Backup, Restore and Migrate functions for Homey

Ideas & Suggestions
1

I’m planning on upgrading to the Homey pro, due to the lack of RAM and limitations on apps, which I ran out on in just a month or so. So, the big question is now… Do I have to start all over?

And I believe the answer is “yes”. At least in the current state. With the introduction of Homey Pro, it’s a given that quite a few will upgrade, and there are others that need to replace the original if it breaks. So, why are there no backup/restore/migrate functionality available?

Only app I’ve found are the Flow backup. But even this one will be severely limiting, as non of the apps, settings, variables and devices are backed up or restored. Presumably. And, no. This is not enough of a functionality in such a complex system.

With so many hours people put into doing this automation, it’s quite scary that there is no way to insure you can get up and running again shortly after a disaster or migration. I’m seriously wondering if moving to the pro is worth it, given the many hours I probably have to spend in the process. But it’s probably better to do it now while I just have 35 devices, 15 variables and 50 flows, compared to the tens of hours I might end up with when this is all set and done.

I read about some signs of a backup/restore function planned for 2.1 release. But we have not seen that yet. I implore you to look harder at this, because this is a huge pain point for quite a few I suspect.

The functionality that I find reasonable to expect would include:

  • Complete backup of all settings (cloud or locally)
  • Backup of apps and the config
  • Backup of all flows
  • Backup of all devices and settings
  • Automatic migration of these things to a new device

In the case that there is problems restoring devices, you could perhaps have some sort of aliases in place? Which made it possible to identify which missing devices are needed to be paired and replaced so you don’t end up with a heck of a lot of cryptic “missing device” or what not, in cards in lots of flows.

I suspect the two latter things might be the hardest to achieve, but I’m certain it would be possible to at least alleviate the pain quite a bit.

If you could look into this and find some sort of solution soon I would be very grateful. Would love any feedback you have on the subject, so my decision of either purchasing the Pro now or waiting would be a simpler one. Thanks!

11 Likes
2

To whom are you pointing your request? This is a user community, Athom doesn’t read here actively.
If this request is meant to be addressed to Athom, then you should make a request with Athom support.

3

My pro is catching dust at the moment. They said to release a solution at some point soon™️. this could be tomorrow or next year, hard to say really.

4

As stated,
you are here talking to the community and not to Athom.
I guess we all agree here, but until now Athom had priorities to Develop, finish and Fix other things.

As developers have seen the Backup API is defined and probably ready, next is waiting until Athom provides a interface in the App.
I expect that soon, but don’t ask for a timeframe… Could be days, weeks or if they have showstoppers months. :cry:

But from the rumors I think it would be worth to wait to have an kind of fast migration from your Homey to the Pro.

Beside that in a followup on FlowsBackup I am developing some other kind of Backup and Restore but need some more time to code and test before I can release it to the public.
From a Web-API perspective is complex to restore and not everything will be possible that I expect Athom can do in their Backup & Restore. (Like including Z-wave & Zigbee devices!)

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5

Thanks for the input! Looking forward to the possible solutions you mentioned, Dijker. Perhaps I’ll hold on for now. It will be limiting my willingness to automate more though :confused: Which is not great.

Yes, I’ve gotten the impression that you need to contact the devs in another matter to be certain they hear you, but I really hope that they also read some of these posts. It would be crazy not to follow what the common folks are struggling with :slight_smile:

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6

Agreed, it is a sorely missed yet necessary feature. And Athom SHOULD read the community posts, as this is where their users express (as the topic suggests) ideas or issues with Athom products. I suspect they do though.
And this topic has been suggested numerous times, and as Dijker mentioned, it is being addressed currently. I think they were waiting until version 2.0 was released, and the bugs squashed. When it will be released, who knows. Hopefully soon. As you mentioned, it is the only way to upgrade to the Pro version, who want to try including all their devices again?
Z-wave have an ability to replace a Controller as does Zigbee, but it may a more difficult option with a Hub that has numerous protocols inbuilt. I know another hub that simply replaces the new z-wave chipset ID with the old to allow an easy migration over, but whatever Athom do, I am sure it will be worth the wait.

7

/OT
If I am on a party and I don’t like it or would do it different, I should not complain to everyone around me hoping the host will hear it and know. When entering this Party (Welcome) they clearly stated that you should talk to the Party Organisation (in this case Support) if anything could be done to make your day :tada::confetti_ball::fireworks:

And of course they know the mood on their party, it just doesn’t help complaining to other party guests. Ther is just more fun in the other party area’s where guest have fun!

I suggest everyone thinking Athom SHOULD read everythin on this forum looks at his own profile, compares his own read time with the time necesary to read te forum by looking at a couple of moderators that even won’t/can’t read everything.

fe Read 17d (4d recently)

Just think about paying extra salarys for 17 day x 24 h to a developer or to a Community manager joining and listening everywhere on the party. I understand their decission.

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8

@Dijker So you are saying we shouldn’t discuss the ideas and suggestions here together, but only direct these to moderators or Athom support themselves?
This whole section is titled “Ideas and Suggestions”, and I think this is what MrHaugen is asking about. After all he is not a developer( i dont think) and would know if there are any plans on this feature, so asked the community. And this feature has already been requested numerous times so I dont think he needs is issues another request. It merely a suggestion as the Topic Heading suggests and to get feedback from the community as to their thoughts and knowledge on such matters.
I myself can tell you I dont have anywhere near as much knowledge about such features or even product knowledge as much as you do, and I also dont wish to clog up supports time with answering my queries all the time. As you mentioned, it is time consuming and costly. So we ask here.
But I also think it relevant that a company employee would browse the forum to gain customers feedback, issues and queries. After all it is there business and name on the forum. I dont expect them to read everything, but surely they browse Topics and headings to gain some insights.
ps Dijker, thanks for all your help lately, you have been an asset to the community with your prompt responses and help thank you.

2 Likes
9

You are more than welcome to discuss ideas and suggestions here, and be 100% clear moderators don’t have any more say as to the direction of Athom than any other community member.

Its also worth mentioning that your ‘suggestion’ and argument that Athom should read and comment in the community forum, is with in the community forum and as such Athom are incredibly unlikely to comment upon, (if read).

I can tell you that Athom employees have read some threads, but the simple truth of the matter you are more likely to get hit by a bus than to make a thread have it read and getting a direct response from Athom in the community forums. Informing people (who don’t know this) - is part of what moderators do. Nothing will change the facts.

And if by some chance an Athom employee was to be ‘browse topics’ and see a thread named ‘Backup, Restore and Migrate functions of Homey’ its certain that Athom (and anyone else) will not know that the thread has turned into a discussion about Athoms role in the community forums. - Which is why as moderators we ask that people stay ‘on topic’.

We don’t do this to stop you, if you would like to continue this discussion I suggest that you create a new topic. Any further posts not related to the threads topic will likely be removed.

Here are some amazing ‘Ideas and suggestions’ I think everyone should checkout, contribute to and comment upon.

3 Likes
10

Completely agree, backup and restore and migration are so important.

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11

I completely agree that having backup and restore functions should be a must for a mature platform.

But as your suggestion (i almost would call it a demand by the way) is " Athom SHOULD read the community posts" you should start a separate topic for it. This one is about “backup, restore and migrate functions”.

And do you really think that asking direct questions to support cost them more time than reading several hundred posts and keeping up with the forum every day?

You would be right if everyone addresses their simple questions directly to support. But hey, that’s where the forum get’s in the picture. It has a very good search function to find answers to questions that are in general already asked numerous times. The problem is however, many members don’t use it…

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12

For a workaround / Community solution see:

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13

Still ridiculous that in all this time, no built in backup/restore has been implemented. If my Homey breaks down, i have to re-do everything…hope that day never comes before they implement it…

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14

This needs to be addressed asap by Athome in my opinion. My Homey Pro is starting to get pretty filled with devices, apps and Flows and if it breaks, it would take a long time to redo but also, I wouldnt really remember all Flows and how I have set them up.

15

Then use the workaround from @Dijker… That at least saves all your settings and flows to xml so you can read back or even restore a great part.

16

And how muh devices, apps and flows will that be?

17

Does it matter? With any reasonable number of devices and flows it’s going to be a PITA to restore manually if for some reason Homey breaks.

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18

I know ur opinion Robert, was just curious.

19

As Robert said, does it really matter?

But I would guess around 50-60 flows and around 80 devices so far. Have had my Homey Pro for three weeks so I’m still setting it up day by day between work and family time.
if something would have happen now with my Homey I don’t know if I would have had the time nor the energy to restart again.

But I found out about the community backup web site today so now I’m a little bit “relaxed”. :slight_smile:

20

Yeah, ur right. Just forget my question.