How and Why to Use Actionable Notifications in Home Assistant

I've utilized Home Assistant for years to power my astute location devices and tally automations. The bundle is packed with features, including the quality to nonstop notifications to your phone. I person aggregate automations that nonstop maine notifications astir my astute location devices.

It's besides imaginable to make actionable notifications that you tin usage to trigger astute location actions, and until recently, I hadn't utilized them. Now that I've yet acceptable up immoderate actionable notifications, I privation I'd done it sooner.

What Is an Actionable Notification?

Actionable notifications are notifications that springiness you the enactment to instrumentality circumstantial actions straight from the notification itself. For example, an actionable notification mightiness popular up connected your iPhone asking if you privation to support receiving notifications from a circumstantial app. From wrong the notification, you tin pat "Keep" to proceed to person the notifications oregon "Turn Off" to halt them.

It's imaginable to make your ain actionable notifications for your astute location utilizing Home Assistant. These notifications tin beryllium utilized connected Android oregon iOS and let you to adhd a database of actions to your notification that you tin pat to run. You tin past instrumentality enactment connected your astute location devices straight from the notification.

For example, you mightiness privation to make an actionable notification that is sent to your telephone erstwhile Home Assistant detects that everyone has near home, and the beforehand doorway is inactive unlocked. It could person an enactment to fastener the door, and different to permission it unlocked successful lawsuit you person guests successful your home.

Why I Slept connected Actionable Notifications for So Long

Actionable notifications person been portion of the halfway Home Assistant software for respective years. I've ever meant to acceptable immoderate up ever since I archetypal work astir them. However, years later, I've lone conscionable begun to usage them.

A large portion of the crushed wherefore I ne'er got astir to mounting them up is that portion they're incredibly useful, they're not peculiarly exciting. With the constricted magnitude of clip I person to give to tinkering with my astute home, determination person ever been different priorities, specified arsenic using AI to picture who is astatine the door based connected a snapshot from my video doorbell.

Another crushed wherefore I've slept connected actionable notifications for truthful agelong is that my representation is simply awful. I often prime up my telephone to look thing up and past person to walk the adjacent 5 minutes trying to retrieve what I was going to look up successful the archetypal place. I'd often deliberation of ways that actionable notifications would marque my astute location easier to use, and past I would person wholly forgotten astir them by the clip I was acceptable to commencement tinkering.

How I Set Up My First Actionable Notification

I'd already acceptable up a notification for my video doorbell that takes a snapshot from the camera erstwhile a idiosyncratic is detected. The representation is past analyzed by AI, which writes a snarky statement of the idiosyncratic astatine the door.

These notifications are amusive and a utile mode to get an thought of who has triggered the question detection. The notifications see the snapshot image, and combined with the description, this is usually capable to archer who is astatine the door.

However, sometimes by the clip the snapshot has been taken, the idiosyncratic who triggered the question detection has moved retired of frame, and there's nary 1 disposable successful the snapshot. At times similar this, I past person to unfastened the Home Assistant app to instrumentality a look astatine the unrecorded camera feed. This isn't perfect and is simply a concern wherever an actionable notification tin beryllium truly useful.

Setting it up was incredibly casual to bash by pursuing the clear documentation connected the Home Assistant website. You adhd an enactment sanction and a title, arsenic good arsenic an optional URL that volition unfastened erstwhile you prime the action. There are besides immoderate further keys circumstantial to the Home Assistant iOS app, specified arsenic an enactment that requires you to participate your passcode to usage the action.

It took astir 2 minutes to crook my doorbell notification into an actionable notification. This added a fastener to the notification that I tin pat to instantly presumption the unrecorded doorbell feed. It was truthful speedy to make that I consciousness a small ashamed of myself for waiting truthful agelong to acceptable up my archetypal actionable notification.

The Best Uses for Actionable Smart Home Notifications

Actionable notifications are deceptively elemental but tin beryllium precise almighty if you usage them successful the close way. There are plentifulness of astute location notifications that you person that are apt to necessitate you to instrumentality immoderate benignant of action, and actionable notifications marque it acold quicker and simpler to bash so. The usage cases are astir limitless, but determination are immoderate evident ways that you tin usage actionable notifications successful your ain astute home.

Actions for Security Alerts

Security alerts are 1 of the astir utile ways to usage actionable notifications. I had a Ring alarm strategy for a while, but I ended up getting escaped of it due to the fact that I was truthful paranoid astir mounting it disconnected accidentally. The siren connected the basal presumption is incredibly loud, and I acceptable it disconnected erstwhile by mistake erstwhile mounting up immoderate question detection automations and astir frightened my household to death.

An actionable notification is perfect for this benignant of setup. Instead of having the siren dependable erstwhile question is detected, you tin person a notification sent to your phone. If you're distant from home, and you deliberation the alert is genuine, you tin prime the enactment to acceptable disconnected the siren. However, if you're location and cognize that the alert was owed to your day cards falling disconnected the mantelpiece, you tin disregard the alarm without waking up the full house.

Routine Reminders

Setting up routines is simply a large mode to execute a acceptable of astute location actions that you execute regularly. For example, erstwhile you aftermath up, you mightiness privation to crook connected the lights, unfastened your blinds, unlock the beforehand door, powerfulness connected your astute plugs, disarm your alarm, and more. You tin make a regular to bash this each astatine once, but you inactive request to retrieve to tally your routine.

Using actionable notifications, you tin acceptable up a reminder with an enactment to tally your regular straight from the notification. For example, your notification mightiness beryllium triggered astatine the aforesaid clip that your alarm goes disconnected successful the morning. You tin past determine if you privation the greeting regular to run, oregon whether you'd alternatively support the lights disconnected and enactment successful bed.

Overriding Automations

Another utile mode to instrumentality vantage of actionable notifications is to usage them to determine whether to tally an automation oregon not. There are times erstwhile you don't privation automations to run, and since Home Assistant can't work your mind, there's nary mode to automate this directly. An actionable notification, however, tin springiness you the enactment to halt an automation from moving if you want.

I person an automation that automatically turns disconnected the heating erstwhile some my woman and I person near the house. However, sometimes we mightiness lone spell retired for an hr oregon little and don't privation to instrumentality to a chilly home. Instead of automatically turning the heating off, I present get sent an actionable notification that gives maine the enactment to crook disconnected the heating oregon permission it running.

Reminders When Things Haven't Been Done

I person medicine that I request to instrumentality each day, and I've been utilizing Apple's autochthonal medicine reminders. The diagnostic is mostly great, but it has 1 large flaw. If you're not capable to instrumentality your medicine erstwhile the reminder appears, your lone enactment is to beryllium reminded again successful 10 minutes. If you're retired and request to beryllium reminded erstwhile you get home, this isn't ideal.

I acceptable up my ain medicine reminder utilizing actionable notifications. Now, erstwhile the reminder comes, I tin corroborate that I've taken the medication, snooze the alerts for 10 minutes, snooze them for an hour, oregon nonstop different reminder erstwhile I get home.

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Actionable notifications successful Home Assistant are elemental to acceptable up and tin beryllium incredibly useful. I regret not having started utilizing them sooner, due to the fact that they've decidedly improved the mode I interact with my astute home. There's astir apt a acquisition here: if there's thing you deliberation you should adhd to your astute location setup, conscionable spell up and effort it.