OS3 Slow to Connect

[johnpg]

My experience has been consistent ever since 3.0 was released in that it is slower to connect than 2.x was. 3.0 was the slowest and later releases have improved things. So clearly C4 is aware of these issues and working to improve them. As a developer, I know from experience that it may not be as simple to fix this as some may suggest. There may be many different factors contributing to this which make it harder to solve than we'd like to think. But since reports are that the Android version is faster, that gives me hope that it's just a matter of time before this is worked out. Fingers crossed!

Having said all of that, I find myself way less likely to even bother to use the app these days because the delay is so annoying. I'm speaking of local network connections, mind you. The two to three second (sometimes longer) delay is enough of a paper cut that I just don't want to bother. It feels like it would be faster to just walk over to the light switch, or touch panel. For me, that makes what otherwise seems like "not a big deal" into a really big deal. This is all subjective of course, others may not mind these delays. But for me it's aggregating. 

John

[Cyknight]

I agree - indeed I've never been an avid user of the app for this very reason, prefering touchscreens or remotes for most functions.

That said, as this is my work, I do use it regularly and monitor it.

I'm curious what you notice or think has a faster connection from app off than C4 does?

I've recently tested appletv app, roku app, hue, lutron, firetv and samsung and find no noticeable difference in C4 and the majority of them.

 

Understand I'm not debating that you may be having issues, or that there may be deeper issues c4 needs to and hopefully is looking into. But there have been complaints about speed of connection (and I'm just talking local at this time) for as long as there has been an app - and I've not find anything that is particularly faster in my experience (outside of known and fixed issues, or local network issues which affect all apps).

I'm genuinely asking for examples on apps that load 'instantly' from disconnect to connect locally - and then preferably apps that work remotely as well.

 

17 minutes ago, johnpg said:

But since reports are that the Android version is faster, that gives me hope that it's just a matter of time before this is worked out. Fingers crossed

That would depend on why one is faster than the other

[johnpg]

The 2.0 app was faster, usually instantaneous in fact. The only time there was a delay was when it needed to update after a settings change (refresh navigators, etc). But in normal use it launched nearly instantly. I assume others have the same  recollection and experience? If not, perhaps I was just lucky. I do not know.

The 3.0 app is a lot better than it used to be, for sure. But still takes 1-3 seconds, and often can be longer. The first time I launched it today it took over 10 seconds. I suspect when it takes a really long time it's due to something being paged out of RAM on the controller, or any of a million other possibilities (since I don't know for sure what's happening during that app startup). Thankfully those kinds of delays are not the norm. But the end result for me has been I've lost faith that the app will be available when I need it the same way a remote or button is. Others of course may not care. But I'm not happy with it and I really hope we eventually get back to the way it was with 2.x.

Incidentally, based on your comments I tried Lutron, the iOS Home App and C4 and C4 is the slowest each time. Lutron and Home start under a second (Home is basically instant), but C4 takes 1-3 seconds. As before, this is somewhat subjective as many factors can contribute to slowness, but I can at least attest to C4 being the slowest of these in my case. Things get worse when you look at real world scenario. I can open up the Home app or Lutron and turn one of my lights on and off way faster than I can using the C4 app. By way faster it might be 2 or 3 seconds faster, which doesn't seem like a lot. But it feels like forever and makes me not want to even bother half the time. 

John

 

[dinom]

1 hour ago, johnpg said:

The 2.0 app was faster, usually instantaneous in fact. The only time there was a delay was when it needed to update after a settings change (refresh navigators, etc). But in normal use it launched nearly instantly. I assume others have the same  recollection and experience? If not, perhaps I was just lucky. I do not know.

The 3.0 app is a lot better than it used to be, for sure. But still takes 1-3 seconds, and often can be longer. The first time I launched it today it took over 10 seconds. I suspect when it takes a really long time it's due to something being paged out of RAM on the controller, or any of a million other possibilities (since I don't know for sure what's happening during that app startup). Thankfully those kinds of delays are not the norm. But the end result for me has been I've lost faith that the app will be available when I need it the same way a remote or button is. Others of course may not care. But I'm not happy with it and I really hope we eventually get back to the way it was with 2.x.

Incidentally, based on your comments I tried Lutron, the iOS Home App and C4 and C4 is the slowest each time. Lutron and Home start under a second (Home is basically instant), but C4 takes 1-3 seconds. As before, this is somewhat subjective as many factors can contribute to slowness, but I can at least attest to C4 being the slowest of these in my case. Things get worse when you look at real world scenario. I can open up the Home app or Lutron and turn one of my lights on and off way faster than I can using the C4 app. By way faster it might be 2 or 3 seconds faster, which doesn't seem like a lot. But it feels like forever and makes me not want to even bother half the time. 

John

 

I agree with everything said above.  I have a wall mounted iPad mini that I use in the kitchen as whole house control, as well as local control of lights, shades, and living room TV.  With 2.0, the app was always instantaneous when running the iPad in guided access mode.  I would press the home button, and the screen would wake up and app would already be connected.  Compare that to 3.0 app, and from pressing the home button I usually get the spinning wheel as the app connects and on most days it's usually 3-5 seconds.  What makes it even worse, and I see this with the iPhone app as well, is that the app doesn't remember the last screen used, and instead goes to the home screen.  So then I have to navigate back to the control the last item I was using.  Am I the only one that sees this issue?

I also have a Lutron RadioRA 2 system integrated, but with the separate Lutron app, it's very fast, probably 1-2 second to launch the first time.  If the app is already running on the iOS device, it's almost instant.  I also used to have a RTI system for years, and used the same iPad mini, and with the RTI app, again it was pretty much instantaneous.  So the Control4 OS3 app is definitely slower by several seconds.  Don't get me wrong, I still use it, but the experience is not as user friendly.  My wife even complains, and says it used to be much faster.

Just my $0.02. 

[msgreenf]

i find the android app to be very fast inside my home and fast outside my home.  But when I pick up my wife's iphone its very slow.  (well i mean is there anything good about an iphone  )

[Amr]

Am still on OS2 and it’s true Android is lighting fast on OS2 compared to iPhone any model!

[johnpg]

19 hours ago, Amr said:

Am still on OS2 and it’s true Android is lighting fast on OS2 compared to iPhone any model!

Assuming you're not just teasing us iPhone users :-), that's an interesting observation. My experience with 2.0 was that it was always instant (on iOS). I also have (somewhere) a Fire tablet that had 2.0 on it and it didn't seem any faster to me. But that $50 Fire tablet is admittedly a lot less powerful than a modern iPhone or iPad. 

My theory that the start up delay is due to new authentication requirements seems less likely though if Android on 3.0 is faster/instant. Can someone with both devices do a side by side test and determine what the differences really are? I'm speaking of 3.x, I don't really care about 2.x at this point. I don't have similar spec'd devices to test with or I would. 

Also, I seem to remember a post on this site from someone from Control4 who worked on the iOS app. Am I crazy or was that posted here? I wonder if that person can chime in on this.

[prabeau]

My cheap Fire tablet is twice as fast as IOS.

[Amr]

55 minutes ago, johnpg said:

Assuming you're not just teasing us iPhone users :-), that's an interesting observation. My experience with 2.0 was that it was always instant (on iOS). I also have (somewhere) a Fire tablet that had 2.0 on it and it didn't seem any faster to me. But that $50 Fire tablet is admittedly a lot less powerful than a modern iPhone or iPad. 

My theory that the start up delay is due to new authentication requirements seems less likely though if Android on 3.0 is faster/instant. Can someone with both devices do a side by side test and determine what the differences really are? I'm speaking of 3.x, I don't really care about 2.x at this point. I don't have similar spec'd devices to test with or I would. 

Also, I seem to remember a post on this site from someone from Control4 who worked on the iOS app. Am I crazy or was that posted here? I wonder if that person can chime in on this.

Am not teasing you at all, am just telling you OS 2.0 C4 app on my Xiaomi MiMix2 opens a lot faster than my iPhone XS Max Pro, this my observation also works a lot faster after refresh navigator command.

[Brownbatsbreath]

I feel like every Control4 OS release has someone in the first week saying “app is so much faster”

Then a few weeks later someone saying their app is super slow. You can’t discount individual networks and phone configurations in all of this. 
 

I have a control 4 system on 2.9 and a Crestron system on the same network. Apps for both open under a second and a half on my iPhone X locally. 

Between 2.53 and 2.9 I’ve never seen the local connection take longer then 2 seconds. 
 

This is all using the Built in garbage ISP router as well. 

[South Africa C4 user]

Performance on my local network has been great since the first release after OS3.0 (not sure if that was 3.0.1 or 3.1.0) until a few days ago when the iOS app was updated.  Now it is hit and miss.  Sometimes around 1 second and sometimes closing in on 10 seconds (with Experience Buttoms struggling to load).   

On cellular, it is disaster out but this has been a known problem in South Africa for sometime now.

[prabeau]

Same network

Kindle Fire fast

IOS not so much

 

[Robert Robran]

How many of you are streaming Ip cameras to your navs?

[Cyknight]

13 of them

[johnpg]

I dug out my old Fire tablet today and installed the OS 3 app on it. It's noticeably slower in all metrics than my iPhone Xs Max. The app is slow to start (not talking about the connection to C4, but just loading the app) and slower to respond. My Fire tablet is old, likely older then what others are using, and definitely older and slower than any modern Android phone. Since that's the only Android device I have I can't do an apples to apples comparison. Of interest though, once the app is loaded and the "Connecting to my Control4 System" message appears, the time to connect is at least as fast as iOS. Perhaps on faster hardware this would be faster, hence the reason Android users by and large aren't experiencing this issue. 

So to be clear, for me at least, app loading time and app responsiveness is not really the issue so much as the time to make the initial connection. To simulate this you really need to kill the app before restarting it. When you do this on Android, is the "Connecting" phase noticeably slower? In the case where the app is freshly loaded, switching back to it is instantaneous, as it should be. The problem is (for me at least), my usage is infrequent enough that when I need to do something on my system the app needs to reload or reconnect so I see the "Connecting" message more often than not. 

 

[Anish]

On 4/18/2020 at 9:07 PM, South Africa C4 user said:

Performance on my local network has been great since the first release after OS3.0 (not sure if that was 3.0.1 or 3.1.0) until a few days ago when the iOS app was updated.  Now it is hit and miss.  Sometimes around 1 second and sometimes closing in on 10 seconds (with Experience Buttoms struggling to load).   

On cellular, it is disaster out but this has been a known problem in South Africa for sometime now.

Exactly the same issue. On the latest iOS version startup is variable and can take up to 8 seconds (intranet).
 

And still forever if on 4sight .... 

[RobbieF]

I agree with all the comments; OS2 was alot fast in connecting on iphone (Near instant), now with OS3; it's horrific.......  Which is a shame, as I tend not to use my phone app now - Quicker to spend 15 seconds trying to find where my 2 year old hid my remote.

[Amr]

But from an ergonomic perspective, the remote is always faster than the phone, 2 reason basically, Zigbee vs WiFi and natural touch vs Touch screen!

I always jump to my 250/260 and blindfolded press what I need to do it’s always faster than pickup the  -> unlock it -> find the C4 app -> open the App -> change the room -> do the task!?

The remote is tied to the room and it’s quickly there for you, it’s one of the best hardware that C4 made and it’s incredibly reliable (@ least the 250 is!)

[South Africa C4 user]

It appears that the latest version of the iOS App - I think it became available yesterday - has resolved the local connection issue that I was experiencing.

Hopefully, I am not speaking too soon but I have accessed the App 9 or 10 times today on my local network and each time it has loaded up in 1 or 2 seconds...  very happy!

Unfortunately the Slow cellular connection for those of us based in South Africa is still an issue.

[aztully]

I recently received a quote to upgrade my system to OS3, I'm currently at 2.9.1  I was perusing the forum as I was trying get an understanding of the typical cost of an upgrade as I thought the bid I received was high.  The bid I received to replace a dead 10" touchscreen, setup/programming, and also upgrade to OS3 was $1120 for the screen and $525 for labor (5 hours).  This seems really high unless OS3 requires lots of intervention!?  The screen replacement can't be difficult in terms of programming.  What am I missing?

My second question is:  Given the slowness of OS3, is it worth upgrading now?  My family prefers to use the app on our phones and actually do not use the remotes often any longer. 

Thanks, as always, for your perspective(s).

[mujtaba.khokhar]

1 minute ago, aztully said:

I recently received a quote to upgrade my system to OS3, I'm currently at 2.9.1  I was perusing the forum as I was trying get an understanding of the typical cost of an upgrade as I thought the bid I received was high.  The bid I received to replace a dead 10" touchscreen, setup/programming, and also upgrade to OS3 was $1120 for the screen and $525 for labor (5 hours).  This seems really high unless OS3 requires lots of intervention!?  The screen replacement can't be difficult in terms of programming.  What am I missing?

My second question is:  Given the slowness of OS3, is it worth upgrading now?  My family prefers to use the app on our phones and actually do not use the remotes often any longer. 

Thanks, as always, for your perspective(s).

Hi pal ,

would have been nice to start a new thread. 

But ill answer your question. 

With regards to the Upgrade, control4 offers the upgrade for the free but what you're paying for is the time to install it, test it, fix any bugs etc. it does take a few hours to do it all. 

I mean if you're not too happy with the price of the upgrade the are plenty of remote dealers on here (myself Included) who can supply you a touch screen and do the upgrade for you. 

It all depends on you OS3 has bought some really cool features in, Yes its slow to connect on Apple, but everyones millage varies. (for me its been okay, takes around 5 to 7 seconds) where as the android counterpart is almost instant. 

Thanks 

M

[Haveitall]

Has the speed issue been resolved?  I've been putting off 3 until I hear things are fixed.

[msgreenf]

1 hour ago, Haveitall said:

Has the speed issue been resolved?  I've been putting off 3 until I hear things are fixed.

Very much so. 

[wnpublic]

11 hours ago, Haveitall said:

Has the speed issue been resolved?  I've been putting off 3 until I hear things are fixed.

Currently on the order of 5 seconds for me. Better? Yes. Resolved? Hard to agree. 

[South Africa C4 user]

12 hours ago, Haveitall said:

Has the speed issue been resolved?  I've been putting off 3 until I hear things are fixed.

Well under 2 seconds for me with a massive project and a CA10.

Well worth the move to OS3