I migrated over to Hubitat a few days ago, I see a lot of talk about the need for a mobile app. Am I missing something, What advantages would we gain from a mobile app? I've always used a vpn when I connect to anything on my Lan. Mobile apps that need the cloud to connect just aren't a very good way to go imho. Especially when the device controls your home.
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I must confess I can't say I NEED one either.
People have said that it would be good for push notifications, device control and presence sensing.
While that may be true, I use 'Locative' for presence sensing (free), remote dashboard for device control and 'Pushover' for notifications (ÂŁ5 one of payment).
I find both locative and pushover work flawlessly while the dashboard can be a bit flakey at times, but it works.
I suppose it's all about preference.
My thoughts exactly. I'm really trying to figure out what a stripped down version mobile app would help. Unless people just want an easy not really secured way to connect and control devices.
We have a winner! 
You've got it figured out: the mobile app won't provide any functionality you can't currently get by other means. That being said, I do think it would be nice to have presence and notifications in a single app instead of me needing to use multiple ones just for this purpose. It will also provide Dashboard access, but that's nothing you can't already do yourself with a link to Dashboard (pin it to your home screen and it's what most people say they want in an app).
That being said, you mentioned VPNing in. You'd certainly have to do that for hub administration from a remote location, but there's no reason to do that for device control or monitoring. You can use a cloud link with Hubitat Dashboard to do that, unless you didn't want to expose that cloud endpoint (biggest risk is if someone gets the URL, which contains the "key" it needs to authenticate). SharpTools.io is cloud-only but requires a formal login, so that's another option. You might already know this--just thought I'd point it out if that's what you were doing.
The main thing I was hoping for from an app was a more consistent experience moving from one device to another or rotating the device, via auto orientation and scaling so it would be easier to see more devices on one screen. With the dashboards I have had to make one for use with my iPhone, and one for use with tablets. I tried to make a nice looking one with a floorplan of my house but when I opened it on a Android in a browser vs a bookmark or on an iPad the buttons moved all over the place due to screen resolution or menus in the case of the browser since it didn't auto scale. It sound like the app they are currently working on is basically a wrapper for their dashboards so I doubt it will help with scaling anyway.
As you suspect, you'll likely be disappointed: there are no rumors of anything in the app that will magically adjust your dashboards for different screen sizes/resolutions. What you'll be able to do is likely what you are already able to do: you can choose between fixed or automatically scaling tile sizes. The default is fixed. Automatic scaling won't help you much if you designed a dashboard for a large screen and are looking at it on your phone (text will wrap or get cut off, etc.), but it may help, and you might be able to find a compromise dashboard size for screens you use regularly.
Thank you for the info very good to know. I actually installed sharptools when I first switched to hubitat. I think it's great but I actually stopped using it because I really didn't want to take the time to figure out how secure it is. I try to keep cloud connectivity to a minimum for the exact reasons you pointed out.
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Geofencing!
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I could be in the minority here but I use the ST presence sensors and they work great for me. But then I'm not looking to be recognized as "home" until I actually am. For me a mobile app would not add anything I can't already do without it. I use the dashboards if I need to but most of my actions are automated and work well. If I do need to get into the control interface, I VPN into my local LAN and do it from there.
Like I said in one of the many threads where this pops up...
I’m getting the feeling that the HE team will be damned if they do release an App and damned if they don’t release an App.
Not a nice position to be in. 
It couldn’t be as simple as, those that have “Smartened” their homes desire an Ap and those that have “Automated” their homes see no need, could it ???
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I’m with you. My home is automated. I don’t need or want to interact with it remotely. There is zero need, if anything is not as it should be, I get a pushover message. I don’t need to adjust lights, climate, blinds, fans, security as that all just happens. I just want automated, remote control IMO is pretty useless outside of a toy you could show friends. But I wouldn’t want to show anyone how my house works or looks, so I’m out on that too.
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Using Locative, virtual devices and maker API you can do this.
Ya, I'm aware. I use several methods and the (modified) combined presence app. I still prefer a native app. We shouldn't have to hack together a solution.
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Life 360 isn't a hack. It is a native integration in HE...
Anyway, more options is always good - then people can pick which they want to use. I'm all for choices!
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For me it's about the wife acceptance factor. Having a single app that can be used opening the dashboards and for notifications makes it easy and clean.
On the Wink platform for example you can do widgets on the Android home screen. So she can pull up to the house, open the home screen and tap the 'Open Garage' icon. See my post from a while ago - iOS, Android and other client Apps
Yes that kind of functionality can be replicated using Pushover, cloud dashboards, and IFFT widgets but it's not nearly as nice. None the less I really like how Hubitat is progressing - just purchased my 2nd hub now
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As for getting to things easily for your WAF, does she use an iPhone? In Safari, you tap the box with an arrow coming out of the top (share icon), then choose the + icon “Add to Home Screen” ( you may need to scroll left a bit to see that icon). This will let you set an easy and clean looking way to get at specific pages. Works great for dashboards too.
You can use Iconical for iOS to customize the icons if you wish. Not sure if there’s an Android equivalent for either, but there should be.
It's not full either, I wish it was. I still have my ST hub around doing 2 tasks...one of them is mobile presence with webcore. Why? Because I can do actions based on people arriving at locations I choose.
IF HE can open the Life360 driver a bit to report back on where/when people are arriving and leaving the location defined in the Life360 app....then that would be useful.
To give examples I do things like turn up the heat when my wife leaves work, set some things in the house when the kids leave school, etc. Set bulb colors while the kids are at school. All of this I know because the webcore presence supports it. Along with webcore supporting events for arriving and leaving. Heck Life360 itself supports "locations" for a reason. So people can set up alerts for when people arrive and leave.
I'm hoping the app will bring this to HE.
PRESENCE please, along with user settable locations (geofence) and the ability to act on arriving, leaving or how long someone is there.
I did some research on this, doesn't seem to be still an active project?
And to that point... presence built in to HE I think is pretty important. A lot of automation is based around presence. It should be integral IMHO. What if Life360 shuts down?
Your correct it is not, but you can still get the code for it and install it and it works 100% of the time, for me anyway. Just define a virtual presence sensor and hook that up to the makerAPI app and away you go. (It must be easy to do as I did it!!!!!!!!!!)
I have 2 geofences set up and get alerts for when I arrive/leave both.
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I've been using dashboards added to my home screen for a while and noticed that if the dashboard gets into a bad state (device not updated or I wasn't connected to VPN when I launched it) that state will persist for a while even if I force close the dashboard, so I'll close the dashboard opened that way and VPN into my network then open the dashboard and it will still show the message that it couldn't connect. As soon as I open a browser and go to the same dashboard it works perfectly in the browser. Seems to be some kind of home screen cookie issue as eventually it will start working again. Sometimes hitting Done on the error will fix it and sometimes I will have to click the Hubitat icon in the upper left to get it to update. The browser seems to work better but has less real estate due to the menus.
