How To Download Apps On Guest Mode
Hedda Jude
I purchased a Roku Express HD for my small B&B. The guest mode seemed a perfect solution as it logs the guests out of their accounts upon their departure date. As I don't want my guests to have to go to the bother of installing specific apps, I spent a lot of time setting up the device with the apps that I wanted to provide (and removing those that I didn't want).
However, after the guest signs out and I put it back into guest mode ready for the next guest, the installed apps revert to the default set and I have to set it all up again. Is there any way of getting the Roku to remember the apps I install for guest mode?
Moving to Guest Mode allows the guest to sign in with the guest's own Roku account. When they do that, they won't have any apps that were on the device, but rather, the device with set it up with the apps that are actually tied to the guest's Roku account. So any that were there would be gone, unless of course they had them on their Roku devices at home.
Think about like this. Suppose I handed you a Roku device. Then you tied it to your account. All my apps would go away, and all your apps would replace them. It's how Roku works. Guest mode is simply a temporary way to allow that, with it reverting back after a period of time.
If you're wanting to provide a Roku device with apps that you determine, and not what the guest determines, then that's not really guest mode. That's "here, use this setup." If that's what you're after, then set up a second Roku account and tie the B&B Roku to that account, and set up the apps you want. Then they will have a pre-set group of apps.
Sadly, the article on setting up guest mode does not answer my question. I would like the Roku to remember the channels that I have installed for my guests and not revert to a "default" set every time a guest signs out. I cannot afford the time to go through and re-install channels (and delete others) between every guest.
It really doesn't look like you can create your own "Guest" setup. The default Roku setup is always enabled when you are in Guest Mode. Your guests can add new channels on their own, and perhaps you could create a little flyer with instructions on how to do that, but there really isn't a way that I can see to customize the "Guest Mode" and have it stay.
Yes, this is how I understand it now as well. I think the OP was hoping that he could set up a "default" guest mode account that would be there when no one was signed in. However, he cannot alter Roku's own default setup. Once someone signs out of Guest Mode, the device goes back to factory settings. I think the OP wanted to provide the apps that HE thinks are most important, not the apps that are presented by default on the Roku before logging in. I get what he is wanting. I also realize it's not what Roku is providing in Guest Mode.
You're spot on @danitaz, that's exactly what I was hoping to do. I wanted to be able to choose the "default" apps which would be available each time the device is put into guest mode. The default selection provided by Roku contains some apps which will be of no interest to my guests and it doesn't contain others which I would expect it to. It seems that this is not possible so I will have to leave it to my guests to install apps if they need them. It would be nice to think that maybe Roku could add this feature in the future.
I thought that when guest mode was enabled, Spectrum would just be an option they would pick and all would be good. I couldn't have been more disappointed to find Spectrum not preloaded in guest mode.
I'm a bit puzzled by some of the comments on here about guest mode. On my Roku, when I put it into guest mode, I don't see an option for the guest to log into their Roku account (it's unlikely that many of my guests will have a Roku account in any case). Putting my Roku into guest mode simply wipes any previous app logins and restores the default set of apps. All it asks me for is the date when I want to log out which I set to their check-out date.
If so you could do a couple things... if you still want to use modes, you could have a rule that changes the mode to "guest" when mode manager (or something else) changes it to evening, as long as a virtual "guest" switch was on. I do something similar with "day" mode and "cloudy" mode. It works well though occasionally I have to fix an unintended consequence from the mode flipping in a nonsequential manner. This is more a function of the way some of my automations are built, not of the hub itself.
If you don't want to use modes you could just query the status of the virtual "guest" switch in your various automations, though that might be tricky if said automations had conditions based on modes but not on switches.
I'm not sure how applicable it is to your configuration but I use a combination of the Google Calendar app and presence. When a specific calendar entry is seen (in my case guest + room name) I have it set to enable presence for a guest in that room and my related automations honor that.
Brad5, your assumption is precisely what I want to do. I want the most intelligent and reliable way to implement those lights associated with guests to come on consistently when I have guests. More importantly, I would like it to pass the wife test.
I think I'd try creating a rule that flips the mode to "guest" as soon as it flips to "evening" if a virtual "guest mode" switch is on. Then you just have to make sure guest settings match evening settings +/- whatever changes you want to make, and there are no automations that get screwed up because you're in evening mode for microseconds. Also once the guest mode flips off you can either wait for mode manager to make the transition at the next interval (or however you have your modes configured) or you'd have to have a rule flip you from guest back to evening.
What threw me off when I set up "day/cloudy" modes is I originally set things up to have a predictable and linear transition from one mode to the next. I had a couple rules I had to modify to handle flipping back and forth between day and cloudy.
The benefit of this would be I could set it up in any of the other modes, not affecting the current mode. The action would take effect when Hubitat changed to the evening or guest mode. Ideally, I could force a change in mode if Hubitat was in evening mode and force it to switch to the guest mode or vice-versa.
I have a virtual switch on a dashboard. I can then do custom actions triggered by that.
One of the triggered actions is to make a virtual presence device change to 'arrived'. That keeps the mode from changing to Away and keeps HSM from arming if I leave but the guest is still there.
I also set up a dashboard and mobile notification so we can toggle presence manually if we know they are gone (with us) and this lets me turn off lights and arm the alarm in those cases. I have another rule set up that detects this case (using a hub variable) and sets them back to present when they were manually toggled away and a door opens (I make the assumption this is the guest since there's no harm in getting it wrong unless it's an intruder I suppose - but odds are low and our area is pretty safe overall).
@pnajar - do you mean the last paragraph? To toggle presence and then have it return the state later? If so then, this may be a bit more complicated than you need (and maybe there's an easier way to do this) but the general idea is that I have a rule that notifies my wife and I when we leave and one of the guest presence devices is present. That rule also sets a boolean that I use to know that we've been notified. If we've been notified and the presence changes to away, I then set another boolean indicating the guest was manually changed. Finally when an exterior door is open and that manually changed boolean is true, I flip the guest back to present under the assumption they've returned. I also flip the notify variable back to false when either my wife or I return home. Below are screenshots of those rules in that order.
There are several LONG threads about how guest mode doesn't do what people need/want it do to. I'm wondering if there are many users who find guest mode useful? I don't. Like many others, I have a vacation rental property....and in theory guest mode would be the perfect solution. But in its current configuration it is absolutely worthless. I have disabled guest mode because it creates too much work for guests and doesn't work at all for owners who provide streaming service like Comcast or Spectrum cable. As it stands, my guests now constantly leave my property with their accounts still signed in, but I don't really have a choice. It's a mess.
1. Owner sets up default apps for guest mode (not Roku's default apps). Guests have the option to install more apps if they want, but each owner probably has a solid understanding of the most used apps in his/her area. AppleTV, Netflix, Prime, Hulu, YouTube etc.
2. Owner should be able to log into, and lock, select apps. For example, if an owner provides streaming service from Comcast or Spectrum Cable, the owner logs into their account on the app in guest mode and then LOCKS that app. As it stands now, the owner cannot even pre-install their cable company app, let alone sign into it. And the owner can't just leave their account access info for guests to use!