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Changelog

This page collects recent changes to the nRF Cloud system.

If a category is not included in the changelog for a given month, there are no changes within that category.

November 2022

This section lists the changes deployed in November 2022.

New features

  • The online health status and history of the nRF Cloud portal, various endpoints of the REST API, and the documentation site are now available at https://status.nrfcloud.com.
  • Added new providers for cell and Wi-Fi location.
  • REST responses to FOTA job execution status requests now show status details from the device.
  • Location Services sends data back to devices using new MQTT topics, in addition to the /c2d topic.
  • nRF Cloud sends all other (non-location) messages to devices on the /c2d/r topic, in addition to the /c2d topic.

In the nRF Cloud REST API:

Enhancements

  • Added location support for neighbor cell ID (ECI) for better cell-based location accuracy.
  • Added GNSS as a valid app ID for Location Services. You can configure your devices to use this through the device shadow.
  • More accurate error responses to ProvisionDevices REST API requests.
  • Any service key can be used to authorize any REST API location request.
  • The team name for a new user's default team now includes the user's name, instead of a random ID.
  • An iBasis SIM card is now tracked by both its EID and ICCID, and can be added using either ID.
  • Updated vendor request conversion logic to adapt to the way a device sends cell tower info.

Bug fixes

  • Fixed issue where some MCELL requests were counted as SCELL in usage metrics.

In the nRF Cloud portal:

  • Fixed issue where locations from cell requests were not shown on the live Location card on the device page if the request included the doReply=false parameter.
  • Style improvements to the search box on the Devices page.
  • Fixed refresh loop on Manage Plan page.
  • Fixed issue where ground fix service keys showed as SCELL and threw an error.
  • Fixed error in message handling.
  • Disabled buttons (such as Next in the plan upgrade process if required fields are empty) are no longer clickable.
  • Fixed loop when attempting to load a page for a nonexistent device or viewing the dashboard when there are underlying errors. There are now error messages in these cases.
  • Removed link to status page from the About section of the footer.
  • Fixed error when refreshing the browser while on a FOTA update page.
  • Fixed error and page hang when creating, then deleting, a firmware update.
  • Historical location data choices now match the actual time periods available (up to the past six months).

Known issues

  • Viewing billing history for nRF Cloud plans is temporarily unavailable as improvements are made.

Documentation

October 2022

This section lists the changes deployed in October 2022.

Enhancements

In the nRF Cloud portal:

  • Improved site responsiveness.
  • Loading indicator displays when switching teams.
  • Added expandable Terminal card on device pages to show separate terminals for communication from the device to nRF Cloud, nRF Cloud to the device, and the nRF Cloud server to portal.

Bug fixes

In the nRF Cloud portal:

  • Invitation card now refreshes on team switch.
  • Fixed issue where switching teams as an owner during the upgrade process gave access to the upgrade interface for a team you do not own.
  • Deleting an update no longer gives a 404 error.
  • Updated links to nRF Cloud documentation following restructure.
  • Updated iBasis SIM help contact.
  • Removed the Monthly charges card from the Manage Plan page.
  • Turned off autofill on New Password form.

Known issues

  • Viewing billing history for nRF Cloud plans is temporarily unavailable as improvements are made.

Documentation

  • Added new overview page for device topics.
  • Fixed links to headers.
  • Updated Managing your nRF Cloud plan:
    • Specified new location of the checkbox to disallow overage fees.
    • Removed references to Past payments card (see known issues).
    • Added messages to listed dashboard metrics.
  • Updated overview of nRF Cloud plans:
    • Clarified plan downgrade timeline.
    • Clarified the way messages for FOTA and Location Services are counted according to the changes in September.
  • Added overview of Cloud-to-cloud requirements for Location Services.
  • Specified length of time that nRF Cloud stores location data.

September 2022

This section lists the changes deployed in September 2022.

Enhancements

  • Charges for Location Services and FOTA are now based on the request only. The messages associated with those operations are filtered from usage metrics.
    • For example: If your device initiates an A-GPS request that sends and receives multiple messages, you will be charged only for the request. The associated messages are still stored, but they are not counted toward your usage limits or charges.
    • These messages are also not included in the total message count on your Dashboard.
  • The MQTT endpoint is now mqtt.nrfcloud.com. This is in addition to the previous MQTT endpoint automatically generated by AWS, so you do not need to change anything in your implementation.

In the nRF Cloud portal:

  • Improved error feedback when creating an update bundle with invalid characters in the version name. Valid characters include letters, numbers, periods (.), underscores (_), or dashes (-).
  • Improved dashboard loading speed.

Bug fixes

In the nRF Cloud portal:

  • When selecting a date range for location history data in the portal, the end date is now correctly applied.
  • When adding your personal information, the Country field includes a drop-down menu with standard country names. Phone prefixes, states, and regions now display correctly when the desired country is selected.

Documentation

  • The nRF Cloud documentation has undergone an extensive restructure. Content is now sorted by topic and no longer split between Reference and Guides.

    Conceptual and instructional material are now under the same topic. For example, the Location Services item in the navigation bar contains both an overview of the services and specific tutorials.

  • Removed FAQ.

  • Updated MQTT endpoint to mqtt.nrfcloud.com in the MQTT documentation. See Enhancements.

  • Updated nRF Cloud plans to reflect changes to Location Services and FOTA message charges.

  • Updated the guide to tokens and keys to reflect changes to service key handling.

  • The header and footer have received updated backgrounds.

August 2022

This section lists the changes deployed in August 2022.

New features

New in nRF Cloud portal:

  • Support for EIDs in addition to ICCIDs for iBasis SIM cards.
  • Accuracy toggle for Location Services map

Enhancements

  • Only one service key is required for Location Services. nRF Cloud now accepts a JWT signed with any service key.

Improved in the nRF Cloud portal:

  • Owner transfer
  • Warning about plan limits
  • Location usage dashboard
  • Plan downgrade handling
  • Plan pricing page viewable while logged in

Bug fixes

  • Service usage shown on the dashboard in nRF Cloud portal is now calculated accurately.
  • Teams that upgrade to Pro from Developer after exceeding Developer service limits are no longer denied service.

Documentation

July 2022

This section lists the changes deployed in July 2022.

New features

  • Location requests now use proprietary reliability and accuracy data accumulated from multiple third-party location service vendors. nRF Cloud calculates the fastest and most accurate location based on the best third-party vendor in the device's region.

Enhancements

  • Billing plan downgrade takes effect at the end of the month instead of immediately.
  • Improvements to billing operations in the nRF Cloud portal.
  • LTE devices in the nRF Cloud portal were labeled RSSI (now RSRP).

Bug fixes

  • Removing a team member removed the initiating user instead.
  • Fixed team ownership transfer.
  • User name was not set in the nRF Cloud portal upon account creation.
  • Page crashed on active gateway.

June 2022

This section lists the changes deployed in June 2022.

New features

Billing and plan features introduced:

  • Three billing plans are now offered: Developer, Pro, and Enterprise. Enterprise plans require involvement of Nordic Semiconductor sales personnel.
  • Team owners can change their plan between Developer and Pro. Details for each plan are shown on the Manage plan page.
  • Owners can manage their Pro plan's credit cards and view their payment history.
  • Owners can manage their overage preference and service keys for the proxy location services covered in the Pro plan.
  • Owners can transfer ownership of the team to an admin.
  • Users can track their current estimated usage and costs for the services covered by plans.

Enhancements

  • GNSS fixes provided by devices in PVT format are now supported and displayed on the location map in the nRF Cloud portal. Before, only fixes in NMEA format were supported.
  • Users can enter an iBasis SIM card's ICCID or EID identifier when registering a new one. Before, only the ICCID was allowed.

Bug fixes

  • SIM cards that were added but not verified could not be deleted.
  • Fixed location request routing with mobile network codes (MNCs) with leading zeros.
  • Fixed vendor performance tracking.

Documentation

May 2022

This section lists the changes deployed in May 2022.

New features

  • A new Ground-Fix endpoint for REST, to retrieve the location of the device based on the nearest Wi-Fi access points or LTE towers.

    • This option minimizes the number of requests and can extend battery life for low power devices.
    • It allows devices to send whatever they have and let the Location Service determine the best location based on what the device provides.
    • You can send either or both, using the same formats as with cell or Wi-Fi endpoints. The server returns the best location.

  • Owner role in the Teams feature.

    • Owners have all of the privileges that Admins had before.
    • There can only be one Owner in a team.
    • All existing teams are updated to promote Admins to Owners. If there was more than one Admin on a team, the Admin that was created first has been promoted to Owner.
    • Admins can no longer do the following:
      • Invite users to a team by email address.
      • Cancel an invitation you created before the invitee accepts.
      • Modify team information, such as the name.
      • Delete a team. All associated devices and user relationships are deleted, and any outstanding invitations are rejected.
      • Generate evaluation tokens.

Breaking changes

  • Total field in the ListMessages response:

    • Previously, the ListMessages REST API request returned a total as: "Reflects the total results, not just the total returned by a singular page of results."
    • Due to the migration to a new type of database for scalability and efficiency, the total now shows the total returned by a single page of results, not total results for all pages.
    • The usage of the API has not changed. If there is a pageNextToken in the response, there are more results. Pass this token in your next request to obtain the next page of results.

Enhancements

  • Updated Location Services to support automatic selection of the best vendor for the requested geographic region when doing cell requests.

Bug fixes

  • Full modem FOTA fixes.
  • Proper validation and denial of the + character in firmware version names.
  • Improved reliability of iBasis SIM card activation and removal.

Documentation

  • Added documentation of ground fix endpoint to Wi-Fi and cellular tutorials for Location Services.
  • Expanded instructions for FOTA updates through the REST API.
  • Added MDM_FULL to firmware types.