Home Assistant may be smart home software, but that doesn’t mean you’re limited to using it inside your home. There are many ways I use Home Assistant outside the home and they are some of my most useful automations.
Video Doorbell Snapshots
Notifications that let me see who is at the door
One of the great things about video doorbells is that they allow you to interact with people at your doorstep, even if you are not at home. If you have a delivery, for example, you can request that the item be left in a safe place instead of dumped on your front porch. You can have a two-way conversation with someone at your door, no matter where you are.
Sometimes you don’t want to have a conversation with the person at the door; you just want to see who it is. I use Home Assistant to send me a notification when my video doorbell detects a person. The smart part is that the the notification includes a snapshot From the doorbell too.
That way, I can see a picture of whoever is at the door when the notification comes, even if I’m away from home. Then I can decide if I need to talk to them through the doorbell or not.
- Resolution
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2K
- Energy source
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Battery
Reolink’s battery-powered Wi-Fi video doorbell is a great way to know who’s outside. With 2K resolution and a 150°x150° head-to-toe view, this video doorbell can be battery or wired powered, depending on your existing setup.
Geofence triggers for specific locations
Mute notifications at the cinema or at the cinema
I have several notifications in Home Assistant that are set as critical alerts. These notifications play a sound even when my phone is in Do Not Disturb mode or on silent. They are used for important notifications, such as medication reminders.
Notifications also work when I’m away from home. Sometimes, however, I don’t want a loud notification sound to play. If I’m at the movies or watching a show, it’s far from ideal.
I have set up some of the common places I visit, such as the local theater and nearby cinemas, such as zones in Home Assistant. When I enter these zones, critical alerts are automatically disabled until I leave the zone again. That means I don’t have to worry about my phone ringing in the middle of the show.
Remote heating start
Come back to a warm home
I have a smart thermostat in my house that automatically turns off the heat when my wife and I are away from home. The thermostat uses our phones to determine when we are away. It works well and prevents us from heating an empty housesaving us money. A disadvantage, however, is that when we return home, if the heating has been off, the house can be very cold.
I can easily turn on the heating remotely using Home Assistant, but this isn’t particularly smart. Instead, I use the Proximity integrationwhich can provide both the distance from home and the direction of travel. Armed with this information, I created an automation that automatically turns on the heat when I travel home and come within a set distance of my home area.
Now when I get home, the house has already reached the perfect temperature. I’m still saving money by not heating an empty house, but I’ll never have to go back to a cold one.
Pause reminders until you return home
Receive notifications when I need them
Home Assistant can’t simply know when you’re heading home; It can also know when you arrive. This can be helpful as there are some automations that you only want to run when you are at home.
Yo I created my own medication reminders. in Home Assistant that sends me alerts every 30 minutes until I mark the medication as taken. It works perfectly when I’m home and bothers me until I take my meds.
However, when I am away, I may not be able to take my medications until I return home. I don’t want reminders every 30 minutes when I can’t do anything about it.
My notifications for my medication reminders are actionable notifications with a list of options. In addition to options to pause notifications for a set period of time, there is also an option to remind me when I get home. This pauses the notifications until I get home again, at which point it will start bothering me every 30 minutes again until I’ve taken them.
Know where I parked my car
Never look in the parking lot again
Honestly, this is one of the most useful automations I have and it can’t be used at home. Its only purpose is to use it when I’m out and about.
As I get older, my memory gets worse and worse. I often found that I couldn’t remember exactly where I had parked the car and would wander aimlessly as if Robert De Niro in Jackie Brown.
Home Assistant solved this problem. When my phone disconnects from my car’s Bluetooth, it triggers an automation that stores the GPS coordinates of my current location. When I want to find my car, I touch a widget on my iPhoneand Google Maps opens, with my car’s coordinates already added. Then I can quickly locate my car without looking like an idiot.
Home Assistant is not just for your home
Automating your smart home is great, but you don’t need to limit yourself to your home. There are many ways to take Home Assistant outside the home and it can be incredibly useful.
