Skipping lock activation, it's already activated or activating

[MREInc]

Describe Your Problem:
When activating the lock in Homekit, the tile in homekit returns: opening..... and then nothing happens.

BoldLE running as child bridge and succesfully added to Homekit. After adding the bridge, the lock is added to homekit succesfully as well. It initially works but after unlocking, it stops working with the status on the tile in homekit: opening.....

To resolve this issue, I've tried:

Removed BoldLE plugin from Homebridge
Removed BoldLE bridge and lock in Homekit
Revoked access in official Bold app on iOS
Reinstalled BoldLE plugin in Homebridge
Reconfigured the plugin in Homebridge.
Added BoldLE child bridge and bold smartlock to Homekit.

But this does not work. Only restarting the BoldLE child bridge will result in a working tile in homekit for a few moments.

Logs:

The Homebridge returns:
Skipping lock activation for device 88321, it's already activated or activating

Plugin Config:

{
            "name": "BoldBLE",
            "accessToken": "xxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxx",
            "refreshToken": "xxxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx",
            "legacyAuthentication": false,
            "platform": "BoldBLE",
            "_bridge": {
                "username": "0E:xx:7E:xx:2D:xx",
                "port": 58073

Screenshots:

Environment:

• Plugin Version: homebridge-bold-ble v1.2.0
• Homebridge Version: v.1.7.0
• Node.js Version: v18.17.1
• NPM Version: 9.6.7
• Operating System: PRETTY_NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)"
  NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux"
  VERSION_ID="10"
  VERSION="10 (buster)"
  VERSION_CODENAME=buster
  ID=raspbian
  ID_LIKE=debian

[robbertkl]

Hmm, that's odd. I have a similar setup and it's been working fine since I created the plugin 9 months ago, with daily use.

I haven't used child bridges, so perhaps that's causing issues, although I'm not sure how. Would you be able to test without a child bridge?

[MREInc]

Sigh, it was a misconfigured Dummy Switch which caused these issues.

Because of Apple security, you cannot operate the smart lock remotely eg, when someone arrives home then activate the lock. In order to get this working, you need a dummy switch, which then triggers the smart lock.

I have 2 automations in HomeKit:

1. When someone arrives at home, then activate dummy switch
2. When dummy switch is triggered, open frontdoor.

[gielk]

I have the same issue. I'm trying to control the log directly from HomeKit, without automation, and I'm getting the same error.

[gielk]

I found a solution. Here's what I did: I removed it from HomeKit but left it in Homebridge, then connected Homebridge to Home Assistant. Now, I control it through Automations in Home Assistant. Apparently, trying to control the lock with Automations directly from HomeKit causes it to become unreachable and unable to unlock. This doesn't affect it when controlled through Home Assistant because Automations run independently in Home Assistant. They only send an unlock trigger or something similar. I'm not sure what the issue is in HomeKit, but this solution worked for me.

[robbertkl]

@MREInc Thanks for the follow-up, glad it's resolved!

[robbertkl]

@gielk

Apparently, trying to control the lock with Automations directly from HomeKit causes it to become unreachable and unable to unlock.

What kind of automation did you use? You mentioned in your initial message you have the issue without automation?

[gielk]

Yes, I was using it directly from HomeKit without automation. I had an automation set up to activate the lock when I opened the door. This way, when I left and opened the door, the lock would be activated, allowing me to close it from the outside and leave. It worked the first time, but when I tried to control the lock again from HomeKit via the app, I received the error message. So, it worked once with an automation, but afterward, it was no longer possible to control the lock from HomeKit. It's running in a child server. Restarting the child server didn't work; I had to restart the entire Homebridge. After that, I could unlock and lock using the HomeKit app, but once the automation ran once, it couldn't be controlled from the HomeKit app anymore. I hope this clarifies things. If you have any questions or would like me to help you with anything just ask.

[robbertkl]

Thanks for the additional info! Would you be able to test the exact same automation setup without a child bridge? I'm not using child bridges myself so I'm curious if that's causing the issue for you, or if it's the automation by itself.

[MREInc]

@robbertkl Bad news, not resolved.

I removed the child bridge and removed and reconnected everything in Homekit but now running without a child bridge. It got even worse. When I press the tile in the Home app, nothing happens and still the same error in the Homebridge logs. I've tested it for serveral days without a child bridge. Even restarting the bridge does not resolve the problem.

For now I've completely removed the plugin from Homebridge, removed cached accessories in Homebridge, removed the cached bridge and removed everything in Homekit/Home app and removed the integration in the official Bold app. I will wait at least 24h before adding everything in Homebridge. I've read about several other issues with iOS and Homebridge that waiting 24h will resolve some issues. Has something to do with iCloud sync between iOS devices, but this is just a rumour, not confired as a real "solution".

[gielk]

Here are some screenshots.

[gielk]

I tried what you suggested. I attempted to run it on the main instead of a child, but unfortunately, it didn't solve the issue. The automation worked fine the first time, and there were no problems. However, the second time, the automation didn't work anymore. I waited a few minutes for it to lock again, but after that, it became unreachable and stopped working. Didn’t matter how long I waited.

[gielk]

Unfortunately, today it stopped. Got an error message again this morning.

[04/12/2023, 07:01:06] [BoldBLE] Skipping lock activation for device 120951, it's already activated or activating

After a restart of the child bridge, it worked again.

[04/12/2023, 08:45:17] [BoldBLE] Activated lock for device 120951, will auto-deactivate after 120s