Honeywell Discontinues Total Connect 2.0 Slide Show Feature

Posted April 14, 2017 at 12:00 pm By Sterling Donnelly

With heavy hearts, we are sorry to announce that the Total Connect 2.0 service, powered by Honeywell, no longer supports the slide show feature.

While most Total Connect 2.0 users probably never even knew this feature existed, it was a pretty cool option for turning a LYNX Touch security system (models L5100, L5200, L5210 and L7000) into a digital picture frame.

From the TC2 Locations module, you could edit the house icon and click on the 'Edit Slide Show' button to upload images to your account from your computer. Honeywell's servers then download to the LYNX Touch system associated with that TC2 account/location (as long as the system had an ILP5 or L5100-WIFI internet communicator installed and online). Once the images were downloaded to the system, you could use the master programming mode (Security > More > Tools > enter Master Code) to go to the Slide Show option and setup your images to display on the panel's touchscreen when the system was sitting idle.

Honeywell indicated that the feature was removed due to "cyber security concerns" and while you can no longer use your LYNX Touch system as a digital picture frame, the new Lyric Controller does still offer the Slide Show feature. You just have to use a USB stick to load the images to the Lyric locally as the feature has been removed from Total Connect 2.0 on all systems. We have an FAQ on how to use the slide show feature on a Lyric system online at https://www.alarmgrid.com/faq/how-does-slide-show-... and if you have a LYNX Touch system now that was using this feature and want to discuss upgrading to a Lyric, we'd be happy to help. You can email us at support@alarmgrid.com or call us M-F 9-9 EST at 888-818-7728.

Tags: Wireless Alarm Control Panels, Total Connect 2.0, Technology, Service Announcements, DIY Security Systems, Honeywell Lyric Alarm System, Honeywell L7000, Honeywell L5210, Honeywell L5200, Honeywell L5100

Comments

Sterling Donnelly

May 15, 2017 17:39

Yes, we were very disappointed as well Todd. We also agree that they should have simply patched the security issue instead of removing the feature. We told them that when they first told us that they removed the feature (after we figured it out ourselves when our test panel stopped showing the slide show) and they said they would take our request into consideration but so far, we haven't had any word from them that they are actually working on a fix. Personally, I don't think they did it purposefully to cripple the LYNX Touch units and force everyone to upgrade to a Lyric as they indicated most users of the LYNX Touch didn't use the feature. I think they just figured it was a seldom used feature and it was easier to remove it then it was to fix the security flaw. If we do hear from them about re-instating the service, we'll certainly blog about it here and I'll personally let you know. In the mean time, if you do want to consider upgrading to the Lyric (which supports the slide show feature with a local USB for loading the files), let me know and I'd be happy to discuss it with you.

Todd

May 13, 2017 15:00

I'm very disappointed Honeywell removed this. Usually a company will add new features not take existing ones away. As a photographer, the photo frame feature was one of the many reasons I went with a LYNX. If Honeywell really did have a cyber security concern, they should written software to plug the hole. Not disable features that that promoted and enjoyed. My feeling is, it was just a tactic to add a new feature to sell a new panel. (sigh)