Home Assistant Introduces a Wear OS App
Home Assistant developers have decided to delight the owners of smartwatches based on Android, releasing a Wear OS app for quick control of smart home devices. The company announced this on December 20 in its Release Notes devoted to Android updates (Home Assistant has been offering an app for Android smartphones since 2019).
Home Assistant is a system for managing smart home devices similar to the popular Google Home (which, by the way, still hasn't released its Wear OS smartwatch app) and Samsung SmartThings. The advantage of the service is that it allows users to integrate devices from different brands and ecosystems and create their own automation scenarios.
The Home Assistant Wear OS app is already available for download on Google Play. Still, only in beta in the next few months. Nevertheless, the creators assure that it is already worthy of your attention, and all the main features are available in the current state.
And here's what you can get after installation:
- Stand-alone operation. The app will work on the watch even if you don't have your smartphone right beside you. And you can control smart home devices directly from your watch.
- Favorites feature. You can add objects, or “entities”, that you use most often to the app start menu. This will significantly speed up the loading of the app upon login and improve usability.
- Tile for quick access. Home Assistant allows you to select up to 7 objects that you can turn on / off without even opening the app. For each object, you can and even need to set a personal icon - to quickly distinguish them from each other.
- Initial sensor support. The battery sensors will be automatically registered to your Home Assistant server upon startup. In the future, the app will be able to check the presence of all existing phone sensors and add supported ones. It will also be possible to enable/disable sensors from the watch.
Home Assistant encourages users to install the Wear OS app and report potential bugs to help develop and deploy the full version as soon as possible.
By the way, Notify.Events offers a great solution to get instant notifications from smart devices to your smartphone (both Android and iOS). The service offers a ready-made out-of-the-box integration with Home Assistant. Just set up a bundle and stay up to date with what is happening in your home. A leak in the bathroom, high CO levels, or suspicious movement in the backyard - you'll be the first to know about it and be able to react quickly.
In addition to Home Assistant, integrations with other smart home services are also available: Google Home, Nest, Homebridge (Apple HomeKit), and others. A complete list can be found in the Source catalog in the IoT and Smart Home category.
Read more about how to set up a Notify.Events account and get the first notification here.
