[Daniel Irving]

Anyone else find it a frustrating app to use?

LED's do kit work properly

BBM and SMS contacts are not showing up.

For all the hype this app gets, it does not function at all like it is supposed to for me.

Yes, I updated, and restarted my phone and the app to get it to background sync again.

5 minutes later, it falls back out of sync.

Waste of 3 bucks.

Posted via CB10

[KermEd]

I saw the app. I though eh - no, not useful...

I just haven't seen it do anything worth paying for.

Posted via CB from my LE

[Daniel Irving]

Kit=not lol.. typos

Posted via CB10

[Smiley88]

Anyone else find it a frustrating app to use?

LED's do kit work properly

BBM and SMS contacts are not showing up.

For all the hype this app gets, it does not function at all like it is supposed to for me.

Yes, I updated, and restarted my phone and the app to get it to background sync again.

5 minutes later, it falls back out of sync.

Waste of 3 bucks.

Posted via CB10

Here is the check list

1. make sure you set all the permissions to allow in the Settings app, security privacy, application permissions for Power Tools

2. for LED you MUST set the LED and Sound to ON in the Settings app in the Notification screen. If you set them to OFF Power Tools will not blink the LED or play the ringtone

3. For Social accounts such as WhatsApp, Facebook you must turn on the Hub notifications in the Applications Settings -> Apps and BBM Notifications screen in Power Tools. Once you enable these you will have to wait until you received a new message and then you will get a Hub message. Follow the message to setup the LED. For BBM Contacts use the same procedure.

[Daniel Irving]

I have thoroughly followed these instructions Smiley.

It just does not want to work for me.

I have SMS VIPED, BBM VIPed, Gmail VIPed.

All notifications are in and hub is on.

No contacts show up in BBM.

Had many messages from multiple contacts and nothing.

My Gmail is tracking the count, but no notifications.

I don't know what else to say?

I love the app, but just want the main function of the LED and sound to work 100%...

Otherwise a great app.

Posted via CB10

[willie44]

I also don't see any BBM contacts either.


I see that after getting the alert in the Hub saying Power Tools finds a contact.

Posted via CB10

[Smiley88]

I also don't see any BBM contacts either.


I see that after getting the alert in the Hub saying Power Tools finds a contact.

Posted via CB10

That screen is for linking an existing BBM Contact. When you received an BBM Hub notification just Open the message and then enter the contacts name and then select the LED and Ringtone. Do not use the Link button unless you want to link the found contact with an existing BBM Contact.

[Smiley88]

I have thoroughly followed these instructions Smiley.

It just does not want to work for me.

I have SMS VIPED, BBM VIPed, Gmail VIPed.

All notifications are in and hub is on.

No contacts show up in BBM.

Had many messages from multiple contacts and nothing.

My Gmail is tracking the count, but no notifications.

I don't know what else to say?

I love the app, but just want the main function of the LED and sound to work 100%...

Otherwise a great app.

Posted via CB10

Is the LED ON in the Settings application in the Notification screen? If Gmail account is tracking the new messages then Power Tools is working correctly. You also need to set the LED to OFF for Gmail otherwise the Hub and Power Tools will blink the LED which will cause problems.

For BBM Contact to use up ask someone to BBM you. You should get a Hub message. If you do not then check the Application Settings and in the App and BBM Notification screen make sure both items are checked.

If you continue to have problems send email to me at [email protected]

[KermEd]

Sounds like the Built in help could use an uplift?

Posted via CB from my LE

[Johberry]

I understand how it could be frustrating because I know it took me playing around with my Settings to figure it out. Even though it does prompt you to go to Settings and Configure so that the LED and sound main settings need to be off in order for the LED and sound settings from Power Tools to work, I was like, what the hell. After an hour of tinkering around and having my significant other help with testing it work properly by sending me BBMs, texts, and emails, I was finally able to get everything to work like I wanted.

Posted via CB10

[Daniel Irving]

Sounds like the Built in help could use an uplift?

Posted via CB from my LE

Most definitely.


Turn this in, make sure these are off.

Also I noticed Power Tools is still in syncing itself.

Every time I check my cpu, it's not running, and not even idle. It's nowhere in the list.

Posted via CB10

[Smiley88]

Most definitely.


Turn this in, make sure these are off.

Also I noticed Power Tools is still in syncing itself.

Every time I check my cpu, it's not running, and not even idle. It's nowhere in the list.

Posted via CB10

From my experience with headless apps sometimes it requires 2 to 3 resets to get all the headless apps started.

[bassicmama]

I am also finding it frustrating. I'm getting a phantom notification (sound and never ending LED blinking) when nothing has happened...no new email, message, nothing. It's a white LED with two quiet chimes. I deleted the reminder.dat file in device->misc like the cb post suggested. Reset my phone. Checked all my contacts settings multiple times. Also just found out that it's been blocking some of my junk mail without my knowledge. I did not set that up on purpose...I don't want to miss important emails that may arrive there before I've had a chance to add them to my safe list. But in the Blocked Message Log I can see a few emails that should not have been blocked, but I cannot retrieve them. And I get ring tones and LEDS on some contacts, but not all. I really hate the way BlackBerry 10 makes us do all these workarounds to try to get decent notifications.

Posted via CB10

[trsbbs]

Sometimes doing so many things leads to over complication and complexity. This leads to issues.

Posted via Verizon Z10 running OS v10.2.1.2174

[Smiley88]

I am also finding it frustrating. I'm getting a phantom notification (sound and never ending LED blinking) when nothing has happened...no new email, message, nothing. It's a white LED with two quiet chimes. I deleted the reminder.dat file in device->misc like the cb post suggested. Reset my phone. Checked all my contacts settings multiple times. Also just found out that it's been blocking some of my junk mail without my knowledge. I did not set that up on purpose...I don't want to miss important emails that may arrive there before I've had a chance to add them to my safe list. But in the Blocked Message Log I can see a few emails that should not have been blocked, but I cannot retrieve them. And I get ring tones and LEDS on some contacts, but not all. I really hate the way BlackBerry 10 makes us do all these workarounds to try to get decent notifications.

Posted via CB10

The white led is the reminder alarms.. This is created when you set Repeat on in the LED profile. If you do not want repeat then edit all your LED profiles and set the Repeat to NONE.

The only way Power Tools block your messages is when you enable Message Blocker. Otherwise it does not handle the message.
If you have the Message Blocker on then it will filter out any keywords that you have for the filter. That could explain why your messages are blocked.

[Johberry]

From my experience with headless apps sometimes it requires 2 to 3 resets to get all the headless apps started.

This is my first headless app and I've just experienced this. None of my LEDs and sound notifiers were working. I had my phone on Bedside mode and charged it while I slept last night. Had to reset twice, but still didn't work. Thought maybe it was due to some other apps, so I deleted those. Noticed my battery felt hot so I turned off the phone and did a battery pull. Sure enough after that restart, phone was good as new but better because my damn LED/sound notifiers I set with Power Tools were working again. Cheers.

Posted via CB10

[bassicmama]

My leds and sounds are working well after another reset as well. I didn't ever set up message blocker or keywords for it. I didn't see anywhere to check whether it is on though. I will look into the repeat settings, thanks for the quick response! I do love the app. Just also want consistency

Posted via CB10

[Johberry]

Sound control, for me, has been a little confusing at first. My notifications volume was turned all the way up but my Power Tools notifiers seemed relatively faint. I was like, what the hell is going on. It took me a while after some tinkering to realize that I had to use media volume to control it. I have my phone set so that the volume controls automatically control notifications, not media. Do you guys and gals think that I should set it to media control always on, for the sake of Power Tools? What is everyone else's experience? Thanks. Cheers.

Posted via CB10

[Daniel Irving]

I ended up trying a different LED/sound app and it works flawlessly, with NO confusion at all.

I deleted Power Tools until an update for an explanation, as well as the syncing issue is fixed.

Until then Hub++ is working wonders.



Posted via CB10

[Daniel Irving]

Using an app is meant for the end users enjoyment.

An app is not supposed to be a frustrating aspect of smartphone use.

It's meant to make things easier to the end user, not more complicated.

This is the most complicated app in terms of steps needing to be taken in order for an app to fully function.



Posted via CB10

[jonty12]

Using an app is meant for the end users enjoyment.

An app is not supposed to be a frustrating aspect of smartphone use.

It's meant to make things easier to the end user, not more complicated.

This is the most complicated app in terms of steps needing to be taken in order for an app to fully function.



Posted via CB10

Thanks for posting your experience. I've been a Hub++ user since I first got a BB10 back in April 2013. I've been tempted to try Power Tools (just because of the way Hub++ seems to be handling phone calls), but this convinces me to stick to what I have.

[LatinoLoco24]

To be honest, all these led apps seem to be hit or miss, with BlackBerry being the culprit for devs having to incorporate tedious work-arounds for these things to work. There seems to be limitations being put forth (whether it be amount of memory used for headless, and led color availabilities etc) and it's a nuisance. For example, Bebuzz worked flawlessly in previous os' without fidgeting and playing with various settings.

With that being said, power tools works flawlessly for me, as advertised. Leds function for every account I've set, "the wave" is perfect, flip shush works too as well as the pleasant sounds I've set for screen lock and unlock. I can't ask for more. App has been worth the purchase.

Posted via CB10

[MisterShark]

I understand how it could be frustrating because I know it took me playing around with my Settings to figure it out. Even though it does prompt you to go to Settings and Configure so that the LED and sound main settings need to be off in order for the LED and sound settings from Power Tools to work, I was like, what the hell. After an hour of tinkering around and having my significant other help with testing it work properly by sending me BBMs, texts, and emails, I was finally able to get everything to work like I wanted.

Posted via CB10

That's a bunch of work to have to go through on an end user's part. It should'nt be such a convoluted trial & error process to get something simple like a contact's LED to blink a selected color and audible tone to use a particular sound clip.

I ended up trying a different LED/sound app and it works flawlessly, with NO confusion at all.

I deleted Power Tools until an update for an explanation, as well as the syncing issue is fixed.

Until then Hub++ is working wonders.



Posted via CB10

I seem to recall using some sort of LED customization app on my old 9930 and getting things the way you wanted them was a snap: simple and straight forward. Mind you I'm not blaming Smiley necessarily because the sense I'm getting is that BB10 (and the tools available to developers) is a whole other ball game then what was likely available on BBOS. I hate how I have to jump through hoops just to set up BBM LEDs and make sure I've this to on and that to off in order to make it all work. Too much of a hassle and I'm finding I need to bump my way through most setup processes. Smiley is a responsive dev but I'm finding that I have so many questions along the way while trying to configure things that I just don't feel like spending the time trying to put into words what I'm finding vague and unclear.

Using an app is meant for the end users enjoyment.

An app is not supposed to be a frustrating aspect of smartphone use.

It's meant to make things easier to the end user, not more complicated.

This is the most complicated app in terms of steps needing to be taken in order for an app to fully function.



Posted via CB10

To be honest, all these led apps seem to be hit or miss, with BlackBerry being the culprit for devs having to incorporate tedious work-arounds for these things to work. There seems to be limitations being put forth (whether it be amount of memory used for headless, and led color availabilities etc) and it's a nuisance. For example, Bebuzz worked flawlessly in previous os' without fidgeting and playing with various settings.


Posted via CB10

The above quoted replies sum up things nicely I'm afraid.

I recall using ShortCutMe on my old 9930, using the macro creation tools in particular. I used to automate all sorts of somewhat complex multi-step processes by creating macros in that app. There was a lot of trial and error testing, and a learning curve to go through before you started to understand the logic and flow of one macro command to the next, but with that app it was expected: it was a builder's tool kit kind of app.
I bought that app with that expectation, but I did'nt buy Power Tools with the same purpose in mind.

All I am looking for is a simple and elegant app which will let me say 'this LED for this BBM contact and this color for that one'. Instead I'm looking at spending way more time than I want to in hopes that it will eventually all work the way I want it to for $3.99 and then multiple restarts in order to help ensure reliable execution?

I'm going to persevere because it's in my nature to not give up easily but I didn't think I'd need to spend so much time and tinker so much with an app I paid so much for and which is rated the way that it is.

[Daniel Irving]

I know Smiley has invested a lot of time and effort into his app.

It's not him, like was stated. It's the tools and limitations he has to work with.

Don't get me wrong. Like I stated, IF it was easier to just STAY set up and synced properly, I would still be using it.

Hub++ is basic and it functions easily.

Power tools offers so much more than LED and ringers...and the $3.99 is worth it I'm almost all cases, as it is a great app.

Except for me. I just wanted an LED/ringer app.

That's it.



Posted via CB10

[anon(5906760)]

I agree, the PowerTools app is very tedious when it comes to set-up.

I bought it over hub++ because I saw that it had the goefencing which I thought was pretty cool. Unfortunately it doesn't let you toggle wifi yet (BlackBerry hasn't allowed this) so the feature didn't serve much of a purpose to me.

I also noticed that the headless is weird sometimes. I get a non-stop flashing light for 6 seconds then the blinking stops.

I might just try hub++ if it's still on sale and wait for an update for PowerTools that will hopefully make things a little easier.

Posted via CB10