Home Assistant may be smart home software, but that doesn’t mean that you’re limited to using it inside your home. There are plenty of ways that I use Home Assistant outside my home, and they’re some of my most useful automations.
Video doorbell snapshots
Notifications that let me see who’s at the door
One of the great things about video doorbells is that they let you interact with people at your front door, even if you’re not home. If you have a delivery, for example, you can ask for the item to be left in a safe place rather than 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 a person is detected by my video doorbell. The clever part is that the notification includes a snapshot from the doorbell, too.
That way, I can see an image of whoever is at the door when the notification comes through, even if I’m away from home. I can then decide whether I need to talk to them through the doorbell or not.
- Resolution
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2K
- Power Source
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Battery
Reolink’s battery-powered Wi-Fi video doorbell is a great way to know who’s outside. With a 2K resolution and a 150°x150° head-to-toe view, this video doorbell can be powered either over battery or wired, depending on your existing setup.
Geofencing triggers for specific locations
Muting notifications at the theater or movies
I have several notifications in Home Assistant that are set up as critical alerts. These notifications play a sound even when my phone is in Do Not Disturb mode or on silent. They’re used for important notifications such as medication reminders.
The notifications work when I’m away from home, too. 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’ve set up some of the common places I visit, such as the local theater and nearby movie theaters, 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 going off in the middle of the show.
Turning on the heating remotely
Come back to a warm home
I have a smart thermostat in my home that automatically turns off the heating when both my wife and I are out of the house. The thermostat uses our phones to determine when we’re away. It works well and stops us from heating an empty home, saving us money. One downside, however, is that when we return home, if the heating has been off, the house can be very cold.
I can easily turn the heating on remotely using Home Assistant, but this isn’t particularly smart. Instead, I use the Proximity integration, which can provide both the distance from home and the direction of travel. Armed with this information, I created an automation that automatically turns the heating on when I’m traveling toward home and get within a set distance of my home zone.
Now, when I arrive home, the house has already reached the perfect temperature. I’m still saving money by not heating an empty home, but I never have to return to a cold one.
Pausing reminders until I’m back home
Getting notifications when I need them
Home Assistant can’t just tell when you’re heading toward home; it can also tell when you arrive. This can be useful, as there are some automations that you only want to run when you’re home.
I created my own medication reminders in Home Assistant that send me alerts every 30 minutes until I mark the medication as taken. It works perfectly when I’m at home, nagging me until I’ve taken my meds.
When I’m out, however, I may not be able to take my medication until I get home again. I don’t want reminders every 30 minutes when I can’t do anything about them.
My notifications for my medication reminders are actionable notifications with a list of options. As well as options to pause notifications for a set amount of time, there’s also an option to remind me when I get home. This pauses the notifications until I arrive home again, at which point it will start pestering me every 30 minutes again until I’ve taken them.
Knowing where I parked my car
Never search the parking lot again
This is honestly one of the most useful automations I have, and it’s one that can’t be used at home. Its only purpose is to be used when I’m out.
As I get older, my memory is getting worse and worse. I would often find that I couldn’t remember exactly where I’d parked the car and would wander around aimlessly like 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 tap a widget on my iPhone, and Google Maps opens, with the coordinates of my car already added. I can then quickly locate my car without looking like an idiot.
Home Assistant isn’t just for your home
Automating your smart home is great, but you don’t need to be limited to your home. There are plenty of ways you can take Home Assistant outside your home, and it can be incredibly useful.
