The Evohome App you always wanted!

[philchillbill]

There's a new progressive web app for Evohome that runs in any browser and on any platform — iOS, Android, iPadOS, macOS, Linux or Windows. It's basically a port of the EvoControl Alexa Skill that frees it from the restrictions of requiring Amazon Echo hardware. It doesn't just control Evohome, it adds a whole load of new functionality outside of the Resideo design brief for Evohome. Yaay!

Although it runs in the browser, it is installable onto your phone/tablet/laptop and when you choose that option it will cache about 50MB of files it needs so that they won't have to be fetched every time you run it. It will be faster and will run in it's own window without browser controls. I highly advise taking that install option when it's offered the first time you run it. If you don't allow this at the outset it can still be done at a later stage but how to do so will depend on which browser/platform you are using and you'll have to Google "install web app <browser name>".



When first run your browser will ask if you'd like to receive notifications from evocontrol.eu. If you choose to allow them then the app's icon on your device will show a badge with the number of faults being currently reported by your Evohome system. You'll then also see a one-off notification every time the app self-updates.

You can visit https://evocontrol.eu/app to get started. Users of the Skill will already have the required smartskills account and Resideo auth-linking completed and can just start using it immediately. Those of you who never used the skill will have to complete two simple steps to get it running. It is deliberately designed for use in landscape mode and Android will even force it into a landscape orientation. When used in light mode the background around the app will be white, while in dark mode it is a dark blue that complements the blue screens in the App.

The original Beta is finished and the App is now officially launched.

There's a new 25 min video with screen recordings demo'ing all of the goodness that it (finally!) brings to Evohome.

14 new features that EvoControl adds to Evohome

For anybody too impatient to watch the whole thing, here's a list of the timelines for the various topics covered:

00:14 Simultaneous Setpoint-change
00:45 Scenes/Activities
02:35 Schedule Shifting (Schedule Advance / Delayed Start)
05:02 Multiple Schedules
06:05 Groups
07:24 Advanced Schedule Editing
10:20 Copy Schedules Between Zones
11:00 AutoWithReset
11:45 Graphical Schedule Depictions
14:12 LaunchPad
16:28 Standby Mode
17:47 Multiple Panels / Locations
19:05 Smart Home Integration (HGI-80)
23:36 Backup & Restore


Enjoy!

[filbert]

Would definitely like to try this but not got very far. First time I tried the link (iPad OS26) I got a strange screen with a Google log in request. I killed that and tried again. Now I think I've created an account (filbert42) and linked to TCC account (it only displayed one ‘device’ - sitting room, one of my zones). It took me back to the EvoControl login screen and now, when I try to log in, I get session expired, log in again message. This just keeps repeating, every time I log in again (I’m using Safari in this instance).

[philchillbill]

Something is redirecting incorrectly between the 2 domains. Unfortunately it takes 24h to resolve due to the TTL. Sorry for the inconvenience. Should be okay tomorrow.


EDIT: As a work-around for now, in INCOGNITO mode you can login at https://smartskills.tech/ec/register/login.php and choose Start WebApp there. That way you will have no looping.

EDIT2: It's already working correctly. But if your browser cached the bad file then you'll have to clear the cache and reload. On iPad select settings, safari, advanced, website data. Type evocontrol in the search box. When evocontrol.eu shows, delete that site-data. Same for smartskills.tech. Then revisit evocontrol dot eu slash app in the browser and all should be well.

[filbert]

Great. Have it working now. Next watch the video but that will be tomorrow. One quick comment - I added the local weather ID and got a brief glimpse of a message about it but it wasn't long enough to read it. Would like if to remain until I close it. Also would be nice to click on the cloud/sun icon and verify that I do have the correct code for my location (maybe I'm asking a bit much!)

[philchillbill]

That little toast that flies in and disappears after 5 seconds is a textual representation of what Alexa says when you're using the skill-version of the application. Any toast can be 'held' by hovering over it with the mouse pointer. On a device with a touchscreen, you can tap on the toast to freeze it and subsequently tap the little X to close it.

If you change your AccuWeatherId again but actually just enter the same value as already stored, there will deliberately be no toast. To generate one and hold it, you'd have to deliberately change one digit of the ID and re-submit it. After you have managed to read the toast, re-do with the correct ID again.

Anyway, the toast you almost read to completion said `If that ID is correct, a weather icon and the outside temperature will be shown on the dashboard. To see if you chose the correct ID, verify the displayed data against another source for your location such as your mobile phone. `

[filbert]

Ah, I see. It's an Amazon thing. Never seen it before - I don't have any Alexa devices and don't see that changing any time soon. Five seconds isn't long enough, especially if you aren't expecting it and looking somewhere else on the screen! Anyway, it looks right - correct temp and sunny ATM. A couple of other things. The web app, launched from my home screen, still has the session expired message. (Even though it's working in Safari). I'll try again later. UPDATE Now works ok.
Also, I got a standard email from you about enabling EvoControl that assumes I'm using Alexa. You might want to revise the wording a bit. A lot is still relevant, of course.
Thanks for the work.

[philchillbill]

Yep, I still need to update that welcome email for the app. It's on the todo. Regarding the toast, I already plan to make the duration depend on the length of the text. I just wanted to see whether people like the whole toast concept or not. It's actually something I had to do myself in React, not an Amazon thing. I personally like it but opinions vary. I know some people hate being forced into landscape on Android but, hey...

[G4RHL]

Thanks for directing us to this. The app we have wanted for over a decade! No problem logging in and setting my weather location. It also loads quicker than the standard app. I have jobs to do this morning but will play later. Thanks again.

[Mid112]

Cannot get it to work, I used gmail single sign on and managed to link the account. However when I get to open the web app



it says that Session has expired. Re-Login to start the Web App

But when I re login it doesnt work ether - incognito tab or new browser doesnt make a difference.

I probably shouldnt have used single sign on as pop up doesnt come up when im in incognito.

Anything I could do to fix?

[philchillbill]

Cannot get it to work, I used gmail single sign on and managed to link the account. However when I get to open the web app



it says that Session has expired. Re-Login to start the Web App

But when I re login it doesnt work ether - incognito tab or new browser doesnt make a difference.

I probably shouldnt have used single sign on as pop up doesnt come up when im in incognito.

Anything I could do to fix?

Yeah, sorry but I didn't yet validate the GSI (Sign-in with Google) flow for the app (almost nobody uses it for the skill). Per your DM, I already deleted your non-GSI account. What I'll do is also delete the GSI variant and for now you can just create a new non-GSI account and go that route. You'll have to clear the app data from your browser's cache and start over or you'll keep getting redirected.

[philchillbill]

Sign-in with Google (a.k.a. GSI) is now enabled for the web-app (it was already enabled for the skill).

Anybody creating a new account via GSI at the smartskills domain will have to do a one-off GSI login again after clicking on the Start Web App button on the dashboard (which takes you to the evocontrol domain). This is necessary to prevent cross-site scripting and is for your own security. It's only needed the first ever time you start the web-app using GSI. Users who created their own username/password are unaffected.

[Croftman]

Great Phil, I have been getting increasingly fed up with the intrusive ads on Echo Show was only using it to amend timings etc. Have successfully logged on with windows and IpadOs after a few problems noted above. Have yet to watch the video and have a play. You have obviously been working hard on this, many thanks.

[G4RHL]

Thanks for this. An awful lot of time and work has gone into designing it. Very grateful. For me it probably does more than I will ever need but we are different and I have no doubt there will be bits that appeal and are useful to some but not others. Great work.

The ideal seems to be:

Intergas Boiler
EvoHome Control
OpenTherm
EvoControl

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ♨️🥵 😅

[VvrooomM]

Slowly making progress. I've managed to get both locations showing in the Resideo/TCC account but within EvoControl the switch location tab is not present. I've tried refreshing it without success. Any ideas how to get the second location option to show?? Many Thanks

EDIT - tried a delete app and reinstall on my iMac without success

[philchillbill]

VvrooomM your Resideo account only exposes a single location. If you want to use multiple locations with the App then they must all be under a single Resideo login and not each have their own separate Resideo account. You can have up to 4 'locations' within a single login. Deleting/re-installing won't change this behaviour.