The phone app does not use the V1 API and hasn't for a long time, so I don't quite follow the reasoning that a change to the V1 API would be related...
Well one day I came home (later than my other half) and found the DTS92 that normally sits on one of the loudspeakers in the living room disassembled...
Personally I don't think a DTS92 will solve your problem, if one end of the room is always colder than the other due to it being so long and one end...
The egg timer just means it hasn't received any transmissions from the temperature sensor in the zone since the controller was rebooted, as they are...
This started out as a query in another thread however after finding a solution that I like I thought the solution itself was worthy of its own thread...
Not quite what you're looking for, but you might be interested to know that the Kasa controlled TP-Link devices like the Smart bulbs and smart plugs...
I got the email announcing 4.8 too, got all excited that we might finally have got an overhaul to the app - which is pretty cumbersome and clunky to...