Room temperature
Room temperature (Pro) is the temperature where you are, not at the heater. You pick the sensor it comes from, under Room temperature > Which sensor:
- The Phone sensor: nothing to set up.
- A Bluetooth thermometer you add (Beta): the most exact.
- The heater's own sensor, but only if the heater takes its air from inside. Many heaters draw outside air, and then their sensor says nothing about the room.
The sensor you pick takes the place of the heater's own sensor for King Thermostat and the dial. If it goes quiet, another one stands in until it's back, and the chip says standing in.
The chip under the temperature says where the reading comes from. On the Room temperature and Phone sensor screens it also says how far to trust it.
The Phone sensor
Phones have no air thermometer, but their battery has a temperature sensor. The app reads it and takes off the phone's own warmth, including the extra warmth of a phone on its charger. There's nothing to set up.
- Leave the phone still in the room. It works best on a table or nightstand overnight, screen off, ideally on its charger: the heater keeps the room warm while you sleep. Not under a pillow, not in a pocket, and not on top of anything warm.
- Take it out of its case if you can. A case keeps the phone's own warmth in and slows down how fast it follows the room.
- Heavy use warms the phone. Games, video or a long call make the battery warmer than the room, so the reading waits at its last good value until the phone cools. For running the heater while you use the phone a lot, a Bluetooth thermometer is the better choice.
- Unplugged, Android only refreshes the battery reading about every 10 minutes while the phone sleeps, so readings are Slow. For sleeping, keep the phone on its charger.
- Some phones only report their battery in whole degrees. Then the Phone sensor moves in one-degree steps; Phone sensor details says so.
- Fine-tune it (optional). Phones differ a little, so the reading can be a degree or two off without it. If you have a thermometer, put it next to the phone, let the phone rest a while, then enter what it reads under Phone sensor details. Each reading makes the Phone sensor more exact on your phone.
What the chip means
On the dial and King Thermostat the chip only names the source, unless the reading is too old to use. On the Room temperature and Phone sensor screens it says more:
- Settled: steady and fresh.
- Settling: the phone was busy recently (screen, charging) and is still cooling down.
- Held: the phone is warming itself (a call, fast charging, or a fast rise with no reason the app can see), so the app keeps the last good reading, moved only by the heater sensor's change. You can turn holding off, and choose the longest hold, under Phone sensor details. After the longest hold, it goes back to estimating the room from the phone's warmth (shown as Settling), so King Thermostat keeps working on a phone charging overnight.
- Slow: unplugged and asleep; a fresh reading comes about every 10 minutes.
- No fresh reading: too old to trust. Automations never start the heater on it.
Bluetooth thermometers (Beta)
The app only listens to a thermometer's broadcasts. It never connects to it or pairs with it.
Supported:
- Govee: H5051, H5052, H5071, H5072, H5074, H5075, H5100 to H5106, H5108, H5110, H5129, H5140, H5174, H5177, H5178 and H5179.
- ThermoPro: the TP35x and TP39x thermometers.
- SwitchBot: Meter, Meter Plus, Indoor/Outdoor Thermo-Hygrometer, Meter Pro and Meter Pro CO2.
- Xiaomi: LYWSD03MMC and other Xiaomi thermometers running the open custom firmware (ATC or pvvx). Stock Xiaomi firmware locks its readings with a key from Xiaomi's online service, which this app doesn't use, so it can't read them.
- BTHome: any sensor that broadcasts BTHome v2 without encryption.
Some Govee models send a beacon signal that Android hides from apps that don't use location. If yours never shows up, that's the likely reason.
To add one, open Room temperature → Add a thermometer with the thermometer close by.
Same help as in the app (More → How to use).