Install SOMA Connect software – Help Center

Installation

Download the latest SOMA Connect software SD Card image:

Version 2.3.2

Download link: https://we.tl/t-890arcnHmz password: GetYourSoma
md5 hash:
- 2.3.2.soma.connect.zip 3da2f8abaff2fe6d73b9ae4e9de826cc
- 2.3.2.soma.connect.img f9444ecccc547680d469ed78088da836

NOTE:

Some users have reported HomeKit "no response" issue with the SOMA Connect Raspberry firmware 2.3.2 but we have not been able to reproduce it on our side which means that it is really hard to provide a fix. Seems that something changed in HomeKit what is causing this issue or something is cached in the iCloud which prevents the SOMA Connect to work after updating the Raspberry firmware. So far it seems that they have been able to solve it with the below steps after updating the firmware to 2.3.2:

Remove the SOMA Connect bridge from the Home app and Reset HomeKit Cache in the Smart Shades app
Create a new temporary “Home" in the Home app and install the SOMA Connect and motors there
Restart the phone
Remove the SOMA Connect bridge from the temporary home in Home app
Add the SOMA Connect and motors back to the original "Home"
No Response issue should be gone

With the new SOMA Connect U1 users have not reported this issue so it seems really related to the case where older version of Raspberry Connect firmware has been used followed by a firmware update (and even in this case this has happened to only few users).

Version 2.3.1

Download link: https://we.tl/t-Ov6ee2LSJs password: GetYourSoma
md5 hash:
- 2.3.1.soma.connect.zip 57b82fc5651348a1447a8aeaa8042985
- 2.3.1.soma.connect.img d3cd9fd5b0424a1e0c94460a574ab22d

Compatibility

Raspberry Pi Zero W
Raspberry Pi Zero WH
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B V1.2
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+
Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 1 GB RAM
Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 2 GB RAM
Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 4 GB RAM
Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 8 GB RAM
Raspberry Pi 400 Desktop

Instructions for writing to SD card

Download and install the software for writing the image to the SD Card (for Linux, Windows and MacOS): https://www.balena.io/etcher/
Select the image in the Etcher program
Plug out the SD Card from the Raspberry and plug it into your computer
Select target in the Etcher program
Click on the Flash button
Follow the setup instructions here

Changelog

Submit a Support Request to request a new feature or to report a bug.

2.3.2 (2023-08-09)

Support for SOMA Smart Shades 3
Support for Battery Level in Apple Home app

2.3.1 (2022-03-07)

Support for SOMA Tilt closing direction setting (requires SOMA Tilt firmware 2.3.1 and Smart Shades app version 2.3.1 or newer)
Network settings improvements in the Smart Shades app (requires Smart Shades app version 2.3.1 or newer)
- Wi-Fi connection status check improvements
- Wi-Fi country
- Additional Wi-Fi network information like mac address, frequency, channel and quality
- Wi-Fi connection IP address
- Ethernet connection IP address
HTTP API: added "gen" property to the "/list_devices" endpoint output showing the hardware version of the device, current values are: 1, 2, 2S
Simplified status LED blinking logic
- On Raspberry Pi 3A+/3B/3B+/4B check the indicator LEDs near the SD card slot
  - The red LED has to be blinking when the SOMA Connect software is running
    - It is blinking with half a second intervals if there is no network connection
    - It is blinking with two second intervals if there is network connection
- On Raspberry Pi Zero W/Zero 2 W check the green indicator LED (remove the top cover)
  - The green LED has to be blinking when the SOMA Connect software is running
    - It is blinking with half a second intervals if there is no network connection
    - It is blinking with two second intervals if there is network connection

2.3.0 (2021-11-25)

Fixed communication issues between the Smart Shades iOS app and the SOMA Connect when configuring Wi-Fi network and the connection gets dropped in 30 seconds
Exposed solar panel light level in the HTTP API

2.2.8 (2021-07-05)

Fixed compatibility issue with the Smart Shades devices with pre 1.5.1 firmware
Fixed an issue where sometimes not able to connect to the Smart Shades app
Fixed incorrect red LED indication for wired connection after disconnecting from Wi-Fi

2.2.7 (2021-05-03)

Root partition size increased to 2GB
- Root partition free space in version 2.2.6 was too low which may have caused issues for few users
Fixed various crashes caused by malformed Bluetooth packets
Fixed a crash caused by incomplete Wi-Fi network access point scan packet
Smart Shades app and SOMA Connect communication improvements in case Wi-Fi connection establishment fails (e.g. when entering invalid password)
Rewrote connection queue logic in case multiple devices are controlled at the same time to improve stability

2.2.6 (2021-04-18)

SD card image updated to Raspberry OS release 2021-03-04 which brings support for the latest revisions of Raspberry Pi 4B boards including the 8GB version
HTTP API improvements
- Added type=shade/tilt to the /list_devices endpoint

2.2.5 (2021-04-13)

HTTP API improvements
- Possibility to move motors using Morning Mode
- Possibility to close SOMA Tilt devices in the upwards direction and to reporting back the current closing direction
- Improved the speed of getting shade's/blind's battery level
- Reporting battery charge level as % in addition to mV
- More information about the new parameters is available in the HTTP API documentation

2.2.0 (2020-09-15)

Added support for SOMA Tilt 2
Added support for using Morning Mode (for Smart Shades 1/2 and Tilt 2) and Close Upwards (Tilt 1/2) custom functionality from HomeKit. You can use these custom characteristics through the Smart Shades app or through a third party HomeKit app (e.g. Eve for HomeKit)
Now it's possible to view SOMA Connect version number in the Smart Shades app
Now it's possible to shut down SOMA Connect from the Smart Shades app
Fixed issue where it was not possible to control devices having a name consisting only of numbers

2.1.1 (2020-06-23)

Small improvements and bug fixes

Improved initialisation of the Raspberry LEDs
Do not handle shade discovery and HomeKit bridge before network addresses are ready
Do not initialise HomeKit bridge before network addresses are ready

2.0.12 (2020-05-13)

Fixed a crash introduced in SOMA Connect version 2.0.10 which caused instability for some users

2.0.10 (2020-05-03)

Improved the speed of getting shade's/blind's position. The improvement applies to SOMA Smart Shades devices with firmware 1.8.0 and newer and SOMA Tilt devices. This improvement is beneficial for
- Apple HomeKit users - device status in Home app gets updated faster.
- Google Home users - "Hey Google, are my blinds open?" gets answered more quickly.
- HTTP API users - /get_shade_state/"MAC" endpoint responds faster.
SOMA Connect acts now as a HomeKit bridge. Previously you had to pair each Smart Shades device separately, now the pairing has to be done only once. This improves the reliability of connecting and controlling larger number of Smart Shades devices with HomeKit.
Rewrote the Apple Bonjour protocol component which now has improved handling of changes in network addresses assigned to SOMA Connect.

2.0.8 (2020-04-16)

Detecting Raspberry Pi devices which have broken Bluetooth
Fixed Bluetooth instability / error: Frame reassembly failed
Fixed Smart Shades get current position error with Google Smart Home integration
Now removing the magic "0" from the device name if present

Troubleshooting

balenaEtcher version 1.5.58 is not fully compatible with MacOS Catalina yet (see https://github.com/balena-io/etcher/issues/2833 for more info). This issue has been fixed in balenaEtcher version 1.5.63

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