Forum Discussion

Duckee's avatar
Duckee
Joining in
14 days ago
Solved

Is the app a necessity for Hub 4? Plus other questions

I've just received an email telling me my old hub that I've had for years (Hub 2) and has mostly been fine is no longer receiving security updates and I've been offered Hub 4.

The email mentions that it can be setup and managed via Android app, but I don't want apps for things I've managed without for years.  Can I continue to manage Hub 4 via my home IP on a browser, or are there some things locked to the app that I previously accessed by browser?

I don't want an out of date hub that's not receiving security updates, but I also don't want any added marketing pzazz "smart intelligent optimisations" or however they put it (it sounds like just setting the channel option to "auto" anyway).  I want to set it how I want, without any of said "intelligent" changes ballsing things up (as they inevitably do at some point).  Is it possible to switch off said smart features from a browser?

I currently use the 2GHz channel for my Home Assistant devices and 5Ghz for my PC, laptop, home server and phone; plus guest channels for visitors, all with different SSIDs.  From what I gather the newer hubs don't compartmentalise like that anymore and it will just use one shared SSID and pick the best channel automatically.  Am I understanding that correctly and is there a way to manually override that?

These concerns aside, how have Hub 4 users found the device itself for reliability and speed?  I understand there are issues with the app, but I'm not intending to use that at all.

  • You can manage the Hub4 in exactly the same way as you do now with the Hub2, so the app is not compulsory. 

    There have in fact been reports on here of the app causing the Hub4 to stop responding properly, so you are probably better off not to try it. 

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta

    You can manage the Hub4 in exactly the same way as you do now with the Hub2, so the app is not compulsory. 

    There have in fact been reports on here of the app causing the Hub4 to stop responding properly, so you are probably better off not to try it. 

  • Tudor's avatar
    Tudor
    Very Insightful Person

    No need for the app and if you are in modem mode, like a lot of users, it does not work.

  • Thank you both for your replies.  I'll go ahead and get that hub ordered.