Flic support in Homey?

I have been using Homey for a few weeks now, and I’m learning new stuff every day.
I also just found a Flic-button I had forgotten about (a Flic Light), which I would like to repurpose as a smart button to control some fun stuff (switch between inputs on my receiver, turn off some lights etc).

I don’t really now anything about programming (for Homey), so I don’t know what’s possible, but I guess it must be possible to “catch” the button and read its 3 options: click, double click and hold.

Of course I have tried to Google, and I have found out that Flic has actually released a Linux SDK (with a latest commit in May 2016, but check the edit), which might help someone on the way? There can also be found some Raspberry Pi solutions, which might help? I have no idea, haha :smiley:

Looking forward to your response(s)!

Edit: There’s actually a newer Linux SDK, which has been updated as late as 23 days ago!

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I don’t know anything about the Flic button… but it seems that the Xiaomi Wireless switch button does the thing what you want, is way cheaper and is supported by Homey:

https://www.gearbest.com/smart-light-bulb/pp_257679.html?wid=1433363&currency=EUR&vip=14946646&gclid=CjwKCAjwq57cBRBYEiwAdpx0vXwfi2ZZga80-cIi0sIa3s2moiTNsp8v6TxYs5Oenc0FMCH0XwQyDxoCvIQQAvD_BwE

Of course that could be a solution, but since I have a Flic button (and a lot of people do since they are quite nice, but useless, because it needs to connect to your phone to work), I was wondering if some integration with Homey was possible.

Edit: And on top of that, the Xiaomi button is way bigger than the Flic! A Flic button is 27mm, the Xiaomi is 50mm.

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Hi!
I read about Bluetooth in this thread and came to think about this thread…

I have also looked at FLIC, but only for use with a mobile so far…
Single, dubble and longpress click could be used for many things.
But what I understand, many things could be solved in Flows…

I think I posted a similar question some days ago.

In the meantime I solved it by running the flic app on an iPad serving as control/reading panel for homey…
It works, but my setup is getting pretty complex., Houtje-touwtje for the Dutch…

There is this project from another Dutchy but while I have:

  • downloaded GitHub desktop
  • managed to get the project in GitHub Desktop
  • the files ready to access on my computer
  • some programming experience (VB, C#, Delphi)

I am at a loss how I get this code into / working with my Homey.

Does someone know how to do this, I see Java and JSON, must I build some sort of web platform first?

Koos

This doesn’t work… @MarcoRuiter can tell you that…

Just for clarification, what does not work?

Marco’s code, my procedure to try to use it, or my way to go to this forum to obtain the correct install procedure?

Marco’s code… Flic isn’t possible on Homey yet… But I’m told (@Bas or was that a different product?) they smell good :slight_smile:

Pitty, their hub is about the same amount as Homey…

Their hub is only $99 :slightly_smiling_face:

I also think you could set up a old phone plugged in somewhere in your house and IFTTT? Someone was talking about how they did that on Slack, but I don’t remember who sorry.

Yes I do remember @Bas talking about opening the box and smelling them when he was feeling down :stuck_out_tongue:

I have a flic I havent set up, let us know how you go?

Yeah, good idea, that was my backup plan. I have an old phone that works perfectly exept for the SIM slot and microphone.

But I was hoping for a more direct connection with Homey which seems within the realm of possibilities.

I don’t expect to finish this soon (within a week), but when I do I will post my results.

In all honesty, I had (and still have) given up hope on Flic integration, even though I feel it should just be a simple Bluetooth connection (I am not sure who the “bottleneck” is here, but I have a feeling it’s Flic), so I went and purchased a new button.

I haven’t received it yet, but it seems to have the same functions, but with easier integration. I also like it better than having a phone connected to power all the time, just to be a “hub” for my Flic button.

Edit: Also, my Flic-button is made to only manipulate lights (it’s this one), which makes the functions quite limited if I use the Flic-app, even though (as far as I know), it’s the same hardware as a normal Flic-button.

Logitech has also these kind of buttons, but I like the flic’s better because of their more modest, less bulky size.

I just wanted to mention that I got the new Flic hub LR (a lot more range for the Flic buttons) and I sucessfully got it working with homey flows by using HTTP request. It works really fast and responsive.
Yes, there is another hub that needs to be powered but it works so good and I will finally be able to use my Flics as intended.
This should also work if you have the flic connected to a phone.

My test flow:

Homey app:

In the flic app I have made the button make a HTTP request using the following format (test is the parameter that you can change and that should match the value in the flow setup):
http:///api/app/com.internet/whitelist/test

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Are there any plans for developing an app to connect Homey and new Flic 2 buttons and LR hub directly?

I setup my Flic to communicate with Homey through IFTTT, worked great so I bought the hub. (Big sale on Flic v1 … It meets my needs.

Circa Mid 2017 @swttt

This has to do with the current Bluetooth module in homey not being able to listen to “announcements” from Flic.
It should be possible by polling already, but thats not the way you want this to work.

It’s just waiting until Athom finishes their Bluetooth part, @m-ruiter got it working with Noble already. After that i played with it on Homey, got to the pairing part (and that worked) but couldn’t listen to the button presses.

Latest update to Homey apparently has Bluetooth fixes.

If your looking for somewhere to start : io.flic/drivers/flic-button/driver.js at master · swttt/io.flic · GitHub - Looks like SDK v1 though.

Thank you, Jamie.
I have the new LR hub and quite a few Flic 2 buttons. I was hoping to add them to Homey as smart buttons directly with a dedicated Homey Flic app, i find IFTTT a little cumbersome.
But hopefully I can use them through Philips Hue app…anyone tried that?

If you look at my post above (december) you can find a description on how to use them in Homey using HTTP request. It works really well.

Hey, klenodder, thanks for the reply.
I have in fact seen your post and your smart suggestion, but was reluctant to try it so far. First of all because I’m not very tech savvy and really have no coding abilities…and second because I’d hoped there is a simpler and more practical way…I have just posted an App request, let’s see

also, pardon the potentially noob question, but HTTP requests are one way, right? Homey has no report of the state of the device controlled by the Flic button?