LATEST UPDATE MAY 6, 2023
The current version of the Tailwind app for iPhones is V2.42. If you have this version of the app, it is now safe to update your iPhone to the latest iOS version available. You can check to see if you have the latest version of the app by going to the app store and searching for "Tailwind Smart". Select it and see if it says "OPEN" or "UPDATE". If it says "OPEN" you have the latest version.
You can also check the version code in the Tailwind app by tapping the top left corner to bring up the main menu. The version code is shown at the bottom of that menu.
Previous Update
Apple developer support has informed us of some undocumented changes implemented by Apple that impact background location tracking, which is necessary for auto-open / close to function. Apparently they are not at liberty to discuss what those changes are, but they did suggest some setting changes within our app to address the issue. Initial testing confirms the issue with iOS 16.4 is resolved. We are are making some necessary additional adjustments to our app and will be releasing the update ASAP.
iOS 16.4 has now been released. If you update to iOS 16.4 before the next Tailwind app update is released, you will definitely break your auto-open feature. We will keep this article updated and we will push a notification through the app once the updated Tailwind app is available. The changes needed are NOT trivial and we are working as fast as we can to implement and test them.
Original Article
Unfortunately Apple is doing it again :(
Our team has been testing iOS 16.4 beta releases and has reported significant bugs to Apple. We are not the only ones. Other app developers from other companies have been reporting similar problems to Apple.
At this time, we ask that you DO NOT update to iOS 16.4 when it comes out if you use the auto-open / close features of Tailwind as you arrive / leave home. They will stop functioning reliably if you update to iOS 16.4.
If you have already installed the iOS 16.4 public beta you should be able to roll back to iOS 16.3.1 by following these instructions from Apple https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203282
We hope Apple fixes these bugs before they fully release iOS 16.4. We wanted to get the message out to our customers proactively in case they do not fix them before releasing it.
According to some of the most knowledgeable people in the business of background location tracking, this is "going to break thousands of apps".
You may recall back on iOS 15.0 through 15.2 when Apple broke background location tracking. That one even locked some Tesla owners out of their vehicles.
We will send further notifications through the Tailwind app notifications and we will update this article as we learn more about this situation.
Scott
Comments
43 comments
Thanks for the feedback Tom. Please send a bug report if something fails so we can address it quickly.
Thank you for the update. Btw, is launching the Tailwind app before or after IOS update? Do I still need to update also the firmware of the sensor? Thanks
Garage door didn't auto-close this morning when my spouse's car left for work. She sent a bug report from the iOS app.
I don't know if it matters, but she updated the Tailwind app on her iPhone before updating to iOS 16.4 last night. Active HomeKit Hub is Apple TV 4k 3rd generation (2022) 128GB version running tvOS 16.4. Homekit is running the (newer) architecture update (which had been working fine with Tailwind before iOS 16.4).
Auto-close distance is 250 feet.
app version c.v 2.40(9)
H/W Revision No V.1.3
Model/FW Ver. IQ3/9.97
Location based services: Enabled (set to Always)
Bluetooth access for app is enabled
Cellular Data access for app is enabled
HI Aaron. I see the bug report. Please thank your spouse for sending it. I have the appropriate developers reviewing it already. She may have discovered a bug. If it's what I think it is, it should not happen again (could be a one time thing), and we will update the app so it doesn't happen again.
To be safe I would launch the app after the iOS update. We don't know what Apple might change / reset. Bottom line is just simply launch the app once. No need to keep it running. Just one launch will make sure everything is synced back up again. Probably not even necessary but just in case.
Thank you Scott for the feedback. I highly appreciate it.
My pleasure!
Hi Scott,
When she came home today, the garage didn't open either. She submitted another bug report.
So, I rebooted everything: the Tailwind control module, all Homekit hubs, and all iPhones. She also went through the motions of performing a firmware update on the sensor.
Tailwind auto-open and auto-close are working fine now.
Thanks,
Aaron
Can report that auto-open worked this evening with 16.5b1, though auto-close *didn’t* succeed when I left earlier. That could be due to any number of factors, so I may try again tomorrow, otherwise when I definitely go out on Sunday. Thanks again, Scott and the whole team! Top-notch transparency and follow-up as always. 👍🏼
Thanks Francesco. Please let me know if you have any further issues.
It auto-closed on 16.5b1!
Scott Riesebosch
So this article was great and helped with issues I was seeing. The only down side is I had to delete the app all together and reinstall it. This solved all of the issues I was seeing and was working great in all cases for a few days. But....
Somehow it gets back to the state where shortcuts does not work again.It says it fails to communicate with the app. I am sure it is all because of the iOS update to 16.4. If I delete the app and reinstall it everything starts working again. Power cycling the phone does not fix it. running from the app itself works fine, just none of the shortcuts work.
I have
app version 2.42
iOS 16.4.1(a)
Model/FW ver IQ3/9.97
Hi Sam,
Yeah Shortcuts is a black hole. If you do a Google Search on "iOS shortcuts not working" or similar search you will find that Shortcuts in general has so many problems it is staggering. It also changes regularly. A shortcut will work perfectly fine, then just suddenly stop working. Sometimes a phone restart fixes it. Sometimes a hard reset fixes it. Sometimes re-installing the app fixes it. Sometimes it fixes itself after a few days.
There isn't anything we can do from our side that I am aware of to remedy the problem because it appears to be widespread and on Apple's side of things. My recommendation would be to give up on Shortcuts if possible, and try to do everything through the Apple Home app instead, leveraging our HomeKit integration. Apple seems to have that working better than Shortcuts.
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