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New C4 user question 1 - is the iPad app buggy?


howardco99

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We have a new home with freshly installed C4 home automation system. I am familiar with a similar Crestron system from another home.

I have noticed some odd behavior with the iPad app in that it doesn't consistently follow actions from the keypads or the touchscreens.  For example, sliders on the app don't always follow a dimming action on the keypad for a given light.

I would expect that the keypad and the iOS app would be completely synchronized.  What do you all think?

Thanks in advance.

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As someone with two homes, running 10+ wall mounted iPads running C4 controlling A/V, lights, shades, HVAC, security, and more, I can say that the iPad app is fairly stable, but that doesn't mean my experience has been flawless. Here's my two cents:

  • expect some issues as C4 can't control all aspects of the iPad experience. I've had bluetooth and wifi issues that are iOS issues that cause connectivity issues on the iPad that is NOT C4's fault, and I just have to wait for Apple to issue fixes.
  • like all software, there are bugs and issues in the C4 iOS app, but it can be difficult to determine if the issue is specific to the iPad app, or if it's a driver issue, or something else. If you can do enough troubleshooting to determine that its an issue with the iOS app, then you can post a bug report. Here is a great post that walks through the best way to post a bug report for the iOS team.


For your issue specifically, can you provide some more details:

  • what are you using for lighting controls? C4? Lutron? Please be specific.
  • are you connected to your C4 system locally? or are you remote?
  • can you replicate the issue on your mobile phone using the iOS or android app? or is the issue ONLY on your iPad?
  • "sliders on the app don't always follow a dimming action on the keypad for a given light". can you be more specific? are you sliding a slider on a light fixture on the iPad and you expect it to ramp, a gradual dimming to the set level as opposed to instantly jumping to the level you set on the slider? does your keypad cause the fixture to "ramp" when a button is pressed? if so, then in my experience, the iOS app slider doesn't ramp, but instead jumps the light level to the location set by the user. (C4 if you're listening, the lighting sliders should absolutely ramp according to the ramp levels set in composer)
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7 hours ago, howardco99 said:

We have a new home with freshly installed C4 home automation system. I am familiar with a similar Crestron system from another home.

I have noticed some odd behavior with the iPad app in that it doesn't consistently follow actions from the keypads or the touchscreens.  For example, sliders on the app don't always follow a dimming action on the keypad for a given light.

I would expect that the keypad and the iOS app would be completely synchronized.  What do you all think?

Thanks in advance.

According to my experience that iPad works well.

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13 hours ago, howardco99 said:

I would expect that the keypad and the iOS app would be completely synchronized.

There can be a small delay in the iPad app syncing data when changing a light level - depending on what lighting (for example, C4 native dimmer, hue bulbs or other) this delay can be from near to nothing (c4 dimmers) to maybe half a second (hue using the hue app)- excepting really rare oddball 3rd party lighting devices. Anything more than that, something's up, possible networking or something stalling the controller.

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Thanks for the quick feedback.  I haven't yet started to debug the problem and will start with the installer.  At this point, I was more trying to determine expectations, and based on the replies, it seems like users find it the iOS app is a good application.

If I need to come back to the forum for help on this issue, I will provide more info as you request. I do have a lot of troubleshooting experience and know that specific actionable info really helps lead to a solution.

Thanks again!  This forum is a great resource.

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My house is set up with C4 lighting controllers.  My installer with the support team did identify an anomalous behavior with the iPad app, reproduced the issue repeatedly, but today I checked before writing this post and it seems to be behaving properly.  We did all the normal debugging steps to no avail yesterday.  For now, I'll move on to other more pressing items.   Thanks again for the feedback.

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  • 4 weeks later...
5 hours ago, howardco99 said:

In case anyone is still interested, there was a network problem in my house which was causing some other control 4 problems.   Once that was resolved, the iPad app seems to be behaving normally.   

Was it STP or Cast? These are the most common issues that distrubtes C4 and not playes very well ...

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It was pretty simple - the lighting control modules C4-DIN-8APD-E (7 installed) weren't communicating reliably when daisy chained by ethernet.  tying each one independently to a switch cleared up the problem.   It was the controller at the end of the chain (7 out of 7) that exhibited the obvious behavior, but the status led's on the others were indicating they weren't real happy flashing orange and green) although loads on the other controllers seemed fine.  The documentation for the controller says not to chain more than 6 but the installer said they hadn't seen this problem before. 

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On 12/20/2022 at 10:30 AM, jimbones said:

As someone with two homes, running 10+ wall mounted iPads running C4 controlling A/V, lights, shades, HVAC, security, and more, I can say that the iPad app is fairly stable, but that doesn't mean my experience has been flawless. Here's my two cents:

  • expect some issues as C4 can't control all aspects of the iPad experience. I've had bluetooth and wifi issues that are iOS issues that cause connectivity issues on the iPad that is NOT C4's fault, and I just have to wait for Apple to issue fixes.
  • like all software, there are bugs and issues in the C4 iOS app, but it can be difficult to determine if the issue is specific to the iPad app, or if it's a driver issue, or something else. If you can do enough troubleshooting to determine that its an issue with the iOS app, then you can post a bug report. Here is a great post that walks through the best way to post a bug report for the iOS team.


For your issue specifically, can you provide some more details:

  • what are you using for lighting controls? C4? Lutron? Please be specific.
  • are you connected to your C4 system locally? or are you remote?
  • can you replicate the issue on your mobile phone using the iOS or android app? or is the issue ONLY on your iPad?
  • "sliders on the app don't always follow a dimming action on the keypad for a given light". can you be more specific? are you sliding a slider on a light fixture on the iPad and you expect it to ramp, a gradual dimming to the set level as opposed to instantly jumping to the level you set on the slider? does your keypad cause the fixture to "ramp" when a button is pressed? if so, then in my experience, the iOS app slider doesn't ramp, but instead jumps the light level to the location set by the user. (C4 if you're listening, the lighting sliders should absolutely ramp according to the ramp levels set in composer)

Do all your iPads stay connect to the controller? I have one iPad that is wall mounted, connected by ethernet and only used for Control4. My issue is if I turn the screen off there is a good chance it will lose connection with the controller and I need to close and reopen the app. Do you not have this problem?

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5 hours ago, Baubas Cat said:

Do all your iPads stay connect to the controller? I have one iPad that is wall mounted, connected by ethernet and only used for Control4. My issue is if I turn the screen off there is a good chance it will lose connection with the controller and I need to close and reopen the app. Do you not have this problem?

I dont have this problem as my iPads stay on all the time and maintain a constant connection to the controller.

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