abode 4+

The latest update from the end of May (5.0) broke the location services that were working perfectly fine up until the latest update. Even though it lists both my wife and I as inside, it states that our location services are off and never triggers Auto-Away. I’ve uninstalled, turned location services off and back on in the app and on both phones to no avail.

I was enjoying the system and app until this latest update. Please fix this asap as it’s been over a week and this is a big feature that a lot of people use. It’s hard to believe that it made it through Beta testing without being noticed. I’ll change my review once this has been fixed.

Edit: They have fixed the location services. The new app is still wonky from time-to-time but is on its way to being a really nice, smooth and functional app. The service itself is still really nice and I’d recommend it over most others on the market.

We’ve had our Abode system since it was first introduced in 2019 and haven’t had a single hiccup or even had to reboot it once. Set-up of devices has been easy, including Abode window/door sensors, Zigbee water leak sensors, and a Z-Wave water main shut-off valve, triggered by leak sensors we placed below pipes in the crawl space under the house. Through firmware updates that are advertised via the Abode app, they’ve added HomeKit and have simplified features, making things ever more simple the longer we’ve had the system. Alerts for home monitoring took some time to set up but all was relatively straightforward once I figured it out. I’d suggest that the Abode team recommend some standard alerts (I.e. send me a notification if someone leaves a door open for more than 20 minutes, etc.) to introduce how the app can be used to simplify life at (or away from) home. It’s amazing how the system just works with any home automation part we can find. 10/10!

I used to be incredibly happy with this app and system, and then after I owned it for probably at least a year they made a feature that used to be included on the free plan, only available by paying a monthly subscription. The feature was the ability to see which specific device triggered the alarm. I just started to notice that it would tell me the alarm was triggered, but would not tell me which device. When I finally reached out to them, they said that to stay in business as a company they had to change features and pricing options and that I would have to pay for the subscription to gain access again to a feature that I previously had since the time I purchased the system.

obviously, I paid a bit of money for the hardware, so to suddenly lose a feature that is a pretty core part of the functionality and be told I have to pay more and I’m going to get access to it is pretty shady business practice in my opinion. They gave me a discount for the subscription for the first year, but that does not solve the problem.