[App] Blink

I checked it with my current app setup (stored credentials and assigned cameras).
If I change the credentials to invalid values (wrong user or pw), then the “invalid credentials” popup is shown.
Setting the credentials back to the right values results in “credentials saved”.
I think, the app is still registered in blink account and doesn’t need a new validation. If the app settings are cleared, a new validation with pincode is needed.

After changing the credentials in app settings, a API call is done. Depending on the response a 2FA validation is done (if requested by blink api) or credentials are stored in app (if not).

Please can you check if you can login in blink app with your account? I had the effect while testing that my account got blocked because of some invalid logins. In this case, the login into blink app is not possible, too. Then please wait some time and retry in blink app.
After this is possible, please retry in Homey app.

If there is still a problem, please describe what you changed before (uninstall/install app? changed credentials?).

I anyone has identical problems, please describe your blink settings, changes (app settings) and what you are trying to to when the error message appears. Thanks.

Thanks Ronny
I probably won’t get to this til midweek as it’s my birthday today, but will have a look
I did just want to clarify tho that nothing has changed on my side. The only possibility is the expiry of a support code (as I contacted support with some issues) a month or so ago, but no idea how long that lasts

When I went in to settings in Homey it looks like it forgot credentials (they were blank), but using my official credentials gives me invalid

Happy Birthday :birthday:

Just want to say that there could be a issue setting the credentials without need of 2F4 pincode. This was, the credentuals are stored in the app but no login and token-retrival is done. I thought, a pincode is needed every time you set the credentials. Perhaps a app restart will get it work after set credentials. That’s something you can try.
And now party on :beers:

So, thought I’d tried this but restarting the app seems to have worked. Not sure why it got in a muddle but so be it!

Is it worth setting a regular app restart?

No, you don’t need to restart the app. After a successful login, the app is keeping account data.
I think the app needed a new login (triggered by app restart), not sure why.

I tried to reduce api calls. Perhaps there is something missed if password is changed without a 2FA request by Blink-Api, because relogin is only done after setting the 2FA pincode. I don’t know if it is really possible to change the password without new 2FA request. But perhaps the settings dialog is causing problems if credentials are changed without 2FA. But I need a usecase to reproduce the issue.

So please report if this is happening again (and what was done before - perhaps in Blink app, like PW changes). Thanks.

I haven’t changed my password, if anything it was almost as if the app could no longer call out as the invalid password thing popped up instantly (and the password was correct)
Either way, seems fine now so the restart sorted it and all keys seem correct

I started using the app yesterday, after getting homey pro. 10 cameras added, indoor, outdoor xt and xt2.

  1. One of the outdoor cameras got motion trigger, but the alarm never cleared. How do I clear it - manually or using a flow?

  2. Pictures from camera are not showing in homey app or web app, but it looks like picture shows up in the blink app.

Hello,
I’m not sure about the real cause, but I try to give some hints…

  1. The motion recognition work by reading the tas video timestamp. It could be that more than one camera recorded a video and so not every new video timecode is read in the poll interval. Perhaps that causes the active alert. I have to check the code (it’s from the first app developer who created the app, I think). I can’t say if it’s possible because this recognition is a workaround because the API don’t offer real alerts.

  2. The Homey app only can retrieve a image if the camera is not busy. If you are creating snapshots in Blink app or if vodeos are recorded due to motion, the Homey app will get a timeout from Blink API and the picture in the device keeps empty.
    If the camera is idle, the refreshbutton should show a new image.
    For automations, you can create a snapshot in your flow (flow action). This will ask Blink API for snapshot creation. A second flow with a trigger (snapshot was created) can be used to read the new image and send it via push message.

Nr 2 is working now on my phone app. Thanks.
As for nr 1, I hope you can investigate this to find some solution to ensure that the motion alert can be cleared in some way. I would like to use the cameras as part of the security system, so having false positive motion alert there can lead to undesired siren noises :slight_smile:

You can try to trigger the alert and wait some seconds umtil it disappers. To trigger, you can record a video using the Blink app. You don’t need to trigger a real motion alert. The new video is enough.

Hi,
I think I have to say some words about your intend to use the cameras as security system…

Please take the cameras as a nice addition to get images. But it’s to a real security system.
The API is not official supported and Amazon can change or block access every day.
The functionality is cloud based, so a problem with internet access will stop your system.
Many things are implemented with workarounds because of missing functionality in the API.

And even if motion recognition is working, you will get the alert after the video is recorded. Depending on video length the alert can be raised 1/2 or 1 minute after motion was regognized. But Blink is working a similar way, so their alerts are not at time, too.

So if you want to include it in your security system, take real motion sensors as a base and use only the snapshot functionality for further information about the cause (image as push).
I would not rely o tthe Blink cloud system for that.
I’m using Heimdall app for security with motion and window sensors and the cameras only as a nice addon.

So this happened again
I don’t know when exactly but noticed last night when I had to go downstairs and my cameras weren’t active per the flow

The cameras all had the red exclamation mark in the app page
Rebooting the app once again allowed connection

There have been no changes on my side at all :disappointed:

Did you receive the firmware update last night? I have problems with some apps that fail in the bootsequence, maybe because of timeouts or required resources not available yet. So I also have a flow which, 10 mins after reboot, restarts some of those apps.

That was a possibility, didn’t realise there was an update, but I’ve just checked the settings and it says time since boot is a month, so not that

I’m not aware that the app is changing the device state. It sounds as if Homey has paused the app.
Can you check the memory usage of Homey? I had such effects as Homey core took so much memory that some apps got stopped one by one.

Memory is good, at least to the best of my knowledge. I went through a full diagnostic process with Athom recently (before these issues mind) due to some ZigBee issues and it was fine, so not sure it’s that as haven’t added anything since

I’m not able to investigate in that case. It sound as if the app has crashed. Only @ObelixNL can check as developer if there is a crash report in his app statistics.

Is there any way I can check this on my side?
Or even get notified if it happens again? I.e. if the devices drop

Only the developer gets the crash log via developer page.

You could try a flow with trigger “system/an app has hung up” (don’t know the exact english name) to send you a notification.

@ObelixNL : Can you check if there is a crash report for the app? Thanks.

I have improved the motion detection on my repository. I think it’s ready for a beta version.

@ObelixNL: I have add a commit to the existing pull request with some improvements for motion handling. It would be nice if you could merge the code and pusblish a new testversion (test only for checking if it’s working like designed :slight_smile: )

Some details:

  • Old version:
    Until now, only the first line of new videos was read. If there have been more than one motion alert, only the last one was recognized and only this camera got the alert. Other cameras didn’t get a update, so motion alert could stay until an new motion is detected for this camera.
  • New version:
    Alerts are cleared on every check (5 sec)
    All videos since last check are read. All cameras will get motion alert where a new video is found.
    This will reduce traffic because only new entries are requested by API call.

Edit: motion alert only appears if the video is caused by PIR sensor. Manual video request don’t trigger the motion alert.