Hi,
Just wanted to confirm I am adding users correctly. I am currently only paying for plus so cannot amend my organisation. I wanted to add an exsisting account access to a single device but they need to create a new account on a seperate email address? Once they have done this, will they have access to each of my devices or can I then select individual access?
But that documentation is a bit misleading for people in @Anthony101âs position.
Because the âuserâ role has no access, and the âstaffâ role isnât restricted to only owned devices, itâs not possible to achieveâŚ
with the Plus account.
Pete.
Thatâs a good point. We will make it more clear in the docs and pricing plan descriptions. @mariaShin
To be honest @iryna_l, the way that these default users are configured is crazy, and Blynk is crippling the product by keeping these defaults, and in my opinion thatâs bad for Blynk as well as for users.
Blynk Legacy had an app sharing system which allowed non-admin users to use the app, but not edit the app layout or clear the historical data from charts etc.
This was a great way to give family members access to a project without them being able to break anything.
Because the âuserâ role has no ability to control or even view devices it is of no use at all in the user hierarchy, unless youâre a Pro subscriber - at which point you can edit these permissions.
The next access level up - âstaffâ can see and control devices, nut it has too many permissions. It can not only see and control devices owned by a user with that level of access, it can also see and control ALL devices within the organisation.
In addition, a user with âStaffâ access can even do things like change the organisation name - which I would have expected to be at least an âAdminâ level function, if not something restricted to the person with Developer status.
I flagged these issues up with @Pavlo here, and as you can see he said that the lack of permissions for the âUserâ role was intentional for corporate securityâŚ
yet later he said that this lack of permissions for the âUserâ role looked like a bugâŚ
If locked-down default permissions are an issue for corporate security, then why does the âStaffâ role have such a large leap in security access, and have the ability to change the organisation name?
I realise that Blynkâs aim is to prevent abuse of the system, and to ensure that itâs only the Pro and White Label subscribers that can effectively use Blynk for commercial purposes, but by doing this, even Plus subscribers have less functionality when it comes to sharing projects than they had in Legacy.
One of @Pavloâs recent responses to the issue of not being able to restrict users to only one device was:
As Blynk allows Plus plan subscribers to have up to 20 devices, that doesnât seem like a very sensible or rounded approach to device security.
Surely the answer is to review the default access levels for the âUserâ, âStaffâ and âAdminâ roles so that they have more meaningful and appropriate permissions, allowing Plus and Basic subscribers to allow family members to use some devices without having access to all of them, and without the other undesirable permissions that come with the minimum usable role of âStaffâ ?
Pete.
Yes, to force someone to have multiple blynk accounts should not be necessary and will only inflate your user numbers when it wonât represent a true figure of different users. Also should definetly be an option to grant users access to specific devices. I have multiple devices of my own and the query from this thread started as I have been asked to create a temperature sensor monitor for a friend, who now he has access to all of my devices. If we were to create another account to get around this issue, that would be another subscription cost as we required some âplusâ sub widgets
We are working on fixing a couple of issues mentioned here. After the fix:
Confirming that Free and Plus plans are only intended for use within one family / household and do not include ability to select which specific devices can be shared. In the case you have described where you are creating a device for a friend (not a member of your household), they are expected to get their own Plus subscription.
That sounds like a good idea.
Thank you for listening!
Pete.
It was a bug. And the user should have access to the device.
I have a Blynk Plus account and have converted the first 5 Devices from Legacy Blynk. Most of these are for my own home automation but 2 devices are for remote locations that in Legacy Blynk were shared with other members of my Family.
With Blynk Plus, I find that adding a User results in those users having access to all of my devices. This is inappropriate and unacceptable. For example my Sister shouldnât see my devices such as my Security System or Garage Door Status.
The solutions suggested are:
Now this looks like I would have to create two new accounts, One for the shared device and one so that I can be added as a user. Now as my mobile devices can only log onto one Blynk App instance at a time, I would have to switch the Blynk user when I want to access the shared Devices. Ridiculous.
A solution would be to allow a simple permissions screen on Plus accounts to select which Devices are visible to a User.
Currently Is there a practical method of sharing specific Devices without a costly upgrade or have I misunderstood how new Blynk works.?
Thatâs right, thatâs how it works.
Blynk thinks itâs rightâŚ
Hi I am glad you, as a founder, sees it that way too.
Currently I am now a week in the converting process of my 3 amateur applications after purchasing the Plus subscription and now that I am trying to set up the access like I did in the legacyBlynk, I find out that âusersâ do not really exist in the Plus subscription. I am very disappointed in this, I thought I had read enough beforehand to be convinced Blynk 2.0 was the way forward for me, but this is a serious setback. I do hope you will be able to give at least a limited set of permissions to âusersâ before the year end. Thanks a lot, Jan.