Notify no longer working for local server?

[877dev]

trafficstars

As per title, I am no longer getting in app notifications from this node. Have they been disabled somehow?

Pressing the inject node used to work, now it does not. Although still shows as connected.

[Peterkn2001]

Blynk legacy local server relied on Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) for notifications. GCM was deprecated by Google on June 20th 2023.

The simplest solution is to use an alternative messaging service such as Pushover.

Pete.

[877dev]

Hi @Peterkn2001

Thanks for that info. Just to clarify, is there a way to re-integrate another messaging service into the Blynk local server that you know of?

Also, I have recently been using Home Assistant and have found that really useful having critical alert notification, so I do have an alternative in place.

[Peterkn2001]

is there a way to re-integrate another messaging service into the Blynk local server that you know of? Not that I’m aware of, and I doubt if the app end of the messaging service would be compatible with anything else.

I have recently been using Home Assistant I think that HA is going to be the way I go at some point, I just need some time to set-up a HA server and do some testing before I decide to bite the bullet and drop Blynk altogether.

Pete.

[gablau]

I agree with what Pete says.

In this class the server sends notifications GCMWrapper

It should be replaced with the new Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) or some other alternative

FCM is probably more complicated but it would allow you to send notifications to all registered client apps, with pushover you would perhaps only notify a single device/user. Maybe a local server doesn't have many users anyway

The server source code is here if @877dev wants to try

[gablau]

I think that HA is going to be the way I go at some point, I just need some time to set-up a HA server and do some testing before I decide to bite the bullet and drop Blynk altogether.

Pete.

I'm not a fan of HA, the system is heavy and very complicated to install, Blynk (with the local server) is much lighter and can also run on slightly dated hw.

[Peterkn2001]

I’m an iOS user, and don’t want to jailbreak my devices, so local server isn’t an option for me. I get a free Pro subscription from Blynk for moderating the forum, but only use it as a Ui for my Node-Red / MQTT home automation system. Blynk have recently scrapped new sign-ups to their Maker plan, so it’s either use the very restricted free subscription or pay $99 per month for the Pro subscription. That s fine for me with the free Pro subscription, but it’s killing new maker community users. Blynk hasn’t announced any of these changes in advance, and seems to be doing this to prevent people using the Maker plan for small business use.

I looked ay HA about 4 years ago and didn’t like the way that they made changes without really announcing them, and without the option to opt-out of the new way of working. Now it seems exactly the opposite, HA is far more open with the update notifications and configurability, Blynk makes changes and doesn’t tell anyone until users realise that something has changed.

TBH, HA is total overkill for the UI that I want but Blynk going in the wrong direction for me, so it’s time to look again at HA and see if it’s a better fit for me.

Pete.

[877dev]

I'm still using Blynk legacy as a front end on iOS 18.1.1 with no jailbreak. I'm guessing it's vanished off the AppStore so I'm living life dangerously.

I agree HA is bit overkill for a front end, I had a dabble a couple of months ago running it on a separate Pi4 as HA OS, and it's sucked me in and now I think I'll stick with it. There is a learning curve and some decisions to be made between using Node Red flows vs automations, but overall I do like it.

Blynk has just changed so much beyond recognition, the email updates don't make sense to me anymore as it seems so corporate and buzz wordy, I'm definitely making the move away from it now.