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! 🙌

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13

u/MinimalLemonade 1d 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!

11

u/Rare-Deal8939 1d 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 1d ago

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

2

u/bmengineer 20h 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 19h 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 11h ago

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

1

u/Aggravating-Depth330 10h 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 6h ago

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

2

u/DMO89- 23h 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.

3

u/MrSnowflake 23h ago

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

1

u/MinimalLemonade 23h 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 20h 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.