our link went bad so got another but can’t get any bulbs to stick. We have the Wemo bridge for bulbs but nothing helps. And all this trouble shooting has been within Wemo’s environment. Although completely avoidable- I’ve killed at least 2-3 bulbs out of nothing but shear frustration. Regrettable.

It sounds like your app would have been the solution — if an actual solution… one I’d had been willing to pay for!!

Any hope for a revival?
 
PlaceboAddress said:
It seems it’s been years since any activity for this app @Yarmulkes212 ? You’ve mentioned at least three things, but not limited to that I would love to regain control over again. Wemo stuff, specifically an evil link and bulbs, Harmony, and our lost Nest items, thermostat and smoke & carbon detectors. Gaining control of these things under one hood is my goal.

I can’t even get your app in the U.S. now as it shows unavailable here in the App Store but appears it use to be available at some point. I’m about to toss ½ dozen bulbs or so as it is. I was convinced our link went bad so got another but can’t get any bulbs to stick. We have the Wemo bridge for bulbs but nothing helps. And all this trouble shooting has been within Wemo’s environment. Although completely avoidable- I’ve killed at least 2-3 bulbs out of nothing but shear frustration. Regrettable.

It sounds like your app would have been the solution — if an actual solution… one I’d had been willing to pay for!!

Any hope for a revival?
Click to expand...
Yeah. it's probably a dead end. This thread is almost 8 years old/dead and the OP (@Yarmulkes212) hasn't been here for 6 years.
 
holy necro bump

@PlaceboAddress get Homebridge setup and integrate everything there, then advertise to Homekit.

At least that way everything is under one roof without reliance on manufacturers apps.
 
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