Govee announced via email to all API users that those who make high-frequency calls using the Govee API may see their apps not function correctly.
In an email sent today 4/1/22, not an April fools joke, Govee API users will need to make some updates to their applications.
The first change was the official API name. It is now known as the Govee Developers API.
As per the Govee email, they advise “Due to the limited resources of the API server, the flow of some high-frequency API calls will be limited in order to make the API server more stable and serve more users.”
Additionally, “If your current usage scenario calls the API frequently, your application might be affected and may not function properly. Therefore, you will need to modify your applications to call the API less frequently. Specific rules related to this are listed in the latest API reference document.”
According to Govee, the limit on API call frequency will be implemented starting May 5, 2022. They state “We hope you can complete any needed modification of your API applications before this date so your applications will continue to run normally”.
The email also says that If your current usage scenario does not call the API frequently, your applications will not be affected.
Govee API Rate Limits
You may be wondering what the new limits are for the Govee API. Here is the breakdown according to their API Reference document:
Total Calls Per day (Works on All APIs): 10,000
X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, X-RateLimit-Reset (this
level of limit works on all APIs, which means total requests from one
user can not be more than 1000 per day).
API-RateLimit-Limit, API-RateLimit-Remaining, API-RateLimit-Reset.
DeviceList 10 per minute
DeviceControl 10 per minute per device
DeviceState 10 per minute per device
Who will this affect?
Well, if you are like me and use the Smartthings platform, for example, you know that API access is needed in order to use Govee products, by way of adding a device handler. So every time you turn on and off a Govee product, or a routine is run, etc, that is an API call and counted against the new limits.
