Too Many Constraints – Platinum App Review

There are three artificial constraints within this app – hence the negative review. Two of them are simply an annoyance, and a workaround for each can be [somewhat] easily developed. The third, scheduling, defeats the intent of the app – the only workaround is integration into a home automation system, such as Control4; or manually making adjustments every few weeks, thus reverting an app back into a manual system. The scheduling component of the app allows for specific time of day, or one hour before/after sunrise and sunset. That is unacceptable in the Denver, Colorado metro area (ironically where HD automation is headquartered) where, if you have high windows facing the mountains, the sun needs to be blocked at least three hours before sunset (especially in the summer). Their recommendation of using a specific time of day and then adjusting that every couple of weeks is nonsense – change the app! The constraint of only allowing eight shades can be easily worked around. In our case we have “great room upper” as one room, and “great room lower” as another. It’s a pain, but it’s workable (does require some advance planning, however). The other constraint is really a programming issue – it seems the DB commit is only performed when you hit the back button on the bottom of the screen. Since setting up rooms and scenes is not something that is done all the time (and making a mistake is hopefully even less often), it really is only a pain when initially setting up the system (or re-programming). My only other complaint is the lack of documentation on the platinum bridge – which is not part of this app – but it’s what the app relies upon. In our case we couldn’t get the app to work at all until we figured out how to wipe out everything and start over.
Review by martymohr on Platinum App.