It would be so convenient to use Sesame from my Apple Watch. It seems like a natural fit.
The UI should be very simple. One button to toggle the lock / unlock state. Force touch to change locks. No other features are necessary – everything else should be done from the phone side. The actual Bluetooth communication side of things can happen from the full app on the phone.
Main screen:
IMG_0096.png
Force touch:
IMG_0095.png
Are there any plans to support the Apple Watch? It has bluetooth and should be able to interact with the lock without the iPhone present…
While we wait for CANDY HOUSE to support Apple Watch, you could use Virtual Station and my QSesame Homebridge plugin. It allows you to control the lock via the Home app on watch (or using Siri).
I can attest what brendan said. I followed his instruction to have homebridge-qsesame running and I can now open / close sesame on apple watch, either using home app or siri. Works great when your both hands are full, auto unlock eventually would kick in, but so far siri unlock reacts faster.
To use virtual station on an iPad you need to sign up for the iOS beta program, right? Also you need a dedicated server to run NPM, Node JS? Can this run natively on a MacBook that is always plugged in, or do I need a VM?
You do need to be on the beta to install Virtual Station.
You can run NodeJS and NPM natively on macOS.
I have virtual station up, and installed homebridge to run: while I can see it connects and gets battery or lock status, trying to lock or unlock the device produces the following:
Error ‘null’ setting lock state. Response: [object Object]
Any idea what this may be?
Problem solved. I needed to install the test flight version of sesame on the virtual station device, and enable cloud integration (I forgot that step).
It now works!
Do you know if it’s possible to keep virtual station “running in the background” i.e when the display is shut?
@steveisles We recommend users keep Virtual Station in the foreground because there’s a chance that iOS may suspend the app when it is in the background. However, Virtual Station should still work for a period of time after getting put in the background - it won’t get shut down or stop working immediately. Hope that helps! - CANDY HOUSE
Given that limitation virtual station would be a temporary workaround until Wifi plug ships. I now have my iPad mini 4 running it in the foreground, but obviously it cannot be a dedicated station device. Even a iPhone 4s that’s running VS cannot be the sole purpose device. (it’s used as home phone and music player) Wifi dongle would solve the problem for me, but I hope there could be some DIY solution. For example an arduino or rasberry pi with bluetooth and wifi to run a virtual station app, along with homebridge-qsesame. I believe homebridge would be possible now but not sure if there’s any way to run virtual station function on those small computers.
Thanks for your feedback! We did design Virtual Station to be able to run in the background, but iOS suspension of background apps is unfortunately out of our control. In the meantime, we’re working hard on the Wi-Fi Access Point and plan to start shipping beta units soon! - CANDY HOUSE
Any plans for a simple Apple Watch app??
This would have saved me a lot of hassle today…
I walked outside to hang up the washing and realised later I left my phone inside. My sesame auto locked and I had no way of opening it to get back inside my house. I had to pull myself up onto my second story balcony to break into my home! Haha
A simple apple watch app that could have connected to my phone which was still inside my house would have let me back in perfectly!
Oh no, sorry to hear it! We definitely plan to create an Apple Watch app - it’s on our Feature Request list and we know there’s a lot of demand for this feature. Thanks for your feedback, we will post an update when we’ve added this feature. -CANDY HOUSE
Apple Watch control is here with the current beta as of this date. I’ve been using it on an Apple Watch 3 cellular and it works great. Turned my phone off, and just used the watch app on its own, it even works then, so then I can ditch the phone if I’m out and about (not sure if it needs cellular network or just bluetooth). I also have the WiFi module but not sure if the watch app needs that.
(although it sometimes doesn’t wake up on the Apple Watch. I have to swipe left and touch the icon for my Sesame to wake it up, swipe back, then it will connect)