“Re: UI8 new interface, do you like it? please give us your feedback”
What are the plans for the new Vera Control mobile app? From what I’ve seen so far it looks like a rehash of the old app with a new dashboard page tacked on top?
Who is the person in charge of app development and GUI design at Ezlo? I’d like to have a conversation with them.
I’ve used Vera Controllers for over 10 years and in all that time I’ve never used the official Vera app as to be honest I just never liked it.
I used the 3rd party Authomation HD app and when development on that stopped I switched to the excellent Imperihome app which I still use today.
If your developers want to know how to make a great new app and gui for Vera, they should look at the powerful functionality of Imperihome and bring those ideas and functions into your own app.
I fear the official Vera app will never be as good as some 3rd party solutions.
Just one example, I couldn’t let my daughter use the Vera mobile app as I can’t hide devices and scenes or lock down the app and Vera controller settings and configuration options. And it’s very lacking in customisation and functionality when compared to Imperihome.
Here were my thoughts I wrote in that thread on the old forum and I made a YouTube video of my Imperihome app layout at that time.
The mobile app UI is much more important than the web UI as the mobile UI is the one we use daily on our Android phones and tablets to control Vera.
The Vera web UI does also need improving, but I only use it for setup and configuration, my family have never seen the web UI or your own Vera mobile app.
Your new mobile UI needs to be like the excellent Imperihome app and better !
Here is a Youtube video of Imperihome on my mobile phone, ignore the TV sound in the background !
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Custom dashboard pages and layouts where you can add devices, scenes and sensors, reorder them in to any position you want. Change the order of the dashboard pages (numbered) left to right scrolling etc we can decide which dashboard pages are in what order. Choosing the first dashboard page that is displayed anytime the app is launched is also an option.
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Custom icons we need to be able to use our own icons for devices, scenes and sensors. Also different icons for device states, on / off etc.
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Composite devices, in Imperihome you can add multiple security sensors in to one composite device to view all of them at a glance in a popup menu. Same with lights you can add multiple lights in to one single composite device to control all of them via that one device within the app, see the video URL above and my two lounge lamps and the two RGBW strips both controlled by one composite device in Imperihome. Another example would be a composite device that can control multiple Window Coverings, so one device in the app could open / close several curtains / blinds.
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Harmony Hub integration as you can see in the video, Imperihome natively supports adding Harmony Activities.
Also I used Vera ALTUI Custom pages to build remote control pages for my TV and Kodi. Would be nice if we could natively add IR device buttons from a Harmony hub in to the Vera mobile app to build up remote controls pages within your app. -
To be able to embed webpages in to the dashboard pages of the mobile app, for example so you can embed a web based Weather widget into a dashboard page. This is also how I got the Vera ALTUI custom remote control pages in to the Imperihome app.
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To be able to add widgets / buttons to the dashboard pages that do other things like send a http call command, I used these to add custom buttons for TV channel favourites or to control my AVR amps Audio modes and volume. In Imperihome you can add a button with a http command behind it, there are options for a local http command a remote http command Login and Password (optional) Method Get or Post etc. This feature is very useful to control any IP based device that supports it by sending a http / json command to it, good for when Vera doesn’t support a particular device of that type but allows your users to add buttons for it into your mobile app!
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Widgets on the Android desktop, to either launch the Vera mobile app directly to a certain page, or widgets to run scenes etc right from the Android desktop.
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Import / export of mobile app design and layout settings etc from one mobile device to another this is a must have.
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To be able to lock certain actions with a pin code, for example so you cannot simply turn Vera in to Home mode or run a Disarm scene without first entering a pin code.
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To be able to add a button on to a dashboard page that when pressed takes you to another dashboard page like a link or shortcut, this way we can create a default starting dashboard page and have icons that take you to other dashboard pages / areas of the app, for example a Lights icon takes me to a dashboard page with all my lights. A Security Sensors icon takes me to a dashboard page showing all my security sensors etc.
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To be able to add a button to launch another application on the mobile device, I use this to launch Spotify and Google Play music from within a dashboard page in Imperihome.
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Support in the Vera mobile app for 3rd party plugins, Imperihome does support some of the main 3rd party plugins for Vera, I don’t have a complete list but one example would be the Multi Switch plugin which is a virtual switch plugin for Vera, these are accessible in the Imperihome app but I believe that they are not in your own current Vera mobile app.
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Setting to lock down configuration actions so other family members cannot change the configuration of the app.
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API HTTP Server within the mobile app, in Imperihome you can turn on this and we can then send HTTP commands from the Vera controller to the mobile app to do things. This is very useful for wall mounted control tablets, for example when you press my doorbell the doorbell scene that runs in Vera also sends a HTTP command to Imperihome on my wall mounted tablet to bring up the outdoor camera image. Other things if can do are make the app navigate to a particular dashboard page. Or send a TTS (Text to speech) announcement from a scene run on Vera to the Imperihome tablet so it says something like “There is someone at the door” More details here: Crypto Roulette Australia | The Best New Casinos for 2023
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Also for wall mounted tablets, options to wake up the tablet device via the camera when it detects movement in front of it, then showing the Vera mobile app etc, also an option to automatically launch the Vera mobile app after the device has been rebooted.
In Imperihome app there is the main dashboard view which is what we use and there is also a flat list view as you will see in the video, no one in my family uses the flat list view as I have it locked down, but in the flat list view I can see and control all the Vera scenes and devices that are not present on the main dashboard pages etc.
Imperihome can do all that I have listed above and much more, may I highly recommend you have your development team take a very close look at the Imperihome app and its features and functions, if you bring out a new Vera mobile app that is even better than Imperihome you and your team will be Rock stars !