Elkdroid... what is going on?

So you aren't getting any error back, it's just not arming? You sure you are passing the right code for that user?

Yep, sure its the right code. It will disarm just fine, however when I try to arm you can see the action of the button, but never does anything.
 
OK, so the command is actually being done, it's got to be an Elk account setup issue. You sure you transmitted the changes to the Elk? Or perhaps some issue in an older Elk firmware or something where some sort of problem existed?
 
You are all correct. I deleted the user I had set up. Added a new user and now I am able to arm the system. Thanks for all the help. Now on to tackle the zwave upgrade.
 
Any luck contacting Kent regarding Elkdroid? I tried a week ago with no luck.

Last week my ElkDroid app stopped synching. Elkdroid Connects at launch, then Authenticates, gets Zone Names, but at the point of getting Key Pad Area is crashes with “Synchronization Fail java.lang.arrayindexoutofboundsexception length=8…” I’ve used Elk Droid since the beginning and I don’t think I’ve may any changes in ElkRP, installed years ago, so the only thing I can think that caused the Failure is an operating system update on my Droid Razr.

Any thoughts as a place to start to resolve the Sync Failure?
Any thoughts an alternative app in case I need to replace the ElkDroid?

Thanks,
Scott
 
I would get into the acceptance mode that you lost the $100 spent on this app and get myKeypad Pro. Its not perfect but I actually like the user interface better.

Not a pretty option, but one we are forced to face unfortunately. :angry2:
 
I'm sorry to say this, but this is exactly why I would have an issue with spending $100 on an app designed for phones/tablets - there are too many things that can break them if they are not constantly updated. Yes, I understand the same holds true for workstations, but there are always ways to make older/unsupported software work. Not so much with phones/tablets.
 
I'm sorry to say this, but this is exactly why I would have an issue with spending $100 on an app designed for phones/tablets - there are too many things that can break them if they are not constantly updated. Yes, I understand the same holds true for workstations, but there are always ways to make older/unsupported software work. Not so much with phones/tablets.

Very good point and I'm sure it will be a loooooooong time until anyone spends money like this on an Android app again!
 
Just to throw another spin on it, one of the reasons that most of these types of programs (not meaning tablet, but programs created by small companies) die is that no one wants to spend any money on them. $100 might sound like a lot but it's nothing in the context of a small market product. The person, often someone who's never faced the realities of keeping a company going, may think it sounds like a lot but probably soon realizes that the size of the market means that he/she will never sustain a company selling it for that price, and so they have to bail out and go do something else to survive.

Unless the company is large, and are basically just selling the software in order to provide an ancillary product to help them sell more hardware or online service, where they make their real money, it's going to be nigh impossible to run a company in this very limited sized market selling a software app for $100 or less. ANd of course in the DIY automation world, it's nigh impossible to sell any software for MORE than $100. So the situation exists where it becomes very difficult for anyone to have a company selling software to the DIY automation market. People naively get into it, then realize it's just not sustainable. They'll get an initial hit of customers and think they are on their way, then it stops because they quickly saturate such a small market.

Folks have to understand this issue. The small software developer is the mom&pop store of the new millenium, and there's a reason not many mom&pop stores survived the previous one. No one wants to pay the price to support those types of companies anymore. So it's either big companies who only do it in order to sell more hardware or get you onto their cloud, or people doing small apps in their spare time without the revenues or time available to really make it a serious endeavor and selling them for almost nothing. That 'selling them for almost nothing on an app store' paradigm only works if it's something that will appeal to millions of people. A product like the one being discussed here is probably lucky if even a couple thousand people will ever buy it. Do the math and you'll see why $100 a pop will never sustain such a company.

And of course that creates a downward spiral where people then won't even spend the $100, and it just gets worse and worse.
 
I should add... Not necessarily saying that's why this particular situation happened. But it's pretty unlikely that someone will put in the work to create a really nice app as part of a scheme to rip people off. If it was a good app, then likely he had good intentions and put in the work. But, looking at the continuing work involved moving forward, and probably almost no revenues (at least by any sort of real company standards, or even single person real income standards), that becomes a difficult situation to sustain.
 
Dean, please realize that all of us that paid the $100 were happy to do so IF the developer would have continued fixing the bugs that (again, $100 for software with known issues is a lot to pay) were apparent in the beta (yes I considered this release a beta) initial version.

I understand that software developers have to earn a profit and deserve to do so; but, when the developers also rely on the DIY community to offer FREE testing and debugging of their software by purchasing beta releases, they at least owe it to them to continue the development.
 
I would agree with that. I was responding to the 'never buy another app for $100 again' comment, which didn't seem to be conditional on the state of development.
 
I guess it was wishful thinking on my part that the “Synchronization Fail java.lang.arrayindexoutofboundsexception length=8 was something I could fix on my end. I knew the risk of getting this app going in and certainly got my money’s worth while the ElkDroid worked. I grew custom to turning up the house temperature prior to walking through the door, turning on/off lights from where ever I sat, etc…

Thanks all the input and discussion
 
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