r/homeassistant • u/DMO89- • 1d ago

Send Smart Home Notifications via WhatsApp, Signal, or Telegram with Home Assistant 🚀

Hey everyone,

I just uploaded a new video on my YouTube channel where I show how to send smart home notifications with Home Assistant directly to WhatsApp, Signal, or Telegram.

👉 The video itself is in German, but YouTube’s auto-generated English subtitles are pretty solid and make it easy to follow along even if you don’t speak German.

If you’re interested in: https://youtu.be/19Z_sRItcNE?si=72D-SyVeERXtGlVK

Getting alerts when windows/doors are open

Notifications for alarms or events

Or just connecting your smart home directly to your favorite messenger app

…then this tutorial might be useful for you.

Here’s the link:

Would love to hear your feedback and if you’ve tried something similar with Home Assistant! 🙌

28 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

32 comments sorted by

13

u/MinimalLemonade 23h ago

What exactly do you use it for? So far, I’ve just been sending notifications straight to my phone via the HA app and never really saw the point of hiding them in other apps like WhatsApp or whatever. Or do you use it as a way to keep some sort of log/history? Really interested, thanks in advance!

10

u/Rare-Deal8939 22h ago

I haven’t seen the tutorial but I think one use case will be to send the notification to a house member who doesn’t have the home assistant app on their phone. Wife, teenage kid, etc ..

4

u/MinimalLemonade 22h ago

Oh, that's smart! Haven't thought about that scenario

2

u/bmengineer 16h ago

Another benefit that hasn't been mentioned is you can scroll back through the history even if you lose connection to your home for whatever reason

2

u/Aggravating-Depth330 16h ago

My girlfriend doesn't want the HA app, but, she can change the lights in her bathroom, check the time remaining on the washing machine, or get a live photo of her garden by texting the house in Telegram and getting a reply. I've also set up automations that only give her alerts via Telegram if she's at the house (connected to the wifi).

I also use it for emergency notifications, if an alert fires off, I get photos sent to me that are now accessible offline and can be saved, unlike a simple notification.

1

u/smelting0427 7h ago

How is that set up exactly? Is it like a bot that you/she can interact with?

1

u/Aggravating-Depth330 7h ago

There's a Telegram integration. It can accept messages and based on the text, reply to them or run automations.

For example, if she types "/bathroom night" it sets the bathroom lights dimmer, then in the morning, "/bathroom reset" turns them back to normal.

"/washer" will reply with "There's (X) minutes left on the washing machine." If the machine finishes a load while she's on the wifi, she'll get a message "Hi! Just letting you know the washing machine is finished!"

1

u/Christopoulos 3h ago

Do you know if there’s a WhatsApp or iMessage integration with the same capabilities?

2

u/DMO89- 20h ago

I am using it for my alarm system, because I'm not getting the notification over the HA app in time. Second thing is, if your are not using NABU Casa Cloud, I am not sure if you get the notifications if ure not at home.

4

u/MrSnowflake 19h ago

Yes you do get them. limited to 500/month though

1

u/MinimalLemonade 19h ago

Oh okay, I see! Yeah, I personally use Nabu Casa and always get my notifications instantly. But this sounds like a fun little project, so I’ll definitely come up with a use case while ditching callmebot :D ty!

1

u/TrousersCalledDave 17h ago

I use Telegram to get sent video events from Frigate. I assume there is a way to set this up using the HA app but I find it's much easier to just use a blueprint, plus it makes it really easy to backup videos if needed. You can also have Telegram auto delete past messages within any custom time range so you don't end up with thousands of old clips.

6

u/mousecatcher4 20h ago

The hugh problem here is that the integration you are using relies on Callmebot, and callmebot is not free -- it is pure switchbait pretending to be free. After using for a while callmebot starts adding adverts (for itself) to messages, and then it does a countdown, and about 30 messages later it does a countdown of messages, and then removes the content of the messages leaving the adverts only.

I would avoid callmebot and consequently this integration.

I don't understand German so I am not sure how you address this problem.

0

u/DMO89- 20h ago

Oh thanks for your comment, didn't know this fact about callmebot.. but otherwise I didn't had any problems with ads till now...

5

u/mousecatcher4 19h ago

After some months at maybe 1 message every day or two you start getting messages with a link to pages like this
https://www.callmebot.com/support_callmebot/?phone=351919370635
Then about 20 messages later the low tier here (which says it has adverts) start a countdown ... 20.. 19... 18 ... 0 and then all you get are the adverts. So definitely not worth investing time and evergy making this a key part of anything.

Pushover is a good alternative messaging system, albeit needing a phone app, but it has a one time modest payment - works great. Has a very good HA integration.

2

u/Nitrogen1234 1d ago

Thanks. That's some cool stuff to tinker with.

Schöne Grüße.

P.s. You forgot the link. Servus

1

u/DMO89- 23h ago

Link is in text

1

u/Nitrogen1234 23h ago

In the second to last sentence you say here is the link: followed by nothing

1

u/DMO89- 23h ago

You are right... Here is the link: https://youtu.be/19Z_sRItcNE?si=NzqrOgr5Y1rTUjaQ

1

u/Nitrogen1234 23h ago

I thought you might had the tutorial written out and were supposed to insert a link other than the first YouTube

2

u/DMO89- 23h ago

Oh no sorry, nothing written out.

2

u/bluecat2001 1d ago

pushover

1

u/Christopoulos 3h ago

Why go on?

1

u/boxgrove 21h ago

I like the concept however it does look to be limited with text only and not sending photos?

1

u/pypipper 20h ago

Thanks. Can you motivate why this would be needed? HA can send notifications to the smartphone app? Why getting them as whatsapp notifications is better?

1

u/criterion67 13h ago

You could send notifications to others that don't have the HA companion app on their phones.

1

u/[deleted] 15h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/AutoModerator 15h ago

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0

u/HoofdletterR 12h ago

Haven’t watched the video but I see in the comment that you use callmebot. I’ve been using this one for a week now: https://github.com/giuseppecastaldo/ha-addons/tree/main/whatsapp_addon Works like a charm, but I have two mobile  numbers. If you have one number you won’t get a notification for your own messages. 

To make it clear: I am not the one who made this, don’t ask any technical questions, I only use the add-on. 

1

u/densefo 12h ago

I use the Telegram Bot and it sends text and media to the members of that Telegram group. It's been working for years, mainly for priority messages when the alarm triggers, together with pictures from the CCTV cameras.

0

u/Hyuron 1d ago

Danke dir, werde ich mir mal rein ziehen.