First Alert by Resideo

We just swapped out our home smoke detectors. We had to migrate to First Alert from Nest Protect due to Google ending the product. The App is super simple to follow during device setup process. It’s nearly bulletproof—unless there is an interruption in the setup process (like a network problem or a taking a phone call during the process). If you take too long, the device will register on the company’s database but it will not allow setup in the App. A 25 minute phone call to First Alert, proving ownership and sharing the device’s MAC, solved that setup issue. The App is straightforward to use—all devices appear on the dashboard. We did have a defective unit that decided to sound off in the middle of the night. Because all devices are on interconnect, all the alarms went off. It was VERY difficult to stop the false alarm from the App. We tried to silence the bad unit and finally had to grab the ladder and physically remove the device (and yank out the battery pack). I didn’t remove a star from the rating because I do not know if it was an App problem or a Network problem.

I have used the Resideo app religiously for years and have been thrilled with the ability to control my thermostats with my phone. It’s a very handy feature when I’m not able to physically get up to change the temperature. Yet, this past week I suddenly could not log into the Resideo app anymore. Each time I tried to recover my account the Resideo app indicates the account does not exist. When I tried to create a new account I was forced to Resideo’s new app “First Alert by Resideo”. The problem? I cannot connect my thermostat to the new app because the app indicates the thermostat is already connected to an app (i.e. “Resideo”). If I want to connect to “First Alert by Resideo”, then I first need to disconnect from “Resideo”. How can I do that when I’ve been booted out of the Resideo app? I’ve even gone so far as to factory reset my thermostats, but I still cannot get them to connect to “First Alert by Resideo” because they (somehow) are still connected to the Resideo app even after a factory reset. Now I have to call customer support to try to re-establish the ability to control my thermostats with my app. Seems simple enough, but this is a much larger headache than I would’ve expected for the price I paid for the thermostats.

I didn’t have a choice in using this app to connect the Honeywell T6 in my new build. I didn’t think their apps could get any worse than the TCC app we used at the old house on an older model with fewer bells and whistles, but this one is worse. Setup was TERRIBLE - you get asked ~20 questions about your heating system that no homeowner knows - I had my system’s manual in front of me and couldn’t answer the questions at all! - and there’s no option to skip them. I’m not even sure what most of them are asking!!! From a UX standpoint, the app gives incorrect information about how to connect to HomeKit, telling me to use a menu item that doesn’t exist on my thermostat (haven’t figured that one out yet) and it keeps bringing the enable notifications dialog modal up to go to my settings 2-3x every minute or so which I have already said “Don’t Allow”. While this looks like a native modal, the poor grammar suggests that it’s something the app designed and is using native app commands to push. Super annoying! So I can manually see and control my thermostat from the other room now; the rest of the app is terrible and it hasn’t solved my problems at all. Honeywell - you need to realize that poor UX is a huge reason why people flock to Nest instead of you. We will be replacing this unit with one in the next few weeks because of the terrible experiences.