Widget: hU2 - Hue Light Controller

Regrettably I've had to remove 'hU2' from app store, so just wanted to provide an explanation for any current users, especially the users who had been using it successfully for a long time only to see it 'mysteriously' disappear.
The problem is technical, so bear with me.

1. The common Phillips Hue API that hU2 uses to control lights is unencrypted and, unfortunately, *cannot* support encrypted traffic.

2. Garmin, in order to comply with Apple and more broadly, industry best-practices, will be enforcing a rule that *requires* the connection from the watch to the destination server (in this case the Phillips Hue hub) take place over an encrypted channel.


Point 2 is a great thing as it will help keep your data secure. Unfortunately, it is incompatible with point 1.

Phillips does have a separate API for Hue lights that can use an encrypted channel, however, it requires getting approval from Philips before it can be used. I've put in a request for approval, but haven't heard back, and given that I'm just a single developer, I'm not optimistic here.

In the interest of not scare-mongering about point 1, I will say that, despite being unencrypted, the channel is still fairly secure due to the connection being non-routable, meaning that it cannot by its nature go over the Internet. You'd have to worry about a 'local' packet sniffer, but if you're using something like WPA, for example, the encryption would be happening at a lower level, still protecting you. So don't fret, I'm definitely not.


So that's where things stand now, at an impasse.

If anything changes, I'll update here. Until then, thanks for checking out the app.


hU2
2017-2018

Hi, I was curious if you would be willing to make the source public for your app. I would like to develop/expand off what you have already done.

Thanks,

Just open-sourced the repo here: https://github.com/rconradharris/hU2 (also open-sourced Daylight Left for good measure here https://github.com/rconradharris/DaylightLeft)