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Switch tile is not updating when activated from another device/Alexa?
If I turn on a light via Amazon Echo or via another app (like Belkin's Wemo app), the switch tile on the panel is not updating to the "on" position. When you press the tile, it doesn't turn the light on at that point (because it's already on) it just make the tile indicate that it's on. Press the tile again and it will turn off as expected. Seems like it just doesn't know that the other app turned it on.
Also, same thing happens when turning a switch off via another device or app.
Answer
Your observations are correct... but this is not an ActionTiles bug; but we agree it is an inconvenience!
It is up to the Things to inform SmartThings that their state has changed. Once SmartThings is informed, ActionTiles receives an Event to update the Tile(s) on your Panels.
Some Things (device types) do a really good job of keeping SmartThings "instantly" posted with their Status, regardless of where the state change command came from (Echo, non-SmartThings App (WeMo, Hue, IFTTT), or even physical touch, etc.).
Other device types don't do such a good job. It's possible that SmartThings could code the DTH (device type handler) better to improve them, but in other cases, it's just not available in the vendor's API. In some cases, people run SmartApps to poll the device every few minutes, to "ask" for its status. Polling is discouraged because the vast majority of the time there has not been a state change, and so that is just a lot of wasted work for the SmartThings Cloud!
The best recommendation we can give is avoid this inconvenience is to:
- Use only "Works With SmartThings"™ certified devices.
- I'm not sure WWST certification requires all devices to report their state changes promptly... most, but not all.
- Avoid the use of 3rd party Apps on devices that happen to not inform SmartThings of their state changes from 3rd party Apps.
The updates are usually a little more prompt. However, many ST users are seeing the issue of ST status not reflecting the true Wemo device status since the mobile app update to v2.3 last week. ST Support are aware. There are several threads in the ST forum discussing.
Customer support service by UserEcho
Your observations are correct... but this is not an ActionTiles bug; but we agree it is an inconvenience!
It is up to the Things to inform SmartThings that their state has changed. Once SmartThings is informed, ActionTiles receives an Event to update the Tile(s) on your Panels.
Some Things (device types) do a really good job of keeping SmartThings "instantly" posted with their Status, regardless of where the state change command came from (Echo, non-SmartThings App (WeMo, Hue, IFTTT), or even physical touch, etc.).
Other device types don't do such a good job. It's possible that SmartThings could code the DTH (device type handler) better to improve them, but in other cases, it's just not available in the vendor's API. In some cases, people run SmartApps to poll the device every few minutes, to "ask" for its status. Polling is discouraged because the vast majority of the time there has not been a state change, and so that is just a lot of wasted work for the SmartThings Cloud!
The best recommendation we can give is avoid this inconvenience is to: