Weber Connect app?

[mtomas]

Here's some interesting dialogue I had with Weber Support about the new Weber Connect app via email today. Here's the exchange:

Me:
"With regards to the new Weber Connect app, will it be able to control the grill remotely when my phone is not connected to the same wifi network the grill is connected to? e.g. if i leave the house to run an errand? What functions of the grill will the Weber Connect app be able to control? turn on and off? change temps? automatically changes temps after a certain amount of time or when the the temperature of the food hits a certain point?"

Response:
"Weather connected via Weber connect, or Bluetooth, the grill can only be monitored remotely. You can monitor your grill, via any wi-fi connection, but it not recommended to leave the grill unattended for any amount of time.

The grill can only be controlled at the grill. There is no remote control, only monitoring. "

I guess I had assumed/was hoping the new Weber Connect app would allow for remote control of the SmokeFire in some way - and that it would at least provide parity with other competitor apps (GMG, Rec Tec, Traeger, Yoder, etc). I'm kind of having a hard time believing the support rep given how much Weber has touted the amount of thought/research/testing that went into the design and the publicized utilization of JuneOS.

Just seems like it would be a big miss. Think maybe the rep was misinformed? Anyone have any detail on the Weber Connect app that can confirm/deny?

I was ready to pull the trigger on a pre-order, but this is definitely giving me pause as remote control is an important feature to me.

 

[mtomas]

Just a quick follow up on this after more dialogue with Weber Support:

Me:
"Just to confirm, the Weber connect app will NOT allow a user to change temperatures on the SmokeFire while away from the grill? It will only allow a user to view/monitor the temperature? "

Response:
"Yes, toe Weber connect is a monitoring app. The grill can not be controlled via the app. "

That's pretty clear

 

[primeone]

Welome to the forum @mtomas - That is certainly a disappointment. I have that feature on the Traeger and I do occasionally make temp adjustments using the app. I don't think this would be a deal breaker for me though.

 

[tsconner]

Unfortunately that is definately a deal breaker for me. I was really looking forward to this one too.

 

[mtomas]

Despite my initial disappointment with this, I went ahead and pre-ordered an ex-6 anyways

I was seriously considering a competitor's pellet unit with a similar temp range plus all the remote capabilities, but it would have cost me nearly twice as much.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the only things i'd miss out on would be 1) the ability to preheat the grill before I get home and 2) the ability to change temps while I'm away - which honestly, I'm not even sure how often I'd do that anyways...

I just couldn't justify the extra $1k for those 2 things, especially when the SmokeFire brings so many other innovative ideas and positive design elements to the table.

Plus... It's all software driven anyways, so there's always the chance the functionality gets added later on.

 

[mtomas]

One more follow-up on this. Noticed that someone referenced this thread and posted a similar question to Weber on the amazon product listing. Weber responded with the following:

"Question:
Amazon description says temperature can be controlled within app. dialogue with weber rep in smokefire forum says it's not possible. which is it?
Answer:
Hello! Temperature control via app will not be available at the launch of the unit, but there are updates/upgrades to the app that will roll-out after launch. Thanks!

Weber Grills
Manufacturer · December 30, 2019"

So... sounds like there's hope after all! woohoo!

 

[TechDadCO_dotcom]

One more follow-up on this. Noticed that someone referenced this thread and posted a similar question to Weber on the amazon product listing. Weber responded with the following:

"Question:
Amazon description says temperature can be controlled within app. dialogue with weber rep in smokefire forum says it's not possible. which is it?
Answer:
Hello! Temperature control via app will not be available at the launch of the unit, but there are updates/upgrades to the app that will roll-out after launch. Thanks!

Weber Grills
Manufacturer · December 30, 2019"

So... sounds like there's hope after all! woohoo!

That is promising! I have the June Oven and love the remote controlling and preheating. That will be a great bonus when Weber pushes that out with a software update.

 

[DanaM]

One more follow-up on this. Noticed that someone referenced this thread and posted a similar question to Weber on the amazon product listing. Weber responded with the following:

"Question:
Amazon description says temperature can be controlled within app. dialogue with weber rep in smokefire forum says it's not possible. which is it?
Answer:
Hello! Temperature control via app will not be available at the launch of the unit, but there are updates/upgrades to the app that will roll-out after launch. Thanks!

Weber Grills
Manufacturer · December 30, 2019"

So... sounds like there's hope after all! woohoo!

On the marketing card, under ‘REMOTE WIFI ACCESS’, I recieved with my EX6, it references that temp can be controlled from the app., however it must be a future update. I can not change temp from the app.

 

[MnLakeBum]

I'm guessing that this App will get better and have more functionality going forward although turning it on remotely is something the lawyers might not allow. For me, it's not a big deal that I can't change temperatures remotely as I'm normally not away from it when cooking for more than a couple hours max.

 

[arod757]

The app for android can't even monitor a custom cook. I tried smoking a burger yesterday to see how it would work before I threw on a prime steak to reverse sear. So I tried to set the custom temperature alert to 145. When I tried to go to the next screen, it just sent me back to the home screen. Weber says they're aware of the bug and working on it.

On the plus side, I just monitored the temp manually by checking my phone periodically, pulled the burger off and set the temp to 500 on the grill. It got to 500 inside of 5 minutes. Seared the outside of the burger a minute on each side, and it was delicious.

 

[Brian Vallotton]

Hi guys, I am of a different mindset. I don't expect much at all from the app. I knew that they were not on top of it and I think it was the reason for many delays. I don't care about anything except a reading on the current temps. Of course I do not claim to be a meister of any kind! On my Traeger I had been using a remote temperature app that is called "Solis" that works with my iPhone. So I feel good about just having that. The other stuff will probably come and I don't know if I will ever use it. The recipes and such are great, but I pretty much don't get into all the variations. Just my take. God bless.

 

[Bear5414]

Just a heads up, Weber just put out an update for iPhone 0.9.2, not sure what’s changed yet.

 

[Bear5414]

Looks like I have access to some other parts of the app that weren’t available to me yesterday. Previously I could only monitor what I was doing on the grill. Now I have access to some of the cooking programs for specific items ie Steak, rib roast, brisket. Guess we’re heading in the right direction.

 

[CEd4jets]

Seems the ap should offersupport that their competitors offer like the ability to control temp. I installed the update on Thursday and it does offer the cooking programs but nothing else

 

[SoCalMan]

Seems the ap should offersupport that their competitors offer like the ability to control temp. I installed the update on Thursday and it does offer the cooking programs but nothing else

While I expect a lot more out of Weber in general, reality is the competition has a few years head start. I think we will see a comparable app experience by late Spring/early Summer. Based on their numbering scheme for the version (0.92), the app is still technically in beta.