After step 5, I only saw a blank widget. When I installed it in January, it only displayed a blank widget but I was able to see and choose a collection after step 9. At that time, I had to reboot the phone to get it to work.
Yesterday, restarting the phone did not work. I also deleted and reinstalled the app and it didn’t work. The data did not get deleted since it populated the openhab IP address after the reinstall.
Thank you for your feedback!
I attempted to replicate the setup process in my iPhone SE (2nd) simulator, and everything functioned as anticipated. I will explore alternative solutions to delve deeper into the issue. However, for the moment, I regeret to say that I’m unable to offer additional solutions beyond the steps you’ve already taken—reinstalling and rebooting. Perhaps you could try them again?
By the way, it’s worth noting that when you delete HABly, the Collections and all the costumizations will be deleted. The server credentials are securely stored in your Keychain and will be restored upon reinstallation.
Cheers Harry
Hi Harry, I isolated the issue to interoperability between hably and the network settings for local mode. In the local mode, http://openhabIP:8080 works fine. I can view and add my items and I verified that I can choose a collection in the widget. However, I’m unable to view my items when I use https or https://openhabIP:8443. The response I get when I try to view my items is “Couldn’t connect to server. Please check the URL and port in settings.”
The issue got complicated because I’m using tailscale to connect securely to my openhab server. In settings, I entered http://tailscailOHIP:8080. I can view and add items but then I’m unable to select a collection.
Hi Tony,
thanks for providing more information. I’m glad to hear that it works in local mode.
So it’s not an issue with widgets, “just” a connection problem.
Is the certificate you’re using self signed? I’ve had this issue with Nelson. HABly couldn’t validate the self signed certificate and therefore couldn’t connect to the openHAB server.
Cheers
Harry
I’m not using certificates when using tailscale VPN with http. This is why I’m able to connect to the server and view and add items. The problem is unable to view a collection when editing a widget.
I apologize for the misunderstanding. When you are able to view and add items, it indicates that the connection is working properly.
Selecting a collection in a widget operates independently from any networking. It simply searches your device for created collections and displays them for selection.
As mentioned previously, I’m afraid I don’t have a solution to offer other than the ‘classic Windows solution’ of reinstalling and rebooting.
I had this several times that installing an update of an app the widget of the app didn’t update any more (also with HABly). Rebooting fixed the problem.
However, I haven’t specifically tried changing a collection in a non-updating HABly widget.
Cheers
Harry
No need to reboot or reinstall. I’m able to easily replicate the problem between the local IP and the tailscale VPN IP. I know you mentioned that the widget has nothing to do with networking but by simply swapping the IPs, I’m get the following behavior. In summary, I can get toggle the behavior by swapping the IP addresses.
| http://{OH_IP}:8080 | ||
|---|---|---|
| OH_IP | Local IP (192.168.x.x) | TailscaleIP (XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX) |
| Config | ||
| View | Y | Y |
| Add | Y | Y |
| Widget | ||
| Choose Collection | Y | N |
Tailscale eliminates the need to communicate to myopenhab.org and provides a secure connection to the server. It is free for personal use.
Hey Tony!
Thanks for your investigation and thanks for not giving up!
I was pretty confident in saying that selecting a collection is independent from network connections. When I simply turn networking off completely on my iPad, the selection works totally fine → so no network connection needed.
But your table made me trying to play around with the Server Adress in HABly and … entering a wrong IP sometimes leads to the behaviour you described, sometimes not.
I couldn’t figure out a pattern.
But now I have something to investigate in code, please give me some time for it.
Hello,
thanks for excellent app! I’ve been looking for this at least a year 
Great that it’s finally available and fingers crossed it stays up to date with latest iOS
I’ve been able to connect to my local openhab instance. I added my first Collection and Item (I see the list of items and I also see widget preview with real values). Btw. please add m/s and km/h as units, or even better provide a text field as previously suggested, the list just goes on and on…
I have added Hably Widget to home screen (btw I had to reboot the phone for Hably to show as a widget) but I’m unable to select a Collection. For a while it displays “Loading” but nothing is loaded. There is nothing to choose from the list.
iOS 17.3.1 iPhone SE 2020.
I’ve read @tdlr’s issues and it’s the same behaviour.
My local openhab URL is correct and accessible as I can tell from being able to add items and preview real values…
One more note…
Everytime I reboot phone and start the app it greets me with error can’t connect to openhab. I press ok and go to collection → add item. It presents me with the list of items just fine… (so the connection is working)
@Harry-0815 , I just upgraded my iPhone SE to IOS 17.4 and it appears to be working now. I’ll continue to test. @netcarlos, you may wish to try the upgrade and see if it helps.
Thanks,
Just tried iOS 17.4 and the problem persists. Only small improvement: I’m not getting connection error when starting the app anymore.
Update:
The bug is related to networking.
When I put a (resolvable) hostname (openhab.lan) in settings it doesn’t work. If I put in IP address it does work. So it seems like DNS handling within app works fine, but for Widget it somehow stops working.
Hi Carlos,
Thank you for your feedback, and I apologize for the delayed response!
To be honest, I have no idea what is causing these networking problems on your devices. I couldn’t reproduce the issues on either my physical devices or the simulated iPhone SEs. Additionally, the behavior you and Tony describe makes no sense to me. I absolutely trust your description; it just shouldn’t be happening.
When networking in the app works, it should also work in the widget since the networking code is the same. I sincerely apologize, but please understand that, for now, I have deferred this issue to another update by Apple.
To clarify, I’m not implying that there’s no chance of a bug in my code. I’m just a hobby programmer, so sure, there are bugs in my code. 
I’m simply saying that I have no idea where this specific one could be.
You’re right. I just didn’t find the “optimal” solution to that problem. I’ll add m/s and km/h in the next update.
Cheers
Harry
Hi Carlos,
I’ve experienced inconsistent results when using pseudo TLDs. I ended up purchasing a real domain name, creating a sub-domain, and then assign an internal and tailscale IP address to the sub-domain. This has worked for me. When I’m at home, it resolves to the local IP address and when I’m away, it resolves to the VPN address on my openhab instance.
Hey, y’all,
Version 1.3.1 of HABly has just been released. It’s mostIy a maintanance update: some behind-the-scenes improvements to enhance the app’s performance and reliability.
I’ve also fixed a bug where, sometimes, an error would be displayed after adding server credentials for the first time, even when the credentials were correct.
Additionally, as requested, I’ve added three more units: m/s, km/h and Wh.
If you enjoy using HABly, please consider rating it with five stars on the App Store and leaving a positive review.
Cheers,
Harry
HABly on the App Store: HABly im App Store
Thanks Harry for the update. Overall, I’m happy with the widget. I do wish to report some anomalies.
I have a widget switch that I use to open the garage door. As you stated, the state of the widget is not always accurate. For example, I used the widget switch earlier today and it still shows it as being ON after several hours. Yes, I used the widget switch to open the garage door and then used the transmitter to close it. The widget shows it as been ON despite being OFF in Openhab. Sometimes, pressing the widget will change the state; from ON to OFF, but it doesn’t happen often.
The other anomaly is when it just doesn’t work. Still trying to isolate the case. When it fails, I use a network APP to verify that I can ping the DNS name. After I verify DNS connectivity, I launch openhab from the affective mobile phone and then I’m able to open the garage door. Sometimes, it works if I reset the VPN connection but, as you mentioned, the widget has nothing to do with network functionality. After a recent failure, I opened the hably app from the widget and saved the collection object and then it worked. Again, I’m not find a consistent way to reproduce the issue.
Hey Tony,
thanks for the feedback!
That shouldn’t be the case - not for several hours. Yes, the widgets don’t respresent the reatime state of an item but should update regularly.
Every time you press a button in the widget button, the button widget sends the command, then refreshes the state of the item in the local data storage and then updates itself from that storage. So if you press a button, the switch item on your server should toggle almost immediately and a second later, the refreshed button status should be shown in the widget.
Could you try using HABly for a few days only in local mode at home? If it works there as it should, we could narrow the problem down the type of your connection.
Thanks a lot!
Harry
Hi Harry,
I’m only using local mode. I have a DNS hostname that resolves either to the internal or VPN IP depending on my location. The issue continues to persist but its random so no luck trying to pinpoint the issue.
As for the switch widget, the garage door is a momentarily switch. I press it and it goes on, and after a slight delay, it turns off.
Hi Tony!
What does the Switch Item in openHAB if you press the widget button? Does it toggle?
Cheers
Harry
The delay is less than 500 milliseconds so I could not see the switch toggle when I clicked on the widget. However, if I click on the switch item, I do see it go on and then off rather quickly. Here is the openhab log when clicking on the widget works.
Widget Pressed, Iteration 1
2024-04-30 06:09:42.403 [INFO ] [openhab.event.ItemCommandEvent ] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' received command ON
2024-04-30 06:09:42.405 [INFO ] [penhab.event.ItemStatePredictedEvent] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' predicted to become ON
2024-04-30 06:09:42.407 [INFO ] [openhab.event.ItemStateUpdatedEvent ] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' updated to ON
2024-04-30 06:09:42.407 [INFO ] [openhab.event.ItemStateChangedEvent ] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' changed from OFF to ON
2024-04-30 06:09:42.447 [INFO ] [openhab.event.ItemStateUpdatedEvent ] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' updated to ON
2024-04-30 06:09:42.696 [INFO ] [openhab.event.ItemStateUpdatedEvent ] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' updated to OFF
2024-04-30 06:09:42.696 [INFO ] [openhab.event.ItemStateChangedEvent ] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' changed from ON to OFF
Widget Pressed, Iteration 2
2024-04-30 06:09:47.349 [INFO ] [openhab.event.ItemCommandEvent ] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' received command ON
2024-04-30 06:09:47.349 [INFO ] [penhab.event.ItemStatePredictedEvent] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' predicted to become ON
2024-04-30 06:09:47.350 [INFO ] [openhab.event.ItemStateUpdatedEvent ] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' updated to ON
2024-04-30 06:09:47.350 [INFO ] [openhab.event.ItemStateChangedEvent ] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' changed from OFF to ON
2024-04-30 06:09:47.393 [INFO ] [openhab.event.ItemStateUpdatedEvent ] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' updated to ON
2024-04-30 06:09:47.618 [INFO ] [openhab.event.ItemStateUpdatedEvent ] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' updated to OFF
2024-04-30 06:09:47.618 [INFO ] [openhab.event.ItemStateChangedEvent ] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' changed from ON to OFF
Widget Pressed, Iteration 3
2024-04-30 06:09:52.954 [INFO ] [openhab.event.ItemCommandEvent ] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' received command ON
2024-04-30 06:09:52.955 [INFO ] [penhab.event.ItemStatePredictedEvent] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' predicted to become ON
2024-04-30 06:09:52.955 [INFO ] [openhab.event.ItemStateUpdatedEvent ] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' updated to ON
2024-04-30 06:09:52.955 [INFO ] [openhab.event.ItemStateChangedEvent ] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' changed from OFF to ON
2024-04-30 06:09:53.001 [INFO ] [openhab.event.ItemStateUpdatedEvent ] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' updated to ON
2024-04-30 06:09:53.215 [INFO ] [openhab.event.ItemStateUpdatedEvent ] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' updated to OFF
2024-04-30 06:09:53.215 [INFO ] [openhab.event.ItemStateChangedEvent ] - Item 'homieGarage_Button' changed from ON to OFF
I added another switch to the collection and the status of the garage door button went to OFF. However, both switch buttons in the widget stopped working. I removed the second switch button and it still didn’t work. I rebooted the phone and it still doesn’t work. I then opened Openhab and then closed the garage door.
Post Edit. I removed the widget and readded it but it still does not work.