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Introduction - Control4 iOS Developer


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Hey C4Forums Community. I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Jonathan Brown, I work for Control4(SnapAV) Customer Interface group. I am a Senior Software Engineer on the iOS team. I plan on spending time in the forums off and on to check in to see if I can help troubleshoot and resolve posts where I can and or direct your issues that might need additional help to others in our organization who might have more of an impact on issues I see being posted. I am looking to be a resource to help solve as many community issues as I can. 

- Jonathan Brown
Senior Software Engineer
Control4/SnapAV

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31 minutes ago, Bullseye said:

Welcome!!

Glad to see C4 involved with end users!!

Thanks! It's part of a broader initiative we have to make the best experience possible for Control4 users. Other developers will start becoming more active on this forum as time goes on as well.  

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Hey C4Forums Community. I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Jonathan Brown, I work for Control4(SnapAV) Customer Interface group. I am a Senior Software Engineer on the iOS team. I plan on spending time in the forums off and on to check in to see if I can help troubleshoot and resolve posts where I can and or direct your issues that might need additional help to others in our organization who might have more of an impact on issues I see being posted. I am looking to be a resource to help solve as many community issues as I can. 
- Jonathan Brown
Senior Software Engineer
Control4/SnapAV

So can you clue us in on why it has been so difficult to get native Siri/HomeKit integration? I don’t know two beans about writing any type of programming code but would be interested in hearing from someone like you who does.
Thanks!
Jeff
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WOW!! This is wonderful news!!  I'll just sneak two questions in there that have been puzzling to me. Sonos and Nest. Two of my biggest entertainment / security / comfort loves......what are your thoughts on the future of the integration with Control4?

Thanks again for your contribution and your thoughts! I think I can speak for a ton of us in saying WELCOME!!!! STICK AROUND!!!!

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3 hours ago, Jeffrey said:


So can you clue us in on why it has been so difficult to get native Siri/HomeKit integration? I don’t know two beans about writing any type of programming code but would be interested in hearing from someone like you who does.
Thanks!
Jeff

When it comes to programing for these various devices for Apple it's not as simple as one might think. You have to be given access from Apple in order to develop for these types of devices and it involves a lot of behind the scenes work between interested parties before we can move forward with programming for it. With Control 4 we integrate with a lot of devices that on their own are pretty simple in regards to the kind of data that is needed to send commands to control and integrate with them. However when it comes to certain experiences. Streaming music services for example there's an exchange of data that is more personal to a user (usernames and passwords, etc). When one a company wishes to integrate with these types of services there's a lot of compliance and requirements that often need to be worked out and met in order to be granted integration and follow guidelines that company wants to enforce. Same goes for companies like Apple and Google. Until those kinds of terms are worked out between Control4 and integration services are complete there's not much that can be done from a development perspective.  

Hope that makes sense. 

Jonathan

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26 minutes ago, Kahn said:

WOW!! This is wonderful news!!  I'll just sneak two questions in there that have been puzzling to me. Sonos and Nest. Two of my biggest entertainment / security / comfort loves......what are your thoughts on the future of the integration with Control4?

Thanks again for your contribution and your thoughts! I think I can speak for a ton of us in saying WELCOME!!!! STICK AROUND!!!!

Believe it or not I don't actually have a lot of insight into this. There's a lot of devices I actually don't get to experience first hand. Sonos is one of those devices. Since there's so many devices Control4 communicates with it's really difficult for all the devs to have access to systems that have everything that we can control. We have a lot of virtual systems and devices that we utilize to reproduce the functionality of real systems. 

I have only used the Nest Thermostat with Control4 System at my home. I use Google Home/Assistant to control certain devices in my house that have been exposed to it from our latest integration with Google. I know we'd like to see this kind of integration make it's way to Siri and Homekit as well but until it does I have made do with various work arounds to do so. Other than that I don't have a lot of insight into future road maps for these products. So really your guess is as good as mine :) 

Thanks

Jonathan

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17 hours ago, DatBear said:

Hey C4Forums Community. I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Jonathan Brown, I work for Control4(SnapAV) Customer Interface group. I am a Senior Software Engineer on the iOS team. I plan on spending time in the forums off and on to check in to see if I can help troubleshoot and resolve posts where I can and or direct your issues that might need additional help to others in our organization who might have more of an impact on issues I see being posted. I am looking to be a resource to help solve as many community issues as I can. 

- Jonathan Brown
Senior Software Engineer
Control4/SnapAV

Awesome!

Heres a first one that I didnt know where to post until I saw this thread. 
After iOS13 i dont have the choice to search for artist, album, etc...

Ive tried iOS13.1 and now iOS13.2, reinstalled C4-app, no difference. 
Here is what I see:

 

D4D1185C-86A9-4112-9A8E-E53514FD292A.jpeg

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I've never posted on one of these forums.  My husband handles our electronics stuff (but I pay the bills) and we have Control4.  Yesterday our contractor installed the OS3 update and charged a $200 fee in addition to their time, which was four (4) hours, two men.  They did have to correct a couple of other problems and they tested each device afterward,  so maybe the four hours isn't unreasonable.  However, I don't understand the $200 fee for the update that was done during the four hour visit. Comments please?
Thank you,
Pam

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I've never posted on one of these forums.  My husband handles our electronics stuff (but I pay the bills) and we have Control4.  Yesterday our contractor installed the OS3 update and charged a $200 fee in addition to their time, which was four (4) hours, two men.  They did have to correct a couple of other problems and they tested each device afterward,  so maybe the four hours isn't unreasonable.  However, I don't understand the $200 fee for the update that was done during the four hour visit. Comments please?
Thank you,
Pam


That’s the fee the dealer chose to charge to upgrade your Control4 system to the latest OS.

C4 doesn’t automatically update like an iOS device or some other devices, it requires a pro to login and assure all system devices are compatible with the OS, apply the upgrade and observe that everything is working as expected.

There is no doubt that it cost the dealer tech time. Some dealers charge outright and others bury the cost elsewhere. At the end of the day, someone got paid to do it and someone paid for it.

I know it’s frustrating, and really think that whoever sells someone a Control4 system needs to be very clear about what to expect in terms of ongoing fees (if someone wants to keep it 100% current, etc.). The thing is... you may not have “needed” the upgrade. I’m thinking everything probably worked as expected prior to this upgrade. The only “real” reason to upgrade would be if you were adding devices or features not supported in your current OS.

I personally feel like that’s the only reason to update. Some of us like to toy around with our systems and devices and just like the idea of running the latest OS, but I don’t think it’s for everyone. If everything is working, no need.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Indeed, there is no cost for the update itself charged by Control4/

However, whether it's an unreasonable charge is difficult to say however.

The dealer may normally just charge a flat fee for updates (to cover time and testing). We don't, but it's also not completely crazy if the dealer is sending people out to update, sit there for an hour, then test everything is in order for another hour, maybe fix things if they aren't.

But with an update from os 2 to 3 there are potentially drivers that need replacing, and that in turn may require a re-do of programming that was tied to the old drivers. So, on top of the standard fee, there was time on-site added.

Or the four hours are purely to fix whatever needed fixing.

 

Hard to judge.

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On 11/22/2019 at 8:49 AM, DatBear said:

Hey C4Forums Community. I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Jonathan Brown, I work for Control4(SnapAV) Customer Interface group. I am a Senior Software Engineer on the iOS team. I plan on spending time in the forums off and on to check in to see if I can help troubleshoot and resolve posts where I can and or direct your issues that might need additional help to others in our organization who might have more of an impact on issues I see being posted. I am looking to be a resource to help solve as many community issues as I can. 

- Jonathan Brown
Senior Software Engineer
Control4/SnapAV

Are you trying to put @Ryan_E out of a job?! :)

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On 11/23/2019 at 3:51 AM, Bubben said:

Awesome!

Heres a first one that I didnt know where to post until I saw this thread. 
After iOS13 i dont have the choice to search for artist, album, etc...

Ive tried iOS13.1 and now iOS13.2, reinstalled C4-app, no difference. 
Here is what I see:

 

D4D1185C-86A9-4112-9A8E-E53514FD292A.jpeg

I will see if something changed in your version of Control4. The screenshot you posted looks like you are referring to OS 2.x. Can you post which version you are using? Another potential problem could be if your drivers for the given music services are up-to-date or not. That is something you can look into on your end. If you need help or assistance doing that might be where your dealer needs to check that the drivers are up to date or not.

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DatBear - welcome.   The more C4/SnapAV ears and eyes (and brains) on this forum the better.

How about bringing back the Apple Watch app please.  Convenience factor 100 when out at the grill or in the pool and want to quickly skip a song or adjust volume levels.

Also another vote for getting the Apple HomeKit integration done as was announced by C4 some time ago.  C4 will win when it *easily* integrates with all of the majors including Apple HomeKit and Google Home.

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