Overview
In the wake of several decisions by Samsung and possibly others, the SmartThings eco system is falling apart. This article sums up several of the answers for installing webCoRE in SmartThings as they are (were) in the spring of 2022.
Alert: If you are trying to do this on an iOS/Apple mobile device, this isn't likely to help you much. iOS devices aren't really a favorite of people who want to tinker with something like webCoRE anyway, and are generally VERY restrictive, so I'll just wish you luck finding a similar article, if such a thing exists, for your situation.
webCoRE - Why?
Automations in the basic SmartThings app don't allow multiple actions on the same device. This limitation makes it impossible to do things like using an IOT plug to automate cycling the power off and on for something like an HP multifunction printer that puts itself permanently to sleep under unknown, random circumstances. webCoRE adds the ability to do more useful automations.
Installation Overview
Instructions found in various places are based on previous versions of the SmartThings IDE (website), and/or previous versions of the SmartThings (Android) mobile app, so the screenshots and instructions often don't match up to current reality. Even this article will, without a doubt, become obsolete when Samsung moves things around once again. In the interest of minimizing that "rot" factor, I'm leaving out details for how to do various steps but including enough key words to search the web and find instructions.
The installation process for webCoRE is supposed to be a few simple steps as follows:
- Add the SmartApps to the SmartThings IDE
- Option 1: Create each of the 4 webCoRE components "from code" and copy/paste the source code into the online editor.
- Option 2: Integrate SmartThings with GitHub, and install each of the 4 webCoRE components from the ady624 GitHub repository.
- Add a named "instance" of webCoRE within the SmartThings app with access to the devices, sensors, etc. that the instance may control.
- This is where Samsung has made things really obscure and difficult.
Installation "Gotcha's"
SmartThings Classic is Discontinued
- The user interface in SmartThings Classic made it far clearer and easier to install SmartApps, but it is defunct, and the "new" version of the SmartThings app, at least on Android, tries its best to bury and hide the SmartApps functionality.
- If your Android device is pre-"Oreo" (pre Android 8.0), this is probably already a source of frustration, since the "New" SmartThings app won't even install/run. For instance, a Samsung Galaxy-S 5 makes a pretty good smart remote for IOT stuff, but you'd have to go to some trouble to get Android 8.0 or later installed on it.
Steps to install a SmartApp in the "New" version of SmartThings
- Enable Developer Mode - The option to create a SmartApp won't even show up without doing this first.
- At the moment, this is done by
- opening the settings (gear icon displayed when the "Menu" page/tab is selected).
- scrolling down to "About SmartThings" and tapping it for 5+ seconds
- scrolling farther down to see, and toggle on "Developer mode"
- Dive Into the Menus to find where they hid the SmartApp option
- At the moment, this is done by
- switching to the Automations page/tab
- clicking the "+" icon and choosing "Add routine"
- switching to the "Discover" page/tab
- scrolling all the way to the bottom and selecting the main webCoRE SmartApp (not the dashboard, piston, or storage items)
- Note: These will only appear if they were previously added in the SmartThings IDE
Location
- webCoRE refuses to install unless the Location is properly set in SmartThings.
- Location was apparently managed in the Menu-Settings at some point, but currently, it is "hidden" on the "Favorites" page/tab
- tap the location name (e.g. "Home")
- select "Manage Locations" (gear icon)
- Even if a geolocation is set, it may be too broad for webCoRE to be happy with it, so try reducing the radius, if webCoRE refuses to install.
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